Colonialism and Imperialism affected our world both positively and negatively. On one hand, Imperialism has often been linked with racial segregation, manipulation, and hardship. On the other, it has been said that many colonial powers contributed much in terms of schools, roads, railways, and much more. Whether this time period was constructive or harmful, it has played a large part in shaping our lives today.
European Imperialism started long before the 1800’s. Imperialism means that one country controls all political, economic, or cultural life in another country or region. Europe successfully did this in the Americas and established colonies in South Asia, Africa, and China. Although this would seem like a substantial amount of power, Europe did not gain much influence until later on. Once Europe recognized their own growing control, they embarked on what is now called the “New Imperialism”. Many components played into this seemingly rapid success, but one significant reason was that of the
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Some people lived in larger, centralized states, while other lived in simple village communities. Islam was one of the most widespread religions in Africa before missionaries came to convert them to Christianity. This might have been a more positive influence if the Europeans hadn’t viewed the Africans as a people in need of refinement and guidance instead of understanding and respecting their culture. However, one benefit of Europe’s growing control of Africa was that the transatlantic slavery slowly came to an end, but in East Africa, slavery continued to run rampant. Although the end of much of the slavery did rid Africa of much exploitation, it continued in other ways including the harvest of copper, ivory, and other resources taken from the Congo, civilians forced into hard labor for little compensation, and little to no control of the government was given to native