Imperialism and its Impact: A Historical Insight

Followed by the first age of Imperialism in the 1600s when the spanish conquistadors sailed the Atlantic Ocean, the second age of imperialism occurred. Imperialism is when a more powerful country takes over a less powerful country. In the 1800s right after the Industrial Revolution, the Europeans were colonizing the African territory. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, Britain, France and the Netherlands had grown more powerful. However, they did not have raw minerals so they needed the resources from Africa. Now that they had control of Africa and its natural resources, they felt that it was okay to take anything they wanted. This is why they believed that imperialism brought stability to the country but in reality imperialism affected

the uncivilized people negatively. Most resources that were taken from Africa was gold, ivory, cotton, tobacco, sugarcane and rubber. Europeans worked meticulously in order to assert cultural control over their African colonies. The European rulers came together at The Berlin Conference in order to discuss the new conquest of Africa. At this time, Africa was viewed as a piece of cake and each “slice” was distributed to each European country depending on its power.
The White Man's Burden was based on a belief that the Europeans had a responsibility to bring the civilizations to the people in their colonies. The Europeans believed that their culture was superior and that the indigenous people needed to be safe. Most of these ideas were influenced by social darwinism in which the white race had evolved faster and more civilized compared to the other races. At this time, the application of social darwinism was rational to them. The Europeans tried to incorporate the task of making the people civilized through education, religion (christianity), infrastructure and government. The indigenous people were forced to change their ways and adjust to the European culture. They had to wear European clothes and learn about the bible. The missionaries from Europe and the Americas settled to build churches and this is how they wanted to convert the natives into christians. Children were forced to wear European clothes to school. The British also built hospitals, roads, bridges and railroads, European style. This “new system” for the natives had been a major change and everything around them was influential.
My cartoon is based on the idea of how uncivilized people were viewed during The White Man’s Burden and how conflict mining creates instability.

I drew a pool table that looks like it is set up for a game. There are 15 balls in the center and it says “uncivilized”. The balls are used as a metaphor to exaggerate the idea of how the indigenous people were treated. The uncivilized people had an unstable life and just like a ball, they were rolling around. They went from place to place and their lives were unstable since they only fulfilled what the Europeans wanted out of them. At the head of the table there is a white ball that is about to be hit by the cue stick. However, the ball is inside of a diamond. The ball inside of the diamond represents how powerful the Europeans were as they were imperialising Africa and the diamonds were taken from Africa. The ball inside of the diamond is “targeting” the uncivilized people. As the cue stick hits the balls, they will go into the pocket in the right bottom corner to become civilized. In there, they will receive an education, be safe and become as superior as the Europeans.This pocket is like a “trap” because there are 3 other pockets but they are only going into this one. On both sides of the balls, there is an outline of Europe and Africa. Inside of Africa are symbols like diamonds and natural resources. These resources are what made Africa so significant to Europe. On the other hand, in the outline of Europe, there are money signs and words like “civilized”, “school”, and “religion”. The money signs show that their main intention was to colonize Africa and earn money from the manufactured goods. The three terms listed above is what the Europeans wanted to do in order to make the people civilized. My cartoon demonstrates what Europeans wanted out of Africa and its significant qualities. It also demonstrates how the uncivilized people were viewed and what imperialism did to

them.
Imperialism created stability for the Europeans because it only benefited them but it created instability for the miners and uncivilized people since they were being used. They wanted to have power over Africa so that they can access an abundance of natural resources. The Europeans were able to receive natural resources and the miners made it possible. They worked hard to mine these resources in harsh conditions and they were being used for money. The labor that these miners produced, resulted in the Europeans being wealthy. Imperialism created instability because the miners did most of the work and they were being used and the uncivilized people were forced to change their ways. Some families were separated from each other and some children had been taught to believe that receiving an education and indulging in christianity will make them better people. Becoming civilized was mandatory. In brief, imperialism created stability for the Europeans and created instability for the uncivilized people.