From Colonization to Exploitation

Colonization occurs when one or more species are populated in an area. The word “colere” comes from Latin meