Colonialism
Colonialism implies domination of people’s life and culture. The main goal of colonialism is extraction of economic benefits from the colony. Colonialism results in control over life of natives in political, economic, cultural and social spheres. It is more subtle whereas Imperialism is more formal and aggressive.
Types of colonialism
- Settler colonialism: Settler colonialism involves large-scale immigration, often motivated by religious, political, or economic reasons. It aims largely to replace any existing population. Australia, Canada, the United States, Apartheid South Africa (and to a more controversial extent Israel) are examples of settler-colonial societies.
- Exploitation colonialism: it involves fewer colonists and focuses on the exploitation of natural resources or labour to the benefit of the metropole. This category includes trading posts as well as larger colonies where colonists would constitute much of the political and economic administration.
- Surrogate colonialism: Surrogate colonialism involves a settlement project supported by a colonial power, in which most of the settlers do not come from the same ethnic group as the ruling power.
- Internal colonialism: Internal colonialism is a notion of uneven structural power between areas of a state. The source of exploitation comes from within the state. This is demonstrated in the way control and exploitation may pass from people from the colonizing country to an immigrant population within a newly independent country.
- National colonialism: National colonialism is a process involving elements of both settler and internal colonialism, in which nation-building and colonization are symbiotically connected, with the colonial regime seeking to remake the colonized peoples into their own cultural and political image. The Republic of China in Taiwan is the archetypal example of a national-colonialist society.
- Trade Colonialism: Trade Colonialism is a focus on control over the trading relationships of the colony. A good example of trade colonialism is the British trade coercion post-1842 Opium war in China forcing the opening of additional ports for foreign trade.
Reasons for colonization
- Requirements of Raw Material: It is necessary to maintain low costs of production compared to competing nations in the market. The desire to create a monopoly in the market and the need to procure raw material at cheaper rates were two major factors, which made it essential for the European nations to establish clear supremacy.
- Investing Surplus Capital: The Industrial revolution added to the wealth of the European capitalists, who were already rich. They started searching for secure markets to invest their surplus funds. The markets in the less developed countries were quite secure from this point of view. Thus, the availability of surplus capital facilitated the rise of colonialism.
- Sources of Minerals: The countries in Asia and Africa had rich sources of minerals like gold, diamonds, silver, and coal etc. This attracted the European merchants to various regions of Asia and Africa.
- Geographic Importance: European nations had realised that the geographic location of some regions in Asia and Africa are advantageous for trade. Malta, Gibraltar, Aden, Singapore, Andaman, and Nicobar were some such regions, where the British established their hold.
- Availability of Labour: European merchants needed a large number of labourers at a very cheap rate. The colonies fulfilled this need. Later, it contributed to the boom in the slave trade.
- Religious Reasons: Protestant groups, like the Pilgrims and Puritans, came to the Americas to establish their own communities, where they could worship God in their own way. Catholics, Quakers, and Jews later came to the colonies seeking freedom of worship.
Merits of Colonialism
- Industrial growth: Colonialism contributed for the industrial growth of the mother country. Raw materials were brought to the mother country from her colonies. The factories ran quite well and produced more and more which were sent again to colonies for sail.
- The mother country sent many powerful and genius people to different colonies. They became the head of administration or army. They received their salary from the colonies. Thus, the mother country could very well govern her colonies
- Colonialism increased the prestige of the mother country. The more colonies a country possessed the more prestige it had before others. It also considered herself more powerful.
- Colonialism also helped in the promotion of education, agriculture, administration, industry, trade and commerce. In due course of time, these colonies became self-sufficient.
- Colonialism taught the people about ‘Nationalism’, ‘Democracy’ and ‘Constitutionalism’. In later times, these ideas helped the’ people of the colonies to achieve independence.
- This helped a lot to the missionaries. They taught English to the people at different colonies. This educated people who knew many new ideas and spread them among the native people.
Impact of Colonialism
- Columbian Exchange: The term Columbian Exchange refers to the widespread exchange of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas that occurred between the new world (Americas) and the Old World (Eurasia) in the 15th and 16th centuries, as a result of European colonization and trade.
- Slave Trade: To effectively utilize the resources, colonizers needed immense amount of labour. During the initial years, the European settlers met labour requirements by enslaving the native populations. However, the decline in the native population led to importing slaves from Africa which emerged as a lucrative alternative.
- Boost to Mercantilism: Mercantilism, in a way, was both the cause as well as the effect of colonialism. Mercantile economic policies were definitely an impetus for the start of colonization. But subsequently, the benefits due to colonial exploitation further reinforced the ideology of mercantile capitalism and augmented its spread across Europe.
- Military innovation: Conquering forces have throughout history applied innovation in order to gain an advantage over the armies of the people they aim to conquer. Greeks developed the phalanx system, which enabled their military units to present themselves to their enemies as a wall, with foot soldiers using shields to cover one another during their advance on the battlefield.
- Introduced diseases: Encounters between explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced new diseases, which sometimes caused local epidemics of extraordinary virulence. For example, smallpox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, and others were unknown in pre-Columbian America.
Establishment of Colonies in Asia
The European countries established their colonies in many Asian countries.
| India |
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| South-East Asia |
Japan occupied Korea and Formosa. |
| Central Asia |
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Social and economic impact of colonialism on India
Social Impact
- Exposure to modern ideas and institution such as Rationalism, liberalism, humanism, Parliament, etc led to social reforms in Indian society in form of Abolition of sati, widow remarriage, girls’ education, etc
- It also led to growth of a nationalist and anti-colonial consciousness.
- The knowledge of English has given Indians an edge in the global market, was introduced during colonial period. Though, English continues to be mark of privilege in some pockets of India, it has become necessity and an important tool of communication.
- It led to considerable movement of people from one part to another within India and Outside India for employment in tea plantation, as government employees and professionals like doctors and lawyers. This helped in better integration of India and national consciousness.
- Due to growth of urbanization and industrialization, employment opportunities grew and the remittances were used for the development of the villages- establishment of educational institute, trusts, fashionable houses, etc.
- To prevent opposition from Indian people, British imposed laws to curtail expression of public opinion. They excluded Indians from responsible position in government and discriminated against them in other institutions and in social life
- The role of moneylender, Zamindars changed the social structure in villages. The relationship of tribes with forests was changed.
- Movement of people from India to other colonies threatened the change in social system of caste. It also involved the oppression of laborers by curtailing their freedom and exploiting them.
- Industrialization also led to growth of new social grouping in the society and new social relationship, which further caused division within society.
Economic impact
- Industrialization in India was started with the setup of cotton mills in India
- Railway construction was started on large scale to extend the Indian market for British Goods.
- New urban centers sprawled up like Bombay and Madras, which was at the cost of decline of old urban centers such as Surat and Masulipatnam.
- Led to growth of commercial farming and production of cash crops in India.
- Industrial revolution in England, led to pouring of British goods in India at an unprecedented rate, which ruined the Indian handicraft Industry and led to de-industrialization in some sectors. For example- traditional exports of silk and cotton manufactures declined in India.
- Money, resources were drained out of India and India’s interests were subordinated more and more to British interests
- It changed the land ownership laws and decided what crops to be grown and what ought not be grown.
Conclusion:
The Colonialism of the West could not last long. During the World War I, it got a severe jolt. The Press, education and political consciousness which grew in these colonies made the people conscious about their rights. On the other hand, the capitalist countries could not fulfil the social and political needs of the people of different colonies. Nationalism grew in these countries and after World War II, the colonies declared their independence one after another.
