360 degrees: Colonialism

In past days in Academy, a theme of both history and English alike has been colonialism. Colonialism, though it may not exist today, had both negative and positive effects that have made the world what it is today. Specifically in Africa, during the 19th and 20th centuries, colonialism existed in a large scale as both the Netherlands and Britain sent men to colonize what they considered the unknown. The Europeans, because of the Natives primitiveness and how different they were from the typical European, were disregarded as "nobody" and pushed out of their land. Was this fair? Is colonialism fair? and is its impact negative or positive?

Colonialism, through a statistical point of view, had a negative world impact. As a result of the Dutch colonization of Africa, 4-8 million Africans died plus many others were mistreated and lived awful lives. During this time, African families were split up and villages tribes were broken because the Dutch needed labor. Many natives were pushed off of their lands and forced to move. This pushing around of the native people caused natives to clash with one another, resulting in more deaths. Many people lost their lands and homes to the Europeans and some even their life. However, Europeans benefited as they were able to gather the large amount of raw materials and natural resources that the continent contained. In fact, the Dutch and European economy boomed during this time, alot in part to colonization. However, the colonization also created an unequal relationship between Africans and Europeans which in part leads alot to the problem of racism in society.

One could argue that colonization was not completely bad for the Africans at all. The lives before the Europeans came infact were not that much better. Many Africans had been already dying because of lack of food, many diseases, and wars. Africa was alrdeady struggling and had been living dirt poor compared to other countries. The colonization was what they needed as it was an attempt to civiilize the Africans and create a society more like that of the Europeans. The Africans lacked structure in politics and lacked a stable economy and needed the Europeans.
Either way you look at it, colonization was a big part of history that has shaped global society into what it is today.