Consequences of colonialism in India Essay

Colonialism of Britain in India impacted heavily on different levels of life and culture. The indigenous languages of the natives in India were being wiped out and the English language began spreading very quickly. The Europeans aimed at altering the Indian culture to more a European style. India depended so much on Great Britain for technological advances and manufactured goods because Britain used India as its market. India provides raw materials for the factories in Britain during industrial revolution. The goods manufactured in Britain were transported to India for marketing; therefore India’s technological advance was at purr with Britain’s technological on gaining independence. India’s economy deteriorated very rapidly because now it had to learn to depend on itself rather than on the other nations. Developments in India have been so slow and as a result India is still undergoing industrial revolution. Indians were treated as second-class citizens in their own nation because they were not granted their human rights in their own nation and were not allowed to hold government positions. They were paid very minimal wages than their European counterparts who they worked with on the same kind of jobs. They were used as slaves to construct railways, build roads and harbors and were paid very little wages. Colonialism in India led to mass economic bitterness and social- cultural cleavage. These led to creation of anti colonial rational liberation movements. These movements were aimed at attaining independence from the colonialists. Cultural and religious movements that aimed at emphasizing on a national identity based on traditions and cultural values were formed they fought so hard to retain their cultural beliefs and values. Great Britain assimilated the Indian culture making Britain a nation of diverse cultures because most Indians migrated to Britain. Britain is still home to many Indians. Colonial systems had a tendency of financing one ethnic, racial or cultural group by giving them a higher status in the society. As a result this led to inter group and tribal rivalries. This also created unequal distribution of resources. Favored groups were given the privilege of assessing important resources that allowed them to develop themselves at the expense of those outside the cultural group. This has led to the dominant groups enforcing political economical, governmental and social policies that led to unequal distribution of resources among their nations. The colonizers often violated the human rights of those people living in the colonized areas. This was affected when they enacted unjust policies that deprived the colonized subjects of their lands, resources, cultural and religious belief. They even committed murder against their colonies. These unjust policies were seen in the form of slavery, mass murder and apartheid. The colonial empires controlled and operated their colonized governments from abroad or through the use of a selected domestic privileged group . As a result when these nations gained independence they lacked the internal structure and institutions to create good governance systems. During the British Empire, there was an increase of population in the rural areas and reduced employment, which weakened the traditional status of peasants in rural settings . The loss of lands degraded the peasants to the status of squatters. This led them to become agricultural laborers in their own lands. The living conditions of the peasants were degraded when the prices of the basic necessities other than food increased. Economic development depends on available resources, cultural changes, transformation of political systems and ways in which society adapts to the requirements of technological process. Countries that embraced their colonizers culture and political systems adapted to a rapidly growing economic systems. China and Singapore were fast to adapt and learn the technological advances from Britain and this has put them on an economical fore front in the world. The legacy of colonialism left African leaders with a fear of any form of political opposition. These leaders sacrificed political unity among tribes for their own good. These political leaders made accumulation of power and political survival their priority at the expense of economic development. These political leaders sought to develop and increase national wealth rather than the people’s welfare. This has led to the dependence on the colonies and west countries for technology and development. As a result their economies declined at very elevated rates, they argued that western knowledge and development was superior their native knowledge and therefore they should do anything possible to adopt the western lifestyle. Colonization transfers wealth from the colonized countries to the colonizers leading to inhibition of successful development of economies of the colonized countries. Colonialists have used neo-colonialism to cause political psychological and moral damages to the colonized countries. Colonialism opened up East Asia to the agricultural worlds market and all the instabilities associated with the world market forces. Peasant farmers lost access to resources that had been an important element in making ends meet. The colonial system turned everything into private property pushing many people into dependence on wage labor. In Korea, Japan colonization destroyed the education system that had been improving positively. Most of the missionary schools in Korea were replaced by private schools that did not offer quality education. The education that Koreans received was based on educating them to become better citizens of the Japanese empire of a lower level. The education given only provided the basics needed for the work that they were to perform. Korean economy grew very well under the Japanese rule between 1910 and 1945. Both the mining and manufacturing industries grew more than the period before the rule, but despite this the Japanese held higher skilled and highly paid jobs. All the riches gained from the growth of the economy were distributed among the Japanese who owned most of the companies, while the Koreans remained poor in their own countries. Koreans played a very small part in the modernization of their economy. With the end of Japanese colonialism, the economy of Korea decreased and collapsed. Total industrial outputs decreased at very high rates when the Japanese managers and workers left, they also left the financial agricultural and banking systems in destruction. The Japanese colonial systems only favoured a few Koreans allowing them into government and financial systems that made them grow and prosper. However majority of the companies that did not find favor suffered and collapsed. Colonialism had a bad influence on the cultural identity of the colonized counties. This detached many people from their heritage and their identity colonizers have done first by oppression where they force the colonized regions to adapt foreign languages and foreign religions. Conclusion Colonialism had both negative and positive effects on the political, economical and social systems of the colonized regions. They eroded the cultural and traditional beliefs of the communities but still impacted positively on their economic growth. They introduced technological advances that assisted in developing countries economies. However I would say that the effects of colonialism in general were negative since they left scars in those countries that were hard to heal. Bibliography Atiyah Jeremy. The rough Guide South East. Asia. Rough Guides, 2002 pg. 230 Castle Gregory.Post – colonial discourses. Blackwell publishing, 2001p. 330. Christine J. Clive. Ideology and Revolution in South East Asia 1900 – 1980. Routledge, 2001 p. 39. Everett – Heath Tom. Central Asia aspects of transition. Routledge, 2003 p. 80 Goodwin Jeff. No other way out: states and revolutionary movements 1945 – 1991. London, 2001 pg. 200. Hack Karl. Rettig Tobias. Colonial Armies in South East Asia. Routledge 2006, pg. 195 Kiratoska H. Paul. South East Asia colonial History. South East Asia, 2001. p. 150. Lazarus Neil. National and cultural practice in the post – colonial world. Cambridge 1999 p. 45. Mendl wolf. Japan and south East Asia. Routedge. 2001 p. 55. Milton – Edwards. Contemporary politics in the Middle East. Polity, 2006 p. 46. Milton – Edwards Beverly. Conflicts in the Middle East since 1945. Routledge. 2001 p. 70. Pappe ilan. The modern Middle East. Routledge, 2005. p. 38. Schwarz Henry & Ray Sangeeta. A companion to Postcolonial studies Blackwell publishing 2000. p. 150. White Stephen. Communism and its collapse. Routledge 2001. p. 28. Young C & Robert J. Post colonialism: An historical introduction. Black well publishing 2001, p. 94.