Why do people colonize and how does colonization lead to exploitation???
Colonizing refers to an action of taking control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and sending people from your own country to live there. Then why do people colonize? There are many different reasons for that, but for many occasions, colonizing doesn’t occur simply to ‘help’ the indigenous people that originally live in the land; I would rather say that it’s due to religious or territorial problems, and even to obtain natural resources of the land.
According to an excerpt from a book written by Englishman, Richard Hakluyt, called ‘Reasons for Colonization’ written in 1585, he justified colonization by stating its purposes as-
1) “The glory of God by planting of religion among those infidels”
2) “The increase of the force of the Christians”
3) “The possibility of the enlarging of the dominions of the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, and consequently of her honor, revenues, and of her power by this enterprise.”
4) "Where there be many petty kings or lords planted on the rivers’ sides, and [who] by all likelihood maintain the frontiers of their several territories by wars, we may by the aid of this river join with this king here, or with that king there, at our pleasure, and may so with a few men be revenged of any wrong offered by any of them; or may, if we will proceed with extremity, conquer, fortify, and plant in soils most sweet, most pleasant, most strong, and most fertile, and in the end bring them all in subjection and to civility. . . The ends of this voyage are these: 1.) to plant Christian religion. 2.) To traffic. 3.) To conquer. 0r, to do all three."
(For the rest of the text, click: http://www.netlexfrance.info/2005/07/28/reasons-for-colonization/ )
All of these justifications show a strong desire for power. The first and the second one are mainly to spread their religion, which was Christianity, and the rest are to earn more land, natural resources, and authority. They were willing to conquer other countries for honor, wealth and power which they believed would be the outcome. There are many other examples of religion and greed causing colonization. The first example could be from Queen Isabella of Spain who showed a genuine desire to bring about the conversion of the millions of new subjects. She funded Columbus and his successors to providentially bring the discoveries and to extend the bounds of Christian influence further into unknown regions of the New World (America, Oceania). (For more information about the relationship between religion and colonization, click: http://southwest.library.arizona.edu/spmc/body.1_div.2.html ) The second example is also from Spain; In the 16th century, the Spanish dream of finding great riches in America was realized when Hernando Cortez, the Spanish conquistadores and Francisco Pizarro each conquered the Aztecs in Mexico, Maya
, and the Inca Empire in Peru, South America. Natural resources such as gold and silver were poured into the Spanish king’s treasury and satisfied many Spanish. The last example is during the Age of Exploration. Brazil was the only country in South America that wasn’t conquered by Spanish, because the Pope at that time divided South America into half when Spain and Portugal came to ask who had claims to what, and what was fair for whom to colonize which country. At the time, land and wealth went hand in hand, and they wanted access to whatever potential natural resources were in Brazil- people seemed to think that there were just ridiculous stores of gold all over the New World. (Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas#Conquest_of_Mexico for more information)
It’s so beneficial for one country to colonize others, yet it’s too appealing for people to resist all the benefits they’ll gain by colonizing like the three examples. Many thought that colonizing was sensible as it brought in so many natural resources and enlarged the domains of their country.
Then why did people start to exploit the indigenous people if they actually went to colonize other lands for the spread of religion or for money?
In the famous poem, “The White Man’s Burden” published in 1989 by Rudyard Kipling, there are exhortations to empire with sober warnings of the costs involved.
For example, he says “Your new caught, sullen peoples, half devil and half child”, showing how the Americans neglected, and thought lowly of the Filipinos. By calling the Filipinos ‘half devil and half child’, he’s showing his feeling that the Filipinos are as uneducated as young children, and are as i
mmoral as devils. The colonizers thought colonization to be a justifiable action as they would make the colonized and their land more civilized and modernized. However, the results didn’t turn out to be good. For instance, the British intention for making Australia more civilized caused the act of taking away the Aboriginal children from their parents using force. The British ‘educated’ them and ‘employed’ them to provide the Aborigines the chance of a better life, but all that did, was producing many mixed- race children with lost family, their cultural identity, freedom, and much more.
He also said, "To veil the threat of terror, and to check the show of pride," showing how the Americans were scared towards some courageous Filipinos who were dedicated to protect their country and their people, that they might take their country back.
Lastly, he said "Take up the White man's burden... To seek another's profit and work another's gain," which tells us that the Americans thought that they had great burdens that they should watch over the Philippines to seek their profits and take them back to America on them. This is very unfair, but this was not their only greedy act; they took away the native’s land and resources so they could use it for their own benefit. For example, the Japanese colonizers took away the Korean’s land, weapons, houses, and daily necessities so that they could use them. Also, all males were taken away from their family to fight for Japan (not Korea), so people left had nobody to help them gain food, harvest, or at least, steal things. King Leopold, the colonizer of Congo, also took away resources such as ivory and rubber, and afflicted the ones that didn’t bring enough of them.
