Not necessarily. Much of their current problems are do to lack of market demand and consildation of government power after the imperial powers left. See Africa thrived because the soviets and allies were pumping money into these countries plus tariffs. After the end of the cold war we suddenly changed on how these countries operated and decided that we would give money only after they reform their treatment of people and relax government regulations. Also copper,oil and lumber value fell thus causing a shortage of money. Now I'll be honest it's much more complex but I can verify this because I took an African politics course and I'm also an avid history learner.
TBH most American schools only touch on the subject lightly due to a mostly western centrist view on history. Very few of us have studied beyond westernized history and look at a more globalized version of world history.
IMO - colonization has lead to a lot of good and a lot of bad things. We have opened medicine to places that did not have access to this but some of the issues are caused by our western behaviors. We think we are doing a good when in reality we might be hurting just as much as helping. Mining things like diamonds have lead to warlords rising up and pollution, destruction and lower living standards for workers in those regions.
Truth be told we will only know how the ultimate effect will come about in a few more hundred years when we can look back and say hey that was a great/terrible idea.
Ah yes sorry, I forgot that we're supposed to forget what Africa was like pre colonization, the Noble African lived in peace with his brethren, there was no war and all was plentiful.
Not like the slave trade in Africa existed for thousands of years before we got there, or that they were killing each other in droves over tribal bullshit, none of that happened.
Truly it was a paradise before the evil white man turned up.
Colonization brought developed civilization to new areas. Despite some suffering it was overall a net positive for civilization.
The USA is a poor example because we mostly killed or removed the native cultures. Americans were mostly Europeans. You didn't answer my question.
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Did it? Did the British and French bring modern technology and infrastructure to the places they colonized? Not really. They set up puppet governments and harvested the land of its natural resources. Even with all that, colonization lost far more money than it made. With a few notable exceptions, colonies were national status symbols more than anything else.
Schools encourage you to learn birthdates and all sorts of unimportant bullshit about "great men" who "make history" instead of encouraging young students to understand the way things actually work. We have learned nothing about colonization/decolonization during school. Hell, things like the Herero and Namaqua genocide weren't even mentioned as a side note. Studying history really opened my eyes in that regard.
It was (and still is) a "net positive" but only for western civilization when it comes to exploiting ressources and opening up new markets. But for the people who actually live in these countries? Not so much. Imperialism and colonialism are simply the means of the capital to expand beyond one's own borders. It's nothing but economic competition leading to territorial expansionism. If you truly think that genocide and other acts of barbarism are a "net positive for civilization" then you've got some really twisted world view.
Last edited by Nerovar; 2017-07-07 at 08:11 PM.
They don't need anyone but themselves to survive, but people can't make excuses like "mug colonialism" because they are black and failing. South Africa is a fucking disaster, you were better off under White rule as a black person in many respects. Maybe colonialism was a mistake and setback but this notion of just sprinkling democracy on uncivilized violent tribes is an even bigger joke. We (the west) basically handed over Africa to the warlords
Learned about the Great Swedish Colonial Empire and that we have a great historical guilt to pay back.