The Colonizers and the colonized

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The Colonizers and the colonized

• Objective Analyze the perspectives of the
  colonizers and the colonized concerning
• A) Indigenous Language
• B) Natural Resources
• C) Labor
• D) Political Systems
• E) Religion

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The colonizers and the colonized
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The colonizers and the colonized

• Imperialist powers gave a little thought to the
  rights of the people whose lands they took over.
• A feeling of superiority and entitlement kept
  these nations from even considering whether the
  people had a right to own and govern their own
  land.
• Imperialist nations ruled their colonies in a way
  that was most profitable and productive for them,
  not for the good of the people.

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Different perspectives

• The native peoples perspective on how to run
  their lives and societies was very different from
  that of the people who colonized them.
• This often caused conflict between the two
  groups.
• Colonizers attempted to force their political
  structures and cultural values, including
  religion and language, on the colonized.

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Different perspectives

• For example, when European powers established
  colonies in Africa they drew boundaries that
  separated their colonies from those of other
  European colonizers.
• The new boundaries did not follow the peoples
  traditional political boundaries.
• Not only were native groups of different cultures
  forced together in a single colony, they were
  forced to assimilate, or conform, to the culture
  of their European conquerors.

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Different perspectives
Example of Assimilation-Joke
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Simulation-GroupLanguages
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Languages

• Western nations used a number of means to force
  indigenous peoples to give up their cultures.
• Imposing their Western languages on African
  people is a major example.
• In order to participate in the economy or deal
  with the colonial government, the people had to
  learn the language of the European power that
  ruled them.

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Languages

• In government run-schools, teachers spoke the
  language of the colonizer, not the language of
  the pupils.
• Legal documents were written in the language of
  the colonizer.
• In some colonies, the colonizers taught that
  economic and social success could be achieved
  only by learning the new language.

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languages

• For instance, France believed colonized peoples
  should aspire to be French, and offered its
  best African students the opportunity to study at
  universities in France.
• In general, the perspective of the colonizers
  prevailed.
• Today, major languages spoken on the African
  continent include French, English, and Portuguese.

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Languages-culture
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Natural resourcessimulation
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Natural resources

• Colonizers and the colonized had different
  viewpoints about natural resources as well.
• To the colonizers, colonies were sources of cheap
  raw materials.
• They felt justified in helping themselves.
• They believed that manufactured goods improved
  the lives of indigenous peoples, but they did not
  want the colonies to industrialize.

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Natural resources

• They were afraid that if the colonized people
  acquired factories and began to manufacture
  goods, they would use the natural resources that
  the colonizers felt belonged to them.
• They also feared that the colonized people would
  complete with them on the world market.
• As a result, imperialist nations made sure that
  their colonies raw materials were exported to
  the home country for use in its factories.

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Natural resources

• Although the land and resources rightfully
  belonged to the colonized, they received no money
  for them.
• The colonizers paid their workers as little as
  possible to work on farms and in mines.
• The profits from development and mining went to
  the investors and manufacturers in the colonizing
  nation.

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Natural resources

• From the perspective of the colonized, the
  Western development of colonial resources was
  theft.
• In addition, lumbering and mining these resources
  often damaged the environment of the colony.

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Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa
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Labor and economic systemsSimulation
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Labor and economic systems

• Local economies changed dramatically under
  colonial rule.
• Before colonization, many groups had economic
  systems based on agriculture.
• People worked for themselves and farmed small
  plots of land or herded cattle, sheep, or goats.

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Sheep being unloaded by hoist off steamer
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Labor and Economic Systems

• Once a European nation or the United States
  seized control, the labor force was transformed
  from self-employed people to hired laborers
  working for foreign companies.
• The colonizers seized local lands from farmers to
  create huge plantations and then forced the
  farmers to work on them.
• People who were once subsistence farmers began
  harvesting cash crops, such as cotton, cocoa,
  rubber, sugar, tea, and coffee, for foreign
  owners.

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Labor and economic systems

• Workers livelihoods depended on decisions made
  by colonial businesses and governments.
• At times, workers rebelled against their colonial
  overseers, but they were always unsuccessful.

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Political systems simulation
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Political systems

• Imperial powers found a variety of political
  systems in the lands they conquered.
• Some societies had strong central governments.
• Others were decentralized, that is, they were
  local political units ruled by chiefs or leaders.
• Some communities were ruled by consensus-there
  was no specific ruler who made political
  decisions.

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Political systems

• Once in power, imperialist nations imposed their
  own systems.
• They ruled colonies in one of two ways
  1)indirect rule or 2) direct rule.
• In indirect rule, a nation ruled a colony through
  established local leaders.
• Indirect rule was considered good because it was
  cost-effective (inexpensive).
• The colonial power did not have to hire a great
  number of government officials to rule a new
  colony.

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Political systems

• Indirect rulers had no real power, however, they
  were subordinate to the colonial power.
• This was the government system that Great Britain
  generally used.

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Political systems

• Under direct rule, the colonial power ousted the
  indigenous leaders and installed European
  officials to manage the colonial government.
• France preferred this system.
• Either way, indigenous people were expected to
  accept the political system imposed by the
  colonizers.
• Native traditions and institutions were replaced
  by foreign models.

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Religion

• Religion was also a source of tension between
  colonizers and the colonized.
• Christian missionaries often accompanied colonial
  rulers.
• In many places, missionaries set up schools and
  hospitals as well as churches.

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Religion

• Unfortunately, their attempts to help people were
  hindered by the belief that the people they
  wanted to benefit belonged to an inferior race.
• Missionaries believed they had a duty to
  civilize colonial peoples by converting them to
  Christianity.
• In many areas, the peoples resistance to
  conversion led to friction and even violence.

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This is an illustration depicting David
Livingstone, one of the great early explorers of
Africa, surrounded by natives of Africa.