Religion is a means of exploitation employed by the strong against the weak; religion is a cloak of ambition, injustice and vice” (Georges Bizet)
Colonizing refers to an action of taking control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and sending people from your own country to live there. Then why do people colonize? There are many different reasons for that, but for many occasions, colonizing doesn’t occur simply to ‘help’ the indigenous people that originally live in the land; I would rather say that it’s due to religious or territorial problems, and even to obtain natural resources of the land.
According to an excerpt from a book written by Englishman, Richard Hakluyt, called ‘Reasons for Colonization’ written in 1585, he justified colonization by stating its purposes as-
1) “The glory of God by planting of religion among those infidels”
2) “The increase of the force of the Christians”
3) “The possibility of the enlarging of the dominions of the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, and consequently of her honor, revenues, and of her power by this enterprise.”
4) "Where there be many petty kings or lords planted on the rivers’ sides, and [who] by all likelihood maintain the frontiers of their several territories by wars, we may by the aid of this river join with this king here, or with that king there, at our pleasure, and may so with a few men be revenged of any wrong offered by any of them; or may, if we will proceed with extremity, conquer, fortify, and plant in soils most sweet, most pleasant, most strong, and most fertile, and in the end bring them all in subjection and to civility. . . The ends of this voyage are these: 1.) to plant Christian religion. 2.) To traffic. 3.) To conquer. 0r, to do all three."
(For the rest of the text, click: http://www.netlexfrance.info/2005/07/28/reasons-for-colonization/ )
All of these justifications show a strong desire for power. The first and the second one are mainly to spread their religion, which was Christianity, and the rest are to earn more land, natural resources, and authority. They were willing to conquer other countries for honor, wealth and power which they believed would be the outcome. There are many other examples of religion and greed causing colonization. The first example could be from Queen Isabella of Spain who showed a genuine desire to bring about the conversion of the millions of new subjects. She funded Columbus and his successors to providentially bring the discoveries and to extend the bounds of Christian influence further into unknown regions of the New World (America, Oceania). (For more information about the relationship between religion and colonization, click: http://southwest.library.arizona.edu/spmc/body.1_div.2.html ) The second example is also from Spain; In the 16th century, the Spanish dream of finding great riches in America was realized when Hernando Cortez, the Spanish conquistadores and Francisco Pizarro each conquered the Aztecs in Mexico, Maya
, and the Inca Empire in Peru, South America. Natural resources such as gold and silver were poured into the Spanish king’s treasury and satisfied many Spanish. The last example is during the Age of Exploration. Brazil was the only country in South America that wasn’t conquered by Spanish, because the Pope at that time divided South America into half when Spain and Portugal came to ask who had claims to what, and what was fair for whom to colonize which country. At the time, land and wealth went hand in hand, and they wanted access to whatever potential natural resources were in Brazil- people seemed to think that there were just ridiculous stores of gold all over the New World. (Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas#Conquest_of_Mexico for more information)It’s so beneficial for one country to colonize others, yet it’s too appealing for people to resist all the benefits they’ll gain by colonizing like the three examples. Many thought that colonizing was sensible as it brought in so many natural resources and enlarged the domains of their country.
Then why did people start to exploit the indigenous people if they actually went to colonize other lands for the spread of religion or for money?
In the famous poem, “The White Man’s Burden” published in 1989 by Rudyard Kipling, there are exhortations to empire with sober warnings of the costs involved.
For example, he says “Your new caught, sullen peoples, half devil and half child”, showing how the Americans neglected, and thought lowly of the Filipinos. By calling the Filipinos ‘half devil and half child’, he’s showing his feeling that the Filipinos are as uneducated as young children, and are as i
mmoral as devils. The colonizers thought colonization to be a justifiable action as they would make the colonized and their land more civilized and modernized. However, the results didn’t turn out to be good. For instance, the British intention for making Australia more civilized caused the act of taking away the Aboriginal children from their parents using force. The British ‘educated’ them and ‘employed’ them to provide the Aborigines the chance of a better life, but all that did, was producing many mixed- race children with lost family, their cultural identity, freedom, and much more.He also said, "To veil the threat of terror, and to check the show of pride," showing how the Americans were scared towards some courageous Filipinos who were dedicated to protect their country and their people, that they might take their country back.
Lastly, he said "Take up the White man's burden... To seek another's profit and work another's gain," which tells us that the Americans thought that they had great burdens that they should watch over the Philippines to seek their profits and take them back to America on them. This is very unfair, but this was not their only greedy act; they took away the native’s land and resources so they could use it for their own benefit. For example, the Japanese colonizers took away the Korean’s land, weapons, houses, and daily necessities so that they could use them. Also, all males were taken away from their family to fight for Japan (not Korea), so people left had nobody to help them gain food, harvest, or at least, steal things. King Leopold, the colonizer of Congo, also took away resources such as ivory and rubber, and afflicted the ones that didn’t bring enough of them.
Religion is a means of exploitation employed by the strong against the weak; religion is a cloak of ambition, injustice and vice” (Georges Bizet)
