Effects Of Imperialism In Australia

"Imperialism is a policy that aims at building and maintaining an empire, in which many states and peoples, spread over a wide geographical area, are controlled by one dominant state." The idea of Imperialism is fuelled by the desire for economic and political power over other people and nations and this movement was led by European forces such as Great Britain from the 18th - 20th century. The colonisation of Australia, Africa and the Philippines are all examples of Imperialism, and while there were some positive outcomes for colonising nations such as Great Britain, there were tremendous detrimental effects on the people and cultures of the colonised nations. Racism and the general disregard and mistreatment of the native and indigenous

The native people of Australia suffered disruption to their rich culture as British invaders culled a large number of the 250 indigenous dialects forcing the children to learn English rather than their native languages. Only thirteen of these dialects can still be translated throughout Australia today. As well as harmful effects on the people of Australia at the time, the disrespect and mistreatment of the first Australians is sadly still evident today in Australian society. In fact, "just over half (52.2 per cent) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged between 15 and 64 years were not employed in 2012-2013, compared with 24.4 per cent of non-Indigenous Australians." This is an undoubted representation of the negative effects of Imperialism on the indigenous people of Australia in modern society. Finally, the colonisation of Australia was a great discovery at the time, the negative impacts of Imperialism on Australia have had irreversible effects that are sadly still evident in Australian society

After Spain's defeat in The Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain surrendered the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. Despite the treaty, conflict broke out between American powers and Filipino patriots that were led by Emilio Aguinaldo who wanted freedom rather than a change in colonial rulers. The following Philippine-American War ensued for three years and saw the deaths of more than 4,200 American and more than 20,000 Filipino soldiers. As well as soldiers, more than 200,000 Filipino citizens died from violence, starvation and infection, all due to this racist and selfish disregard for human life because of the desire for imperialist power. To conclude, the once peaceful land of the Philippines was disrupted by the American desire for more power and although independence of the Philippines was eventually granted by the United States in 1946, the hundreds of thousands of lives lost cannot be justified and is another example of the negative effects that Imperialism has on a country and its people.

To conclude the statement "Imperialism is racism without a flag" is an accurate representation of the concept of imperialism because while the idea of colonisation is the foundation of the world we know today, the negative effects that Imperialism has had throughout history in places like Australia, The Philippines and Africa