Thoughts & Reflections - The Human Story Chapter 15

Thoughts & Reflections Chapter 15 - The Richer Countries Grab The Poor. 

 

1. Why do some countries try to rule and control other countries?

     Countries have several justifications for invading other countries. Most of the time countries invade for resources such as ivory, rubber, oil, and mining operations. Sometimes it was also to sequre a more favorable tradign market, which was one of the reasons why Britan colonised India. Many countries who invaded justified their actions by stateing they are bringing the light of god to savages.

     Western Imperialsim is almost never fair to the countries being colonised. Tribes were forced into slavery, where if they did not harvest the required amount of resources were brutaly punished. Countries were exploited and even denied basic democratic rights, lik when belgium invaded the congo. They pourposefully treated the citizens like children, specifically not eductating them in democracy. They even denied the return of members of the congo who managed to see other countries. These countries were small, and had land either scammed from them, or taken by force because the tribes lacked the firepower and organisation neccescary to hold off foreign influence.
     Countries who were colonised were forced to give up their native religeon, and were forced into slavery by means of "taxes" collected by the country in charge. However, there are some positives, many tribes had brutal punishments for stealing, and had no court systems or laws, the westernisation of these countries brought in laws, and the rise of the court system. The British outlawed the Indian religeous practice of buring a widow alive during her husband's creamation ceremoney. However, these were mostly smaller countries in Africa and Asia, the larger countries like Japan, and China were trying to slow the westernization of their cultures down, however through lack of military power, and drive to keep their countries modern. Those countries did eventually modernize, and in a sense, westernize.