British Imperialism: Was It the Hazard or the Blessing for the World

Americans justified imperialistic behavior by claiming that it was their responsibility. Americans and Europeans both claimed that it was their responsibility as superior races to uplift, civilize and Christianize native people. This was known as the White Man's Burden, it was based upon the ideas of social darwinism colonialism which involves the domination and the exploitation of a native population that has been spurred by economic need greed and political rivalries. Some see the British Empire and its colonization of much of the world as all bad. They have hindered and hurt many nations and cultures but they also did bring some good to their colonies and the world.

Historically, the African continent had been underneath the management of past European Imperial Powers, wherever they established major colonies that served them as economic and trade hubs, wherever the colonizers exploited each out there resource on provide in these occupied territories. According to some article the most dominant European imperial colonizers within the African region where French and the British Empires. Between them they amassed almost seventy percent of the entire African continent. On the eve of using within the African continent, the area of land that we currently know as Nigeria consists of various quantity ethnic groups wherever numbers nowadays claim these teams were around 250 totally different ethnicities. These varied ethnicities were divided into kingdoms, tribes, and emirates; wherever their division was chiefly based mostly upon their geographic locations; those within the north of African country, as an example, were dominated by a caliphate system, because of the natives contact with the neighboring Arab-Muslim countries.

Nonetheless, despite their division and ethnic variations, all ethnicities shared a standard attribute, belief, and social values; like language, culture, tradition and origin. In different words, despite their variances, the natives of African country all valued their common identity.

Things were to alter within the 1800’s were the eu powers began their occupation of the continent. the primary British conquest of Nigerian land began in 1851, with Britain’s deposition of King Kosoko of metropolis. By 1855, throughout the Berlin Conference, African country was acknowledged to be underneath nation sphere of influence in Africa; uncalled-for to mention that the Berlin Conference of 1885 lacked any African illustration.

Through the first 1900’s, African countries had begun to make up British occupation, one space when the opposite. The folks of African country heavily resisted British using, particularly those of the north. withal, by 1914, the whole thing of African country had succumbed to nation Empire, once Lord Lugard integrated the protectorates of the North and South along to create what we have a tendency to currently decision African country. Some historians and authors have argued that it's at now in history wherever the roots of Nigeria’s current social difficulties have begun. Claiming that African country is a synthetic creation by the previous geographic area, so as to facilitate and exert their political and economic dominance.The British began by introducing several economic reforms to their Nigerian colony, reforms that they need ne'er knowledgeable about before. These reforms were established by nation occupiers so as to come up with any revenue to pay the troopers and officers’ wages, yet as maintaining its army’s wants and provides (such as food, water, ammunition, weaponry, and clothes). Moreover, these reforms helped improve the Empire’s general economy, because it pumped up the economy with cash generated from a replacement supply.

These reforms befell at the same time and hurriedly. nation began by alternating the present tax laws that were in result throughout the pre-colonial era (mainly taxes on cows, land, and poll taxes); were chiefly applied in Kingdoms and Caliphates. withal, the ruling colonial power unified the legal system into one taxation ensuing when the Land Ordinance Act in 1904.

Along with the tax reforms, nation additionally introduced a replacement touchstone. The new touchstone known nation pound because the solely accepted currency, commutation the past and obsolete barter system; erstwhile the natives want to exchange copper and iron bars or cowries for different merchandise.

Furthermore, nation occupiers introduced new land reforms, that geared toward redirecting all the profits from the lands resources into nation Empires economy. This came within the sort of nationalizing all land antecedently in hand by the Royal Niger Company; wherever the corporate solely had social control and industrial rights, yet as an honest share of royalties derived from mineral exploitation. They divided these lands into 2 sub-categories: Crown lands and Public lands. wherever the Crown lands represents the lands that contain minerals, whereas the general public lands wherever chiefly agricultural and in hand by non-public people and not the state.These reforms and lots of more contributed to the alienation yet because the intimidation of the natives of the lands. The natives of African country, or any colony in this reality, were created to feel intimidation and inferiority to the “white-man'. Wherever the reforms have had wide effects still gift till nowadays. Nigeria nowadays, suffers from widespread corruption, forms, and overall poor governance. The nation’s economy doesn't fare any higher, with economic indicators showing that the economic condition continues to be on a mean high in African countries. this may be attributed to the means that of that the previous geographic area applied its tax policies, wherever the policies where not solely means of extracting surplus from peasants, however served as associate daunting reminder of the colonial ruler. Moreover, the taxation policies were additionally want to exploit and impoverish the poor peasant, therefore breaking them, and driving worry into their values.

However, the government strategy of the nation Empire in the African country was based mainly on the exploitation of resources in Nigeria, with complete disregard of ethnic diversity and cultural ties. Before the Second World War, the partition of the country into a federal system based mainly on historical regional differences. These distinctions remained even when Nigeria’s independence, and at the side of ethnic rivalries yet because the sudden struggle for power created a foundation for instability, corruption, and social/civil conflict. Through time, this led to the disintegration of the social values that command all the assorted ethnicities along, yet as challenged the Nigerian sense of origin and identity, therefore making tensions that stay to be seen in African country until these days.

In summary, the British Empire was one of the greatest if not the greatest in the history of the world. Just as we know the nations greatest achievement, we must also remember the shortcomings of the nations, but the one thing they seemed to have negleted to do is to establish the roots of success in their former colonies. With both British and French Empires controlling more than 70 percent of African territories in the past its no wonder that the world’s oldest continent it also the continent with the worst history and the least developed