White Man Burden Imperialism

Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man Burden” highlights the struggles that white men go through in order to protect non-Westerners. These struggles include lack of recognition when it comes to protecting non-Westerners, “…the blame of those ye better, The hate of those ye guard.” During the late 19th century we see a significant amount of European imperialistic influence in Africa as well as Asia. Many European powers were anxious to get a piece of Africa, increasing tension all over Europe. Chancellor of Germany at the time Otto von Bismarck called a conference of Berlin to ease the tension. During the years of 1884 and 1885 there were multiple meetings held, in which European nations agreed that “…control of settlements along the African coast guaranteed

Before the presence of Europeans, Africans were doing just fine and were very much civilized people. In their hearts and minds, many Europeans thought they were fulfilling some kind duty or mission when colonizing Africa, as if they were destined for it. While many Europeans were making a life of their own outside Europe, the rest of them were dealing with the fall in birth rate. Cousin of Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Galton coined the term eugenics. Since European population decreasing, Galton used eugenics to inform Europeans that having children with other races is bad idea; white people should only breed with other white people, because they are the superior race. Galton and his followers created the Eugenics Education Society, “Their aim was practical rather than scholarly: to spread the wisdom of eugenics as widely as possible in society, with the aim of improving the population as a whole.”As a way of gaining popularity they began printing out pamphlets with images that could be easily understood by individuals. One of these images shows an attractive family of six who are wearing togas. These togas take us back to the times of classical Rome and Greece which was when the white race was the greatest; there was no other in comparison. Images like these plant seeds of incredible pride, as well as well as hatred towards other races.

There was high competition amongst European leaders to see who can get the best resources in African and Asia. Nations like Germany and England already had open markets while France was still lagging behind, Ferry used the need for open markets to justify colonization. When Ferry went to address the French National Assembly in 1803 about his conquest to Africa and he received a lot of criticism in return. One of his critics, Jules Maigne felt that imperialism totally goes against France’s declaration of rights of men. Another critic, De Guilloutet argued that imperialism would bring back slavery and slave trade, which at the time was banned by France. Ferry did not let the critics sway his decision or opinion on colonization. He urged the importance of colonization by reminding the French men of how much more superior they are then black people. To Ferry, colonization meant a better economy for France, and he used that to sway his critic’s decision. Many of his critics felt colonization was morally and ethically wrong, but since it would be beneficial to France, they were willing to accept