Was Colonialism all terrible? Should we change our outlook?

Question

This same issue of course could be applied to other conquerors in history.
Perhaps the Greeks? The Persians? The Islamic Conquests?

There isn't always necessarily a net BAD.. or a net GOOD
but conflicts can be viewed through a lens of prejudice/bias to create a narrative
We can speak about the negative aspects of colonialism, without recognizing its positive attributes simply to aid current political/social narratives.

Yet, I see that there is a double standard applied
MANY are still open to accepting the Islamic Golden Age for example? (perhaps out of PC/SJW culture). Which none the less gave many positive attributes to the world...
Was it all GOOD? obviously not
but Islamic culture and influences (in things like math) can still be seen to this day. These conquests even influenced architecture in regions like Spain.

Should we begin looking at history in such a lens
instead of incorporating current political narratives to draw conclusions of past events?

The same can be said of the current United States? Which is of course the center of debate throughout the world (and rightfully so, as any power should be)
We can critique its various policies
but also a fact is that its overseen one of the most peaceful eras in human history?
It has had a profound influence (both positive and negative) on the entire world...

Perhaps its time to accept that these events are not as simple as we would love to believe?

nightdrot · Accepted Answer

No, as with all human affairs, it is a more complex picture than retrospective palpitations and angst suggests. Imperialism began in the 1500s predominantly as Europe was growing in population and technology and as it was looking for new trading relationships. It became a more overt form largely unintentionally over time.

An example might be India, where rivalries between rival princes drew in the British and gradually, more by accident than by design, it became an empire. Then, as other European powers began to seek to emulate the British and to fill the vacuum created by the weakness of countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, imperialism became more overt.

Indeed, by the way, as an aside, China and the Ottoman Empire well pre-date the European empires. War and conquest are not unique to Europe nor did it begin with them.

At any rate, decolonization began in the late 1940s and took off in earnest in the 1960s. Today, Britain, to cite but one example, has 14 remaining overseas colonies - all of whom have voted to remain British. (French Caledonia is due to vote on an independence referendum this November.)

Decolonization began at the behest of the people living in the colonies. They claimed that European rule was brutal and unjust. (In some cases, it was.) However, these very same people are now voting with their feet to live under the rule of the very people from whom they once demanded independence. There is, to say no more, irony in that and it speaks to the mixed blessings that colonialism provided.

Gandhi is reputed to have said that people would prefer to live under their own bad government instead of someone else's good government. Apparently not - if the waves of immigrants from the Third World are to be believed. Their actions speak louder than their words.

Besides, as Aristotle said in so many words, it is not a question of whether they want to live under their own bad government, but ought they to want to live under their own bad government. It would seem that immigrants read a lot of Aristotle.

Lliam · Accepted Answer

I don't know what's wrong with Sowell's brain but I strongly disagree with him. His assertions on this subject disgust me. He was obviously educated (indoctrinated) by western-centric universities and know little to nothing about the cultures that have been supplanted by colonialists. He assumes that his culture is superior.
The fact that he is a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and serves as the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy says it all.

Cultures can gain from other cultures, but they don't need colonialism to do so.

His attitude reminds me of the ethnocentric notion that 'our little brown brothers' would need 'fifty or one hundred years' of close supervision 'to develop anything resembling Anglo-Saxon political principles and skills.'
That notion assumes that Anglo-Saxon political principles and skills were superior. OMG, seriously? It's a totally false assumption. It is only convincing if knowledge of those cultures is deleted from the history books.

Colonialism has never benefited anyone but the colonizers. Are India or Japan, for example, better off because of western colonialism? How about Africa or the Middle East?

Cultures developed and prospered for centuries without the benefit of western exploitation. How does it benefit them to become westernized by force?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Colonialism had it's good points. Only an ignorant fool wouldn't realize that.

Take South Africa as example. A few of the areas have gone back to predominantly African rule. Bluntly. They've become shitholes. I am not saying that as few whites. But because the crime has gone through the roof, the divide between social classes has only ever gotten bigger with the rich & affluent blacks supporting their peers and letting others suffer, drug lords and similar don't get any real justice they bride their way out of anything serious, etc. Educate yourself before crying that Africans are innocent little victims. Some of the African countries were the LAST to make SLAVERY ILLEGAL in the entire WORLD.

menina · Accepted Answer

Only racists and imperialists believe that colonization was good.
There's nothing good about be taken away from your land, being treated like s***, being raped, stolen, persecuted. Seeing your culture being destroyed, your village being burned and your language disappearing. Being forced to work for hours under inhumane conditions and then being beaten up. Being stripped away from your rights and being forced to live in a foreign country.
So no, as a black African woman I see no advantages in this horrible part of world history.

jshm2 · Answer

Stop being such an Islamophobic bigot.

Slavery in that region was very different from elsewhere. Before Islam it was no different from elsewhere, Islam paved the way for slaves to be released and even to hold property and marry freely.

In fact it was one reason why Islam was the religion of the slaves. It not only gave them freedom, but allowed them to live free from the shackles and debts imposed on them by their former owners and masters.

Colonialism was entirely a negative affair. To the extend that Russia, the Middle East and China are the only three major regions than did not engage in the practice.

Stoner710 · Answer

Some aspects of colonialism were terrible yes, French in Vietnam the British in India and South Africa were pretty bad (not horrible as in mass genocide there’s only really 5 countries that committed genocide. ). British colonialism was probably the least harsh same with Dutch and French in American Indonesia and Vietnam are different stories.

the ones who committed genocide where the Spanish, the Germans, the Japanese and Chinese and mongols (can’t really says Mongolia since that’s a pretty resent country Mongolia did conquer China but that’s not the only time China was imperial).

Anonymous · Answer

Colonialism has good and bad parts. In reality, over thousands of years, people have constantly been replacing other people, all around the globe. That doesn't make it wonderful, but it's what has happened. It happened in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and it happened between the various tribes of Native Americans.

Leavesbound · Answer

Colonialism devastated many cultures and destroyed some of them. But you can't undo the damage without harming millions of innocent people. The best we can do is try to make opportunities for a good life for those affected.

QuietRunner · Answer

I agree each conquering empire that changed things did so to better their superior way of life. So just because the Spanish were the worst colonialist nation in the history of the world, maybe their are others that are equally as bad.

Time for some equity treatment of history.

Anonymous · Answer

Look at the parts of the world that weren't colonized? They still cook and each each other. Slavery still exists in these areas. Women have no rights in these areas. The people living there can't feed their own children

princeofromance · Answer

I am not an expert on this particular topic. Therefore, I cannot say either way.

Anonymous · Answer

What's with all your historical revisionism? Next you'll be saying slavery wasn't that bad.

NamerOfStars · Answer

Nuance? Subtlety? I remember those!

Iron_Man · Answer

Stay on the positive Brightside

Was Colonialism all terrible? Should we change our outlook?

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