Dbq Imperialism

In the late 17th century, the European nations set up several companies and trading posts along the coast of Africa and Asia. They work closely with local rulers in order to ensure the protection of European economic interests in those areas. Later in the late 18th century and early 19th century, the time period that was known as the Age of Imperialism, the trading posts started to influence the lands and established vast colonial empires in both Africa and Asia. The oblivion of cultural identity and value, the establishment of new laws, and the loss of economic benefits occurred in the colonized lands as the results of the imperialism. The cultural identity and value in Asia and Africa were completely abandoned because of the imperialism.

J.A. Hobson, a British scholar, stated in a book called “Imperialism: A Study” that “The foreigners take wealth out of the country. All the hard work is done by natives.” The quote showed that the foreigners took all the economic benefits from the country by owning all the fertile lands, mineral resources, and the native labors or people who they consider as “lower race.” The natives, on the other hand, become the foreigner’s forced labor, which means that they need to follow all the chief’s commands and receive poor treatment with little to no income (“Document 3”). According to Document 4: “British Effect on Factories and Industry in India,” a part of the book called “The Discovery of India” written by Jawaharlal Nehru, during the colonization, England has prevented the growth of new industries in India and transformed India into a large supplier of raw materials and agricultural products for British industries. The British took India’s economic benefits by taking raw materials from India at a cheap price, manufactured, then sell them back to India with a higher price. Because of this, India becomes a nation that lack of ability to manufacture raw materials themselves and needed to import British goods. This caused India to struggle with the issue surrounds extreme poverty and low standard of living (“Document

These impacts affected the land in both short term and long term. Imperialism caused many actions that abuse human rights. The traditions also destroyed in the colonies. The uprising and rebellions were prevented by several laws established during that time. After the imperialists left their colonies, the lands were struggled in poverty and also having a hard time to govern themselves. The long-term effects of Imperialism also significant today. The cultural diffusion and the improvement of transportation, education and medical are the examples of