The British Empire at its height, encompassed vast amounts of territories; consequently, within the scope of land under British rule there was also a large range of races and nationalities. Attitudes towards these races and nationalities were as varied as the territories themselves. The expansion of this empire can be viewed as the prominent base factor that allowed the study of these new dominions, this catalysed and formed ideas on race and nationality during this period; other influencing factors such as; scientific research of the time and media representation of other cultures; through the medium of travel writing and journals . However, before Analysing British attitudes on this subject in this period, it is important to define both race and nationality and the difference between them. Firstly race, The Oxford dictionary defines race as; ‘each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics ’. The oxfords dictionary’s definition of nationality, however, is more confusing; its first definition is ‘the status of belonging to a particular nation’, however its second definition is; ‘an ethnic group forming a part of one or more political nations’. From these definitions we can take a few conclusions on the use of race and nationality; Race refers to physical characteristics that can differentiate between peoples such as African and Caucasian; however, nationality can be seen as the belonging to a specific country or even to an identifiable sub culture within a nation. Hence, in the context of this essay when referring to peoples of African origin this must be considered a race, however, nationality may be used to describe peoples of a country or cultural subgroups within a country. These de...
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The notion of race, however, doesn’t hold any significance until it is given any, like in the United States of America. The land that was invaded by the British has deep rooted connections to racism. Huge discrimination and inequality gaps occurred when white people began referring to the Africans as an inferior race that belonged to a completely different
During this time it was vital that countries expand their borders and trading. The tropics were considered a region where white men could not inhabit for long, as Kidd wrote in “The white man’s burden”. Although Canada’s anticipating success was based as much on it’s recent developments within their borders as it was based on their geographical location. Canada’s northern geography was viewed as being a positive attribute to governing these colonies based on their racial characteristics. Hasting’s explains how Canada geographical location and racial characteristics were interrelated and associated with “energy, strength, self reliance, health, and purity”(10). This idea of geographical location and racial characteristics were evident on the views of the West Indies. It explains why it was believed that regions in the tropics could not be developed successfully unless it was controlled by the white race or
Horsman, Reginald. Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of Racial Anglo-Saxonism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Over time concepts of ‘Race’, defined as a distinct group with a common linage, and ‘Primitive’ which pertains to the beginning or origin, , have been inextricably linked with the perception of Africa. The confusion of the two in the minds of people at the end of the 19th centaury, and some of the 20th, caused a sense of superiority amongst the ‘White Races’ that affected every aspect of their interaction with ‘the Black’. The ‘Civilisation’ of Africa by conquest and force was justified by these views.
The first Africans landed in Jamestown, in Virginia in the year 1619. Having them appeared as an indentured servants, there was an institution that allows the black for hereditary lifetime service. From there, transportation of slaves from Africa to the West Indies became rampant. During this time, there were no rules applied for the slaves. The only rule is that restricting all the rights of the servants. (Davis, 79) Because of the ongoing scenario, the British America recog...
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people of different ethnicities. Such harm is observed in the history of North America when the Europeans were establishing settlements on the North American continent. Because of European expansion on the North American continent, the first nations already established on the continent were forced to leave their homes by the Europeans, violating the rights and freedoms of the first nations and targeting them with discrimination; furthermore, in the history of the United States of America, dark skinned individuals were used as slaves for manual labour and were stripped of their rights and freedoms by the Americans because of the racist attitudes that were present in America. Although racist and prejudice attitudes have weakened over the decades, they persist in modern societies. To examine a modern perspective of prejudice and racism, Wayson Choy’s “I’m a Banana and Proud of it” and Drew Hayden Taylor’s “Pretty Like a White Boy: The Adventures of a Blue-Eye Ojibway” both address the issues of prejudice and racism; however, the authors extend each others thoughts about the issues because of their different definitions, perspectives, experiences and realities.
The beginnings of racial difference can be traced back to the Age of Exploration, during which England was expanding its trading routes and was highly involved with trade in Africa. The English traders noticed distinguishing differences between themselves and the African people, both in physical appearance and cultural primitiveness. It was not until the 18th century when the word race began to enter languages and vocabularies, and this idea of a difference between peoples was prodded further into existence through the work of Carolus Linnaeus. Linnaeus composed a list of subspecies of human beings based on racial differences. There were several other scientists, such Georges Cuvier and Charles Darwin, as who created subspecies of man. Social Darwinism, alluded to the concept that eventually one greater subspecies of man would prevail and be the most elite of all of human kind. These lists often categorized the order of species with the white, European man at the top of the list and the darker skinned, African man at the bottom. An example of a concept of categorization was the Great Chain of Being, through which all things, including man and the subspecies of man, are given ...
The British considered Indian civilization to be inferior and implemented their western ways, overriding ancient Indian customs. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that British imperialism in India resulted in both positive as well as negative reforms in political, economic and social aspects of its new colony. To begin with, one can observe that the British colonizers did indeed improve Indian civilization by developing means of communication and transport. They built a great number of bridges, over 40,000 miles of railway and paving an astounding 70,000 miles of road (Doc. 4. The adage of the adage.
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"Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery: The Abolition of Slavery Project." Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery: The Abolition of Slavery Project. E2BN, 2009. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. .
The decision to grant independence to India was not the logical culmination of errors in policy, neither was it as a consequence of a mass revolution forcing the British out of India, but rather, the decision was undertaken voluntarily. Patrick French argues that: “The British left India because they lost control over crucial areas of the administration, and lacked the will and the financial or military ability to recover that control”.
Bolt, Christine. “Race and the Victorians,” in British Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century, ed. C.C. Eldridge. St. Martin’s Press: 1984.
Africa’s struggle to maintain their sovereignty amidst the encroaching Europeans is as much a psychological battle as it is an economic and political one. The spillover effects the system of racial superiority had on the African continent fractured ...