A New Approach to History
Secondary School Textbook, Kenya (1994)
Imperialism: Curse or Blessing?
Like many other things, imperialism has a bad as well as a good side. In this
chapter we have called the bad effects a curse or something that causes misfortune. On
the other hand we have called the good effects of imperialism a blessing or something
that brings comfort and happiness to the governed.
The scholars of imperialism who call it a curse base their accusations on a number
of factors. One of them is connected with economic milking or exploitation of the
governed by their governors. Many colonizers acquired new areas just because they
wanted o exploit the new world for their own benefit. The English historian J.A. Hobson
in his book Imperialism: A Study reveals this clearly. He wrote in the 19th century thus:
We [the English people] must have markets for our growing
manufactures, we have new outlets of the investment of surplus capital…
Such expansion is a necessity of life to a nation with our great and
growing powers of production.
From the above quotation you can see the intention of the imperialists who
worked hard to acquire new areas for the sake of exploiting them. Here is another
quotation from another English imperialist, Sir Harry H. Johnston, who wanted to exploit
the Kilimanjaro area. He wrote:
Here is a land eminently suited for European colonization… Within a few
years it must be either English, French, or German… I am on the spot, the
first in the field, and able to make Kilimanjaro as completely English as
Ceylon (Sri Lanka), should I receive the necessary authorization.
Moreover this might be done without exciting any notice or involving any
responsibility for a cost not exceeding ₤5000. I have only to invite a
certain number of chosen colonists, already desirous of joining my
expedition, to come and occupy the beautiful sites which will be given
them (free), and there to cultivate vine, the coffee plant, the sugar cane,
rice, wheat, oranges and limes—and the principal points of this healthy
district will soon be in the hands of Englishmen.
In this letter to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, Sir Harry H. Johnston showed that he
was a true imperialist with plans to exploit, the fertile volcanic soils for the Kilimanjaro
area in mind.
Both J.A. Hobson and Sir H.H. Johnston were supported by Jules Ferry, a former
Prime Minister of France, who also said:
Colonies are for the rich countries one of the most lucrative [very
profitable] methods of investing capital… France has an interest in
looking at this side of the question. It is the same as of outlets for
manufacture.
With such an aim the colonial powers dug up minerals from their colonies and
bought them very cheaply. In fact where precious metals such as gold, silver and
diamonds were involved such as in South Africa, Rhodesia, and Australia, the
imperialists found it difficult to leave.
Imperial exploitation was also extended to labour. In the early years of
imperialism, Africans were taken as slaves to provide very cheap labour for the colonial
masters. It was on slave labour or on the blood and sweat and sinews of the African
slaves that the wealth of Europe depended to a large extent. European industrial
revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries succeeded largely because of slave labour. Even
after slave trade had been abolished the people in the colonies still provided very cheap
labour. Some colonial powers were accused of denying their subjects higher education
just because they still wanted cheap unskilled labour. Providing them with higher
education would make the colonial peoples more argumentative and capable of
occupying administrative or managerial positions. Even those very few who had higher
education remained assistants. Lack of higher education on the part of colonial people
was used as a weapon to exclude them from high salaried jobs. Makerere College for
example was established in 1922, but it was not until 1935 when five of its students got a
Cambridge School Certificate, which was the equivalent of the Ordinary East African
School Certificate.
The majority of the Makerere students pursued what Lord Hailey described as
vocational courses in medicine, teacher training, engineering, agriculture and veterinary
science. Many medical students who graduated from the colonial institutions of higher
learning were given the status of medical practitioners.
There are other examples to show that the imperialists tried to keep behind their
subject people in the colonies. For example, in Kenya, between 1940 and 1962, 454/was allocated to educate one child of the white settlers from the taxpayers money, while
the African child was given only 82/-. In the Congo (Zaire) by the time of independence
in 1960 there were only three Africans who had completed university education. In other
words during their colonization of this region (1884-1960) the Belgians managed to
produce three graduates. At that rate how many would they have produced by the year
2000?
From the above examples we can oppose the view that imperialists had come to
civilize the Africans since their educational plans were far from that.
Some colonizers did not respect the sovereignty of their colonial people. They
used force and grabbed their land and gave it to lawless people from Europe, the
convicts. They did not like the outlaws to be in Europe, thus they persuaded these
lawbreakers to go to the colonies. It was to such convicts that valuable land was very
cheaply given. The indigenous people who were the rightful owners of the land were
instead forcefully recruited as unskilled labourers. Kenya provides a good example of a
British colony where land was given out to white settlers almost free. In 1904 Sir Charles
Eliot, the British Commissioner in Kenya, leased the white settlers 10,000 acres of fertile
and virgin land at a penny per acre for 999 years. He wrote:
There can be no doubt that the Masai and many other tribes must go
under… I have no desire to protect Masaidom. It is a beastly, bloody
system founded on raiding and immorality disastrous to both the Masai
and their neighbors. The sooner it disappears and is not known except in
the books of anthropology the better.
These are the words of the British Commissioner to Kenya, the equivalent of a
government, who did not care much for the indigenous people’s land. He wanted the
white settlers to exploit Masailand. In his Arusha Declaration, President Julius Nyerere of
Tanzania summed up this exploitation this:
We have been oppressed a great deal. We have been exploited a great
deal. We have been disregarded a great deal.
Another curse of imperialism is connected with the failure of the imperial power
to respect the indigenous political systems. Wherever they went they considered
themselves a superior race, and so they used force to establish themselves. In this way
they deprived the indigenous people of their political freedom and independence. Use of
force made the colonized people suffer during the early years of colonialism. As a result
the early period was characterized by resistance against colonial rule and suppression of
such resistance by the colonial masters. As most peoples were unwilling to surrender
their land and sovereignty to the colonial invaders, they resisted, and these were gunned
down, thus becoming political martyrs. Those who lost their relatives during these wars
never forgave their colonial masters.
In some parts of the world where imperialists wanted to settle, imperialism was
practiced ruthlessly, and destroyed many lives. In the Canadian prairies, for example, the
Red Indians were either killed or collected in less promising areas which became known
as reserves. The Red Indians of the United States were subjected to similar type of
treatment. In Australia the aborigines were almost wiped out. Te same was true of the
Aztecs and the Incas of South America.
Boundaries drawn by the imperialists have often created a number of difficulties
for the colonial people, especially because they are drawn without taking the ethnic or
tribal groupings into account as was the case in most parts of Africa. Most African
boundaries were drawn artificially in Berlin in 1885. Although they were subsequently
modified, this was not done according to the interests of the governed but to those of the
imperial powers. Many of these boundaries have caused a considerable amount of strife
among African nations, although they are recognized by the United Nations. Among
good African examples are the Somali- Kenya, Somali-Ethiopia, and Togo-Ghana border
conflicts. In some parts of Africa, borders went as far as dividing ethnic groups into two
or more countries run by different colonial masters.
Other curses of imperialism of a rather permanent nature are connected with
apartheid, minority rule, and neo-colonialism. Imperialism developed into apartheid in
South Africa. This political system has been hated the world over, and a lot of
denunciations have been made attacking it. The practice of apartheid supports the
separate development of people of different races. Minority rule is the ‘cousin’ of
apartheid. The advocates of this policy feel that a few whites are fit to rule the rest of the
people who are not white. They do everything in their power to see that power does not
go into the hands of blacks, who are the majority. Neo-colonialism is a birthchild of
imperialism in that the newly independent countries seek help from the rich ones, which
are usually the big powers, but these countries are not prepared to release that aid until
the poor countries support the interests of the donor country. In this way some of the
interests of the giving nations are imposed on the receiving countries.
Lastly, another curse of imperialism is what we can call the colonies. Some
people who underwent colonial rule were given the impression that they had no culture,
and so they adopted a foreign culture. Instead of modernizing their own culture to suit
their level of development, they were forced or persuaded to copy the cultures of their
colonial masters. Such people have been called in black Africa, “black Europeans.”
As we said at the beginning of this chapter, imperialism has brought some good
things for the colonial peoples. In other words imperialism has some blessings which
have gone a long way in bettering the conditions and well-being of the people living in
the former colonies. Early imperialism, for example opened up new lands and thus
allowed interchange of ideas from various corners of the world. It is now accepted that
“no man is an island” and that is why many countries willingly belong to the United
Nations. This togetherness of nations has greatly helped to improve international
understanding and development.
Imperialism led to the creation of big nations out of the small ones which were
very often at war with one another, and which could not stand the world forces today. In
Africa, this creation of big nations or states was even more pronounced when small and
big independent states or tribes were incorporated into bigger states.
Another blessing of imperialism is that is brought about modernization. The
sociologist Aiden Southall says about modernization as a result of imperialism:
For better or worse the imperial interaction created the new African
nations with their capital cities, their small towns, ports, mines, industry,
commerce, communication centres, medical and educational centres.
Modernization came through the system of education which was adopted by the
dependent nation. Through this educational system the colonial people gained scientific
knowledge, technology, business management skills, banking, mass media, and the way
of fighting against poverty, ignorance, diseases, and other hazards of life. Though it
undermined traditionalism, modernization accelerated the development of the colonial
peoples.
Imperialism brought the warring tribes together. Because they had a common
enemy, the colonial master, the tribes tended to forget their tribal differences in their
struggle for independence. In this way nationalism, or the feeling that they belonged to
one nation and should rule themselves instead of being ruled by others, was aroused. It
was this nationalism which forced the colonial peoples to acquire political skills of
running a modern democratic society. To achieve the above, the languages of the colonial
masters helped the colonial people who were speaking different languages to understand
one another in their independence struggle and after. In the case of African states
imperial languages were very vital because they enabled the African nationalists to
communicate with their sympathizers. Even after independence imperial languages are
helping in international circles. In the OAU [Organization of African Unity—Now
African Union] meetings, for example English and French help the members to
understand one another.
However, it depends on who is deciding whether imperialism was a curse or a
blessing or both. From the above discussion we have sent that it was both. To decide
which side outbalances the other depends on you.