Was the British Empire a force for good?
The British Empire brought many changes to the world, good and bad, to many people in different countries e.g. Africa and India. Some of these changes involved innovations in medical care, education and railways. The British Empire profited from slavery in the eighteenth century, but fought to abolish slavery in the nineteenth century. For many people, the British Empire meant loss of lands, discrimination and prejudice. Such a big empire had lots of everlasting impacts; a lot of them positive. The British Empire took science and technology across many parts of the world. They built railways, bridges and canals that helped improve communications in other territories. They built hospitals for those people in need who didn’t have enough money to get treatments. Schools were also another big aspect of education for the natives who didn’t have enough
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Colonists carried diseases overseas that killed millions of non-Europeans. In India and Africa, colonial rule caused an increase in prevalent diseases. The modern transportation and communication links that enabled colonists to travel around the world, as their empire grew, could prove to be a double-sided sword. Not only could Europeans travel half way around the world, but when they travelled back, they brought new and deadly diseases with them. The most devastating example of this was the way that Cholera was brought back to Britain from the Indian sub-continent with devastating results. The imperialists also had a habit of moving slaves and laborers around the world to tend the new plantations and factories. This would increase the danger of introducing disease to populations that had no natural resistance against
The transatlantic slave trade or triangular trade was a trade system involving Britain, Europe, Africa, America and the West Indies. Goods such as firearms and alcohol were taken from Britain to Africa in exchange for slaves. The slaves were then taken to America and the West Indies where they were exchanged for rum and sugar for the voyage back to Britain. It can be argued that the key reason for the development of the British economy in the 18th century was its role in the slave trade, although there were many other factors involved such as the industrial revolution and the British Empire.
The diseases brought by the Europeans included smallpox, tuberculosis, influenza, measles, whooping cough and the common cold. The consequences of these diseases for the recipients were deadly and life threatening, especially since a common cold was extremely difficult for these people to overcome. A year after the First Fleet arrived, in 1789, a smallpox outbreak killed numbers of the Indigenous people that lived in the area that we know today as Sydney. (Carter, 2005.) The disease spread to surrounding communities and the number of victims increased rapidly.
Europeans brought diseases such as cholera, malaria, measles, mumps, smallpox, typhoid, and yellow fever to name a few. The only known disease that the Natives probably had was syphilis. Although the Europeans inadvertently shared their diseases they did share other
With them came smallpox, measles, chicken pox, influenza, and many other diseases. “Before the arrival of Columbus, Native American disease wasn’t dominant in the land. Due to the lack of exposure of disease in their younger years, Native Americans were vulnerable to the European diseases that would come with the Columbian Exchange. The diseases would soon destroy many societies of the ancient Aztec, Maya, and Inca. Through many estimates it is foreseen that alien diseases caused over 50% deaths of the Native American population.
Why Imperialism Was Not Justified Many Americans and Europeans believe that there was many good reasons for imperialism. These people think this because they were the ones that benefited from it. In imperialism, the stronger countries took over the weaker countries and used them for their resources which improved their economy. Most also claim that they helped the countries they were imperializing, but the Europeans were actually hurting them. This led to the natives rebelling which arguably led to World War 1 later on.
With their new environments all of the colonists were introduced to new diseases. Poor living conditions, malnutrition, and native diseases caused many fatalities throughout the colonies. Illness ran rampant through each colony, which took out many workers. Jamestown and Plymouth were able to overcome each struggle and become the foundation of the New World.
Because European explorers brought along their native diseases (such as smallpox and tuberculosis), the native population was soon dramatically diminished. This meant that Caribbean plantation owners had to import in African slaves. This rejuvenated the African slave trade, which became an essential part of the global economy. Russian serfdom, however,
What Led Europe to Succeed over Natives Upon the uncovering of the of the America’s by the European super powers, most of the native American tribes were quickly captured. The question arises as to why the Europeans conquered the Americans and not the other way around. Europe was able to prosper and grow while the indigenous groups of the Americas stayed in the past. European success over American tribes was attributed to the fact that the Europeans possessed more advanced technologies and skills that could be used against natives, Europeans were literate and could record knowledge and events easily, and the European diseases brought over were devastating to the unprepared indian populations.
Something that had one of the biggest impacts on the world as it is today is colonization. There’s no way that the world we live in would be the same without it. From colonization, a multitude of good things came out of it, such as wealth for many nations, new land discovered, and colonies established. However, all of those things came at a price to others. The negatives of colonization affected the Native Americans (North, South, and Central America) and the Africans.
Almost every single person from the New World, whether a slave or not, was seriously impacted by the spread of diseases. Furthermore,
Did you know that from 1875 to 1900 there were 26 million deaths caused by famine in India? As the East India Company (Britain) saw India growing weaker they took that as an advantage and sent troops to India and defeated them. Britain soon took power over India, They formed a group of Indian Soldiers called sepoys to join their army. Starting out, Britain improved many things, but after a while they started taking advantage of India by using their raw materials and people to grow their own empire. British Rule in India resulted in the in them taking over the government, taking all the material from the Indians and destroying their land and ending in a large amount of India's population dead because of famine.
As the Europeans found native along the coasts of the New World, they found them easily malleable and able to be used, so they enslaved them and those who fought back were wiped out. Europeans, as well as the Africans, had built up a resistance to many diseases such as smallpox and were therefore not really affected as much by the diseases if they became sick. However, the Native Americans had not had contact with the disease and it quickly spread rapidly and slowly helped the Spanish rid themselves of the natives so they could take control of the land. Geoffrey Cowley offers insight on just how profound the effect of smallpox was when he writes, “ ...When the newcomers arrived carrying mumps, measles, whooping cough, smallpox, cholera, gonorrhea and yellow fever, the Indians were immunologically
Even though it has been over sixty years since Myanmar was imperialized, remnants of the outcome of imperialism can still be well observed. The language, the clothing, the infrastructures all have been affected by imperialism. These effects may deceive people into thinking that imperialism was all sunshine and rainbows but in reality, imperialism brutally destroyed the different aspects of a country. Imperialism impacted societies in countless negative ways. It led to slave trade which then led to social discrimination around the world.
They were able to expand the empire as well as unite the many different peoples and religions within the area. Soon Great Britain decided to take over thinking it was the best thing for them and the people, although the Indians thought differently. When the British came to India their main goal was to expand their empire. They thought that they would do it in a way that was fair for everyone. Although, they were going to take over India,
The British first came to India not only because of the abundance of raw materials, but also the mass potential they seen. The British East India Company, took advantage of the collapsing Mughal Empire, and broke away from their control to flourished their company. In 1857 the Sepoy army rebelled and that caused the British to come in guns blazing and take over the country. The British rule demolished India through, taxation on anything made in India, and the exportation of raw materials, which caused a plentiful amount of famine,and throughout all of this, the British kept most on India uneducated, and those they did educate, most were forced to become interpreters for the benefits it would make in taking over India and keeping the British in control. Political Paragraph British imperialism had a negative effect on the politics of India because of the corrupt justice system, and the utter lack of respect that killed masses of innocent people.