The Negative Impact Of European Imperialism In India And Africa

Chamela Martinez

Global History 10

Artifact #5 - Imperialism

Imperialism is when a stronger nation dominates a weaker nation economically, politically and socially. India and Africa are two nations that were imperialized by stronger nations. The European countries were the imperialists who wanted to take over weaker nations and when they took over they felt like it was their responsibility to educate and save the savage people. This was known as the White Man’s Burden. In imperialism, the only way you can survive is if you are a strong nation and this was the belief of survival of the fittest by Darwin Imperialism is a negative foreign policy because higher power countries take over less powerful countries unfairly. A country that was imperialized

by a European country was Africa.
In the 1600’s European nations became interested in Africa’s natural resources and began to imperialize Africa. Many other countries were also interested in Africa and everyone wanted a part of Africa and because of this the Berlin Conference occurred. The Berlin Conference was when fourteen European nations gathered together to divide up Africa. This was a benefit for the European nations because they all had a part of Africa and its natural resources. This was bad for the citizens of Africa because they natural resources were taken away from them and some people were separated from their families. When European nations started to dominate over Africa the citizens acted differently they “put up various forms of resistance against the attempt to colonize their countries and impose foreign domination” (The Colonization of Africa). This meant that the Africans didn’t want any foreign influence in their country and just wanted to live in peace without anyone taking their resources and controlling them. European nations wanted many raw materials from Africa and that included iron, steel, diamonds, textiles, and cotton. Since the African didn’t want any foreign influence in their country there was resistance to imperialism. Shaka Zulu the leader of a south African tribe called Zulu fought foreign people such as Dutch settlers and often won till they came across British and were defeated. The reason they were defeated was because of the Britishers advanced technology. The countries that imperialized Africa were Spain, Italy, France, Britain, Germany, Portugal, and Belgium. The reason why Africa was an “easy target” was because they didn’t have the advanced technology that other countries did at that time. Assimilation is when another country forces a countries religion, culture, language, dress, and tradition in changing them into their own. Africa did experience assimilation since they were a weak country and many other nations took advantage of that and dominated them. Imperialism was a negative experience they had because their culture was ignored and no one asked them permission for taking their resources, but since they were high power nations there wasn’t that many things that the Africans could do. Another country that was imperialized by a higher power nation was India.
In the 1600’s, India was imperialized by British, because of their natural resources.

India had a company which set up trading spots around India and this company was the British East India Company. At first the British did not interfere as much, but after the Industrial Revolution things changed. Things changed because when the Industrial Revolution happened there were needs for natural resources. Since India had various natural resources the British saw India as the most profitable country for them and for this India was called the Jewels in the Crown. The Industrial Revolution had a negative effect on India because the British became more involved in their country. When the British changed the Indians referred to them as the knife with sugar because at first the British were just there in India to help and not interfere, but then the British gained control of them and took their natural resources away. The changes that occurred were that British a more powerful country controlled India a weaker country. When the British gained control over India the Indians were forced to produce raw material for the British. One Negative thing that happened was that the British gained control over India politically and economically leaving the Indians no control. Another Negative thing that happened was that the British focused on just making cash crops instead of food and this lead to famine in India. The people of India were divided into four groups called verna. Before the Indians were classified based on their wealth and power, but during imperialism it was based on their occupation. The Indians did experience assimilation during imperialism because their culture was ignored by the British since they didn’t understand their religion and culture. The British believed that “Indian institutions were well adapted to Indian needs and that the new British governments should try to restore an 'ancient constitution', which had been subverted during the upheavals of the 18th

century” (Peter Marshall, “The British Presence in India in the 18th Century”). This meant that the British wanted the institution to be adapted to their own needs because they didn’t care about the Indian citizens and only about themselves and gaining more power. The Sepoy Mutiny was a conflict among the Indian sepoys and the British. It started because the sepoys felt that the British didn’t respect their religion. In result to this the sepoys were mad so they started to rebel and tried to get rid of the British control in their land. Indian was yet another country that was seen weak and was imperialized by a stronger nation and their resources were taken away from them. Imperialism overall has both positive and negative effects on countries.
One positive effect imperialism on both Africa and India was that modernization was brought to those countries. A second positive effect imperialism had on India was that there was an increase in education, public health, and sanitation. A third positive effect was that there was and end of infanticide in India. However, there were still negative effects imperialism had on these countries. One negative effect was assimilation which happened in both India and Africa. A second negative effect was that the natural resources of these countries were taken away by higher power countries. Lastly another negative effect was that the more powerful countries obtained the highest position in government in the least powerful countries.
Imperialism is a negative foreign policy because countries that have more power dominate less powerful countries unfairly. India and Africa were two countries that were imperialized by the British a very powerful country. In result to being imperialized by the British these countries did not like how the British took full control over them and took things like their natural resources away from them. Imperialism is a negative policy because when leading there is no fair leadership its either the natives that are ruling their country or a more powerful country.