Culture and while these policies enhanced the old European empire, they were detrimental to the people of the colonies.”
Discuss to what extent you agree with this statement. Use evidence from your SOSE book to support your point of view. During a period after 1870, there was a rise in European interest to obtain overseas empires, which seemed politically weak and vulnerable to the European empires. They greedily grabbed these empires to boost their own economic system and power.
They often told the people of the colonized country that they were inferior to the empire that ruled them. The effects of colonization had a huge impact on the economies of these countries and the people who lived within them. Power was a major driving force behind the fight to obtain the most colonies. In the late 1800s, acquiring colonies had become fashionable, and the prestige of owning these colonies drove the empire to attain an ever-growing number.
The military force would have grown with every colony obtained, giving the mother country more power and prestige. Gaining India into the empire was like finding a sparkling gem in a bucket of coals. However, the native people of India had a different way of life that very few Englishmen could comprehend. With the British Empire comprising India, it was able to boost the economic system of Britain with a vast amount of raw materials and a large population, making labor inexpensive. The British profited greatly at the expense of the Indian people. The trade routes in India made transporting raw materials out of the country and importing cheap goods into the country simple, once again at the expense of the Indian people. When the industrial revolution arrived, the British were able to export cotton to England and produce cotton-made products in factories much cheaper than if someone in India were to do this. Many Indians lost their way of life as the factory-made cotton products were much cheaper than the hand-made Indian products.
The Indian culture was very different from anything the British Empire had ever witnessed before. The British were very prejudiced towards the Indians and felt that they were inferior to themselves. Charles Darwin’s Survival of the Fittest” theory seemed to support this, giving the British grounds to feel superior. They forced their religion and culture upon the Indians and convinced them that anything British was better than anything Indian. The Indians felt inferior to the British. Many Indian children were taught English and British history in schools, leaving no room for the history and culture of the country they resided in. Although the industrial revolution and the grab for colonies helped develop the British Empire into a powerful kingdom, these things were very detrimental towards the people residing in these colonies, as was the British’s superiority complex.
