History of Colonialism

Western Global Colonial Empire Building and Decline Process

Globalization has become an interesting concept for many philosophers particularly in the interpretation of it emergence and its growth. This has also drawn a lot of interest in explaining the relations of globalization and colonialism. The essay in this paper explores the emergence and growth of the western global colonial empires and the decolonization process for colonialism.

Elias, N. (2000) argued the history of colonialism can be traced back decades ago where majority of the colonial activities took place within the western world that felt more superior to other nations (Norbert, 2000, p.156). From the 15th Century, some European nations such as Portugal and Spain had begun exploring the world due to their improvement of marine infrastructure. Commonly known as the age of discovery, the two nations began their exploration to the Far East nation, the Middle East, east coast of Africa and the east coast of the America. Additionally, from the 16th to 17th-century other nations gained interest to expand their empires such as France and England, and the as well began to explore other nations beyond their boundaries. Between 18th and 19th centuries, many colonized nations begun reiterating from their colonizers and begun to gain independent such as the Americas, marking the first decolonization era. Later, new imperialism would emerge from the 19th century when countries such as the Great Britain, Portugal and France and other European countries begun to expand their colonies in parts of Africa, a section of Asia.

Due to the commencement of the World War, this escalated the activities of colonialism leading to the emergence of super power nations. From the 19th century, many nations began improving their might through the recruitment of more personnel in the military, forming military powers. During the same period, there was the materialization of the second industrial revolution. More nations within Europe such as the Great Britain, Germany, Russia and France begun to search for more colonies in search of raw materials for their industries. The new imperialism continued throughout the I to II World War through the involvement of many western nations in America, Europe, and East Asia.

According to Sanderson (2005) by the 19th century the western nations got engaged in colonialism for diverse reasons such as increased search for political powers for economic diversification (Sanderson, 2005). The increased population was amongst the biggest challenge in Europe as its estimated that at the beginning of the 19th century, excluding Turkey, Europe had a population of 160 million people. But later in the century the number had increased to 436 million, putting a lot of pressure to the unlimited resources. Another reason for the interest in expanding the territories by the western nation would be the political significance. Many nations in Europe such as the great Britain begun to show their political might and powers through the invasion of other nations within Europe and other nations in order to increase their political territories.

The other major reason for imperialism in the 19th century was the emergence industrial revolution. Nations such as Germany, Russia, and France had begun to improve their processes of production. This led to the emergence of factories that would manufacture different machines for war, as well other individual necessities such as clothes, etc.

Because Europe was doing well its colonial state, this attracted other nations to opt for colonialism activities in order to improve on increase their political powers and sources for law materials.

According to Shillington (2005) the increase of industrialization within Europe and America also led to increased supply of goods. This led to many countries such as the Great Britain and other nations within Europe to search for more markets outside Europe (Shillington, 2005, p.21). This increased the activities of colonialism in Europe as industrialization had taken over many European nations. The demand for civilization was also growing significantly within European nations and America. Different nations also began to expand their religion to other territories, such as Christianity, increasing their work of missionaries from the powerful nations to areas such Africa and Asia.

During the 19th century, after the World War II, many nations had begun to lose their interest in their colonies due to increased revolution activities in colonized countries. Many countries such France was no longer able to sustain their territories such as those in Asia including Indonesia due to the aftermath of the war. According to Englebert, (2000) nationalism was beginning to become popular among the colonizers and the colonized nations after the Second World War II. Mainly he argued it was due to negative impacts imposed by the colonized nations such as those in Africa (Englebert, 2000). This also led to the emergence of colonial independence movement among countries that had been colonized such as those in Africa and Asia. As a result of decreased military and economic power after the Second World War among the colonial empires in Europe, this increased the reiteration by colonized nation. It led to more pressure among the colonial empires to withdraw from colonized territories.

Many of liberated nations during this period had also begun to gather their support to reiterating nation’s against their colonizers inequality in of treatment by westerners. This led to many of the European colonizers to call for their withdrawal from their colonized territories. Another major reason that led to decolonization was the establishment of the United Nations that among it roles was to fight for the human right and call for liquidation of colonialism.

As a result of colonialism by the Western nations on the non-westerners such as Africa and Asia, there were numerous positive and negative impacts of colonialism that has remained a phenomenon to date. According to Bertocchi and Canova (2002) there were concerns about direct exploitation by the western nations to the locals in colonized state through direct tax, restriction on trade, and tough tariffs (Bertocchi & Canova, 2002). Many countries that were colonized by the western nation were also subjected to war to give in to Western demands. These led to the death of many people in both Africa and Asia as some countries were resistant to the colonizers demand. At the same time cases, such people being put under harsh labor in farms and industries were also rampant within colonized countries. There was also increased cases of slavery in Africa as many Western nations sought for labor in colonized nation that was dehumanizing for both Asian and Africans. Colonialism for non-westerners also influenced their unique cultural practices, through civilization, where education and the new religion was introduced. At the same time, some colonized nations benefited with the establishment of government structures by the colonizers that led to the development of infrastructures in such countries.

Conclusion

The emergence of western colonial empire globally opened for globalization that exists to date. Through numerous trades during the colonial period many nations globally have continued to thrive in different fields such as in communication, technology, and production. But at the same time it can’t be ignored of the various impacts that were caused by the act of colonialism activities globally to the non-western nations.

 

 

 

References

Bertocchi, G. and Fabio, C. (2002). “Did colonization matter for growth? An empirical exploration into the historical causes of Africa’s underdevelopment.” European Economic Review 46: 1851-1871.

Elias, N. (2000). The Civilising Process. Trans. E. Jephcott. Revised Edition. Oxford:

[Blackwell. Sociologist Elias traces the civilizing of manners and people in Western

Europe since the late Middle Ages by demonstrating how the formation of states and the

monopolization of power within them changed Western society forever].

Englebert, P. (2000), State Legitimacy and Development in Africa, Lynne Rienner Publishers:

Boulder and London.

Sanderson, S. K. (2005). “World-Systems Analysis after Thirty Years.” International

Journal of Comparative Sociology 46: 179-213.

Shillington, K. (2005). History of Africa: Revised Second Edition. Macmillian Publishers

Limited. New York

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