Colonial American Imperialism

Geertz once said that the tragedy of the colonial people was not that they suffered through the colonial era, but the fact that they suffered for nothing, and he was right. It is true that many of the colonized areas developed more rapidly after the invasion of the Europeans and adopted new Western ideas, but those benefits have no direct relationship with their pain. The colonized people suffered for nothing, because while they developed new public service systems and globalized economy, the suffering of the colonial people could have been avoided if the colonizers had more caution and respect toward the colonized.
One of the most significant change in the colonies after the arrival of Europeans is the improved quality of education and public …show more content…
Many might argue that without the first and second opium wars, China would not abolish its close-door policy and become the global power it is today, and the violence and oppression that occurred during British reign was necessary. However, that is simply not true. China was not unwilling to make compromises. In the beginning, China was very open to trading with England, and Britain became the largest Western trading partner China had. The problem came when Britain started importing opium into China despite the opium ban. That was what forced China to take action. Opium was harmful to the Chinese society, and illegally importing them was a clear sign of disrespect on the British’s part. The conflict between Britain and China was a result of Britain’s greed and contempt, not a necessary sacrifice for the development of China. If Britain had taken a bit more time and deployed more diplomats instead of warships, it most likely could have opened up China to even more trade agreements without a war. Trading with Western powers was extremely lucrative for the Chinese nobility because of the large amount of silver China gets. The economic incentive alone should have been enough for China to eventually develop a free trade policy. Unfortunately, the British were not willing to wait. Their greed drove the two countries to war and caused the death of almost fifty thousand Chinese soldiers and countless civilians. Those sufferings were for nothing. All it …show more content…
The pain of the colonized people did not cause the benefits they got from the Europeans. It was no trade-off. The deaths, oppression, and war were simply byproducts of European greed and negligence. The colonized people very well could have gained everything they did (and perhaps more) without the bloodshed they went through. Geertz was correct, the tragedy of the colonial era was not the tear and blood of the colonized people, it was the pointlessness and the absurdity of their