According to the definition, colonialism means “ the control over a dependent area or peple by a powerful entity by force or arms”. Colonialism, after all, is a political system in which an external nation takes complete control of a territory in another area of the world. Moreover, the colonized people do not invite the colonial power, nor do they have any say in how they are governed. Colonialism is by definition and practice un-democratic! Unfortunately, Africa and American both experienced the colonialism long time ago. The unpleasure experience brings them a lot of similarities, and the same time, it brings them some differences as well. In the following statement, I will demonstrate the similarities and the differences.
Africa and America have the similarities on what the same invaders wanted from them—the natural resouces. Both fo them were colonized by the European. Why did the European pick Africa and Ameica? For Africa, Colonial regimes concentrated on finding and exploiting the most profitable natural resources in each colony. In mineral-rich colonies, the emphasis was placed on mining. In other territories, the colonial power identified agricultural products suitable for export to Europe. In either case, the emphasis was on developing the resources for export, not for local use or consumption. Profits from the export of mineral and agricultural goods were also sent to Europe. Profits that could have been used to promote social and economic development in the colonies were not available. The small taxes levied on exports went to support colonial rule. For America, European imported the squashes, pumpkins, and corns etc so that their health standard grew higher. The Europeans also loved fur, so beaver pelts were one of the exchange items as well. And later, the three continents fell into a trangle trade system, which involved three journeys each with the promise of a large profit and a full cargo. In reality, the journey was more complicated with ships travelling from all over Europe carrying manufactured goods to different ports along the African coast to trade for slaves. The ships from Africa then sailed across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and Americas to trade the slaves for raw materials. Finally the ships from America returned back to Europe with raw materials such as sugar, tobacco, rice and cotton.
Africa and America are different in the way that the colonialism developed. To Europeans, Africa was more like a method in the trading system. They not only got the natural resources from it, but also used the people there as the free labors. Mining of minerals and the production of crops for export necessitated a ready supply of inexpensive labor. Consequently, colonial governments exerted considerable effort “recruiting” labor for these endeavors. In almost all situations, Africans labored in poor working conditions, for long hours, with inadequate pay. To improve the pay and working conditions of the labors would have lessened profits. The demand for labor also resulted in large-scale movements of people from areas that were not involved in colonial production to areas, including new urban areas, where colonial production occurred. In the end, the Europeans left the Africa continent, like they never came before. In opposite, America developed in a totally different way. European started to move their families into the continent and continue making their lifes there. Their culture and language have been influencing America even until now.
Reference:
N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.studyzone.org%2Ftestprep%2Fss5%2Fc%2Fimpactl.cfm>.
“Triangular Trade.” ***. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://www.landofthebrave.info/triangular-trade.htm>.
“Unit Two: Studying Africa through the Social Studies.” Exploring Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m7b/activity3.php>.
Sorry, this is my blog post #4, for some reason, it was never posted, instead, it was saved as the draft.
