Colonialism and Imperialism

The origin of European (western) wealth

The origin of current European (basically white, monotheist) wealth and the now also dominating white (non-native) British offspring in the former colonies of America and Australia (all toghether known as the "western world"), is no more than the heritage of the wealth that was acummulated over centuries by brutally exploiting both human and natural resources of the supposedly 'non-civilized' native tribes of all other 4 contintents of the world, only to leave them devestaded and unstructured at the end of colonialism, while already forced into western money-culture (see "Schooling the World" documentary).

The social and environmental destruction did not allow most of these countries to develop themselves out of the gutter we European had left them, so they grew to what eventually was called the third world, until pure hypocrisy (and probably shame) prefered to change the term to the 'politically correct' and eufemistic "developing countries".

However, after centuries of slave trade, robbery of minerals and exploitation of their resources, the now ex-colonies are still suffering imperialist invasion, be it not through the use of weapens, but through the use of debt. And so, their resources are still being exploited, while their debt grows. Colonialism starting in the 15th century set the start of a negative spiral from which these countries will never escape again, unless drastic measures are taken. But OWO Elite will never allow that, so actually their only chance for saviour, as, in fact, for the rest of the 99% and the planet, is that OWO be overtrhown.

Why this is important

Guts for objective self-critisism

Colonialism by white, European, basically christian and generally men has been a long term "activity" with probably even longer term consequences, that rarely seem to be considerated in the present on either political, social or ecological level. However, the Europeans themselves (together with their north-American offspring and corresponding Industrialization and Corporativism) are frequently the first ones to cry out for and claim Peace, Human Rights or sustainability.

But, being honest, objective and having the guts to apply some self-criticism, if they (we) so want to persue (recent) war or genocide criminals and dictators to demand apology and/or compensation, should the whole of colonialism and it's still perduring consequences not be apologized and compensated for, as well? Over the centuries European colonization, which actually ocurred in two waves, and the directly associated slave trade, surely has caused more death and suffering than all "recognized" individual genocide criminals together, like those from these slightly arbitrary lists at Historylists or Parade or the full list of war crimes at Wikipedia.

A brief history of European colonization in Africa (a clip from "Uganda Rising") and Europes's scramble for Africa after Europe brutally carves up Africa, at the shamefull Berlin Conference of 1884.

Colonialism according to Wikipedia:

The first European colonization wave took place from the early 15th century (Portuguese conquest of Ceuta in 1415) until the early 19th century (French invasion of Algeria in 1830), and primarily involved the European colonization of the Americas, though it also included the creation of European colonies in India and Maritime Southeast Asia. During this period, European interests in Africa were primarily focused on the establishment of trading posts there, particularly for the Atlantic slave trade.
Religious zeal played a large role in Spanish and Portuguese overseas activities. While the Pope himself was a political power to be heeded (as evidenced by his authority to decree whole continents open to colonization by particular kings), the Church also sent missionaries to convert to the Catholic faith the indigenous of other continents.

In other words, it has been between five and six centuries now, that Africa, America, Australia and great parts of Asia gradually started to loose their own natural course of development, identity and in too many cases even cultural exsistence, due to increasing invasion, domination and exploitation by the white christian men from Europe. We now can only guess how the world and peoples would have been, if this natural course hadn't been violently interrupted over four continents, starting some 600 years ago. Would some tribes that apparently lived together in relative peace before the arrival of white men, now be engaged in mutual genocide and slaughter (Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and Burundi being the most obvious, dreadful example)? Would overpopulation exist and be an issue? Deforestation? Extinction of species? Ecocide in general? Global warming?  Most probably the answer to all those questions is a simple and unmistakable "no".

So, in fact, it should be a profoundly important issue to take in account, when considering nowadays global problems. But I have never heard it being mentioned.

Recognize, appologize and compensate for colonialism.

European white men invaded foreign continents with the only intention to just take all their possible resources and riches, under the false and lame excuse of bringing prosperity and culture to those poor "inferior" barbarians (as do now Corporations and modern Industry on full global scale - "prosperity"), while actually many were actually turned into slaves. The Catholic church happily approved and stimulated these invasions, providing the missionary work as yet another additional excuse and even including a divine blessing to justify it even more, so they all could ease their conscience. 

As long as the Europeans and the Christian church do not recognize, appologize and compensate for this centuries long genocide, destruction and spoliation, that eventually lead the European countries and the US to the level of wealth we enjoy nowadays, it should be considered that we actually still are living in the afterpains of the dark ages themselves and have not really abandonded them.

Why this is important

Even for those to whom appologizing and compensating seems 'too much', it doesn't reduce the importance of truly realizing that up to some 200 years ago the globe might have been populated with thousands of different civilizations and cultures. At that time these civilizations had probably managed to survive and maybe even thrive for centuries or millennia in certain harmony with their natural environment, most probably with less problems, stress, suicide or the sense of being lost than now exists in our current, modern, industrialized, consumer society, of which everybody thinks to be the representation of humanity. It is not. Maybe society as we know it may not even be defined as "Civilization" since a fundamental characteristic of a truly developed civilization should include the capacity of surviving and thriving at least, say some 500 years. Modern society is not and will not. We should be happy if we even reach the end of this century.

Maybe we could and should learn something from those ancestral civilizations, that might just have answers for our troubled modern world. 

Africa, Uncolonized: A Detailed Look at an Alternate Continent (BigThink)
What if the Black Plague had killed off almost all Europeans? Then the Reconquista never happens. Spain and Portugal don't kickstart Europe's colonization of other continents. And this is what Africa might have looked like. 

Africa

Africa: The Bible and the Gun

Very little is known about Africa, before Europe came messing up the whole continent.

Nubia - the first of a serie of eight on the Kingdoms of Africa

European Imperialism for Dummies

America

Native America before European Colonization

500 Nations - about the countless sloughtered indian tribes in America

Ancient voyages to America

Asia

Imperialism in India

Occupied India and the Chinese Opium Wars part 1

Europe in Southeast Asia

From Colonialism to Postcolonialism

Australia

Aboriginals - History of the First Australians 1/7

Related links

• Conservation Action Network
• Imperialism
• The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes: 315 years. 20,528 voyages. Millions of lives.