Canada Annex The West Indies Summary

In Hasting’s article she explores the ways in which Canada sought to annex Britain’s West Indies colonies in the early twentieth century. One of the major benefits of expanding into the West Indies was to increase trading and goods that were being traded, this was made possible with the expanding steamship technology that increased its commercial and passenger routes south. The second factor of Canada’s campaign to annex the West Indies was to prove itself as a new territory that was expanding it’s borders, which suggested Canada as a contender among other countries such as Britain and France who had a long history of colonization. Hasting’s explores the factors contributing to Canada’s anticipated success in annexing the West Indies. The article discusses Canada’s potential in trying to create harmonious political relationship with the Bahamas in 1911, and how the issue

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