The Legacies of Colonialism and Imperialism

Colonialism is the policy of domination pursued by the European powers starting in the fifteenth century and extending to the mid twentieth century. During this period European countries began to exert their control over large parts of the world. The Spanish and Portuguese founded colonies in what was to become known as Latin America. Britain and France began to colonize North America and the Middle East as well as Africa, Asia and many of the Islands of the Caribbean. The Countries of the less developed world (LDCs) have long established relations with their colonizers.

The consequences of these relations of colonial domination can still be felt today and the legacy of foreign control can be blamed for many of the continuing crises that the former colonies now face. The aim of this essay is to explore the legacy of colonialism and the impact that it had on less developed countries, economically, politically and socially. These legacies were in few cases positive and in many cases detrimental. Colonialism was very exploitative and disruptive; its impacts were enormous and many of the consequences of Colonialism left Colonial Societies ill prepared for independence.

The European powers did little to develop local economies in their colonies and instead they mainly built up enterprises that focused on commodities such as coffee, cocoa and other natural resources in a system they had designed to export goods rather than producing goods for local consumptions. The export oriented economy linked the colonies directly to the colonial power, rather than to its neighbors. This destroyed trade networks that had existed in many regions for centuries.

The empires extracted raw materials, minerals and agricultural products that were suitable for export to Europe as well as the exploitation of raw material and minerals for export. Profits from the exports of mineral and agricultural products were sent to Europe and gave The European powers access to immeasurable treasures with which to fund their own economic development. There was little investment back into the colonies and the revenues needed to govern the colonies were supplied by the colony. Economic development was encouraged but only in a form that would benefit the economies of their own countries.

The high demands for labor in the mining of minerals and the production of crops for export, necessitated a constant demand for cheap labor and thus colonial governments resorted to policies of forced labor or outright slavery in the colonies. These demands for labor also resulted in large scale movement of people from areas that were not involved in Colonial production, they were moved to new areas including many urban areas that still stand as large cities today and were involved in Colonial productions in Colonial times.

This Wholesale movement of workers led to the dislocation of peoples that impacted societies and cultures. Long held practices had to change to accommodate these changes and in many cases family and cultural practices had to adapt, change or be completely abandoned to fit the new circumstances. Families were split when men recruited to work in mines and plantations had to leave their families behind, women and children had to cope with the absence of their husband and fathers and some had to take on new roles that were unknown to them.

Colonialism affected changes not only in the economic, cultural and religious makeup of the colonies but also in the physical boundaries of many states. Many pre colonial societies were composed of towns, small cities and rural areas dedicated to agriculture. During Colonialism urban areas were rapidly developed bringing with it changes in economic activities, occupations and in the very way in which the people lived; in many instances these changes often challenged existing values, beliefs and social practices. Even gender roles were affected by Colonialism.

Many of the colonies took the views of the imperial power and in Colonies where women were typically empowered such as in pre colonial Nigeria where the women of the Igbo people wielded substantial political power. British imperialism brought with them their assumptions regarding the subordinate status of women and imposed on the local population through the education and legal systems. Although imperialism may have brought some advancement to women in healthcare and education it may have come at the expense of other freedoms that they enjoyed in their pre modern societies (Essentials of comparative politics pg 228).

As a result of Colonialism there was also significant change in religious beliefs and practices in many colonies. First as Islam was spread, through North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia through conquest and contact, Christianity also would eventually spread through Africa and Latin America. Islam which had been spread through North Africa was used by the British to Control parts of Nigeria by allowing local Islamic leaders to keep their position and allowing Islamic law in certain regions, they brought their leaders in as part of the new Colonial Bureaucracy.

This policy even prohibited Christian missionaries from proselytizing in Islamic regions. These policies would help limit resistance in certain areas but it would also increase the power and influence of certain ethnic groups in some and this would eventually lead to conflicts between ethnic groups that would last long after colonial rule had ended. The establishment of western style education system was mostly the work of missionaries and not Colonial governance missionaries thought that education was essential to their mission and their primary concern was conversion and not education.

The reality was that few children were able to attend primary schools and even fewer were able to finish secondary school. The establishment of western style educational policies and institutions created a new elite who were more westernized and although it would have been believed that these elite would help perpetuate Colonial control they would eventually become the foundation of resistance to colonialism as it occurred in Nigeria (Cases in Comparative Politics pg 475).

In spite of the lack of support for public education by the Colonial governments schooling by those that were fortunate enough to attend school had a dramatic impact. Most of the leaders of independence movements in Africa and the leaders of the post Colonial governments and economies were products of one of the few missionary schools or the even fewer colonial government schools. The physical borders of many countries were also the legacy of Colonial domination. Colonial authorities drew boundaries for their own satisfaction and ruling purposes. They did little to unify the peoples that fell within those boundaries into a national culture.

At times they did exactly the opposite, the Colonial powers sought to maintain control by creating and encouraging competition between ethnic linguistic, religious and tribal groupings. They mixed enemy tribes and destroyed traditional territories; this usually added up to national confusion and fracturing that had lasting effects and carried long into independence. This policy may have contributed to unresolved tensions between peoples and regions and has led to the division of countries like the split between India and Pakistan and then Bangladesh being created out of Pakistan.

It has also led to religious and ethnic clashes in Nigeria. Even countries that were never under direct Colonial control such as Iran experienced the division and conflicts created by the imperial powers and attempts at carving new territories out of their provinces to accommodate British oil interests in the Persian Gulf. Many Colonial territories such as Nigeria and India were able to remain vast countries in both size and population. These two countries are also rich in natural resources; however this has not kept them from experiencing widespread poverty.

Nigeria in spite of earning billions of dollars in oil revenues has become one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, one quarter of India’s population remains mired in poverty and one fourth of the world’s undernourished reside in India (Cases in Comparative Politics pgs 274,302,470).

If these vast countries rich in resources have experienced such development troubles after independence, it is no wonder then that one of the characteristics blamed for the slow economic growth of many countries in Africa is their Colonial heritage, the small countries in both size and population created by the colonial powers make these countries’ economies radically smaller than countries in other regions and make it less competitive with large economies. One can argue that one of the most positive legacies of Colonialism is the introduction of new technologies and the development of roads, rails and other infrastructure. Communications technology such, as the telegraph and transportation methods, such as the railroads.

The British laid some 50,000 mile of track in India and introduced a modern postal service. European governments however had not invested in the Colonies with the goal of bringing them up to the level economically or socially of their own countries. Their primary reason for having established themselves in these foreign territories was economic gains for their own nations. There were no efforts take to stimulate the growth of institutions that could support pluralist societies once the Colonial powers were gone.

Some Colonial institutions and infrastructures that were left behind would aid in the development of some newly independent countries, however in others there were few trained or educated to carry on efficient governments in the post Colonial period. India was fortunate in the sense that it had been exposed to the liberal philosophy and although they had not been fully in control of their destiny under Colonial rule, they had an elite class that had been schooled in the British liberal tradition and many had served in the Colonial bureaucracy. (Cases in Comparative Politics pg 280-281).

Indians had the challenge to attempt to create democratic institutions without the attributes that had made these institutions possible in advance democracies; prosperity, literacy and liberal traditions. Besides the massive poverty and underdevelopment common among former Colonies of the European powers many also share a tradition of undemocratic repressive and corrupt governments that may also have their roots in the Colonial models. Colonialism and colonial governments were undemocratic, after all the Colonial powers came in uninvited took control of a territory and the Colonized people had no say in how they were governed.

Colonialism did not allow popular participation and decisions and policies were made with little or no input from the Colonized people. Colonial rule was based on law and order and keeping peace through military force was a primary objective of Colonial governments disobedience or resistance to Colonial rule was usually met with force and repression, sometimes culminating in massacres such as the one which occurred in India in 1919 Where British troops opened fire on unarmed Indians, murdering hundreds and wounding over one thousand.

This policy of law and order led the Colonial governments to spend money on maintaining police and army forces that could have been spent on education or other basic needs of the Colonies. This was also the model for military repression and undemocratic regimes that would develop after independence. We cannot blame all the ills of the third world or underdeveloped countries on Colonialism, however it is difficult to ignore that countries that were once Colonized are among the world’s poorest.

Many of the factors that may have led to this were the draining of resources and the exploitations and pillage that these countries endured. It cannot be denied that Colonialism and imperialism had tremendous long term repercussions that have continued to haunt the countries it touched. We can only hope that these countries can overcome these legacies and are able to transition from instability to democracy and from economic backwardness to economic progress.