Plum Pudding In Danger Analysis

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The first source is an editorial cartoon called “The Plum Pudding in Danger” drawn by James Gillray in 1805 portraying the hunger of imperialism of European superpowers by showing Napoleon (French) and William Pitt (British) carving the globe and claiming land for their nations. The general theme the cartoon implies is the greed for power and wealth of the European nations, specifically Britain and France, and the Eurocentric views they possess and the impacts those views had on non-Europeans. This message is depicted in numerous ways in the source. Firstly, both Europeans are seen cutting the earth into pieces for themselves, emphasizing their greed for power, status and wealth by colonizing lands across the world. Europeans strived for colonies …show more content…

A prime example of this again is the Beothuk and their contact with the Europeans. They slowly lost land, freedom to hunt and fish, and also their entire population while the Europeans obtained fish, furs, seized various territories and also traded with other Aboriginal groups further in land. In addition, Europeans that colonized in Africa used the people there for cheaper production which resulted in wealth for themselves while the Africans lost their freedom and later parts of their population due to violent conflict. In summary, the source strongly relates to both imperialism and colonialism which were both significant parts of historical globalization. The cartoon shows two European individuals eating pudding (earth) showing the Europeans goal towards imperialism to aid them in production, trade and resources along with wealth and power. Furthermore, the cartoon also implies that the world’s population would end up suffering due to imperialism as it resulted in the depopulation, loss of culture and negative impacts on non-Europeans many years after the contact had