In: Psychology
Analyze the connections and comparisons that can be made between Africa and Southeast Asia in the late nineteenth century. (Ch. 26)
With occurrence of industrial
revolution, there was a gradual shift in the manner in which
economies were being built in the early 19th century. Along with
this, there was the American civil war, in the 1860s, unification
of Germany in the mid 19th century and Britain, with its might.
These economies began developing. Britain was already looking to
expand its territory by building colonies all over the world, so as
to create markets among the various colonies.
as germany got unified, with zolverin as its economical ideal,
there began a race for imperialism. These capitalist economies,
Britain, Germany, Dutch, Portuguese, wanted to expand their bases,
and thus began the exploitation of colonies in the mid 19th
century.
by 1857, the British had already established a strong hold over
India. Around the same time, the Dutch had established their
colonies in the Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia region. Also,
britishers had expanded their bases to Africa, dividing it into
several countries.
- the african and the south East Asian colonies were seen as
reservoirs of raw material
- the colonisers wanted to increase
their wealth multi fold. They started imposing the idea of free
trade, where, raw materials were sent from the colonies to the
coloniser countries, and manufactured and finished goods were sent
back to the colonies. These colonies were used as markets for the
finished good.
- agricultural labourers were exploited to produce what the
colonisers wanted. Plus the peasants were taxed heavily, barely
allowing them to survive with their resources.
- constant famines were observed, as the colonisers paid little
attention to growth of food crops and more to growth of cash
crops.
- local men were employed in the armies, to fight wars that the
colonisers deemed upon.
- identify crisis invoked into the minds of the people, by displaying the ideas of white supremacy and white mans burden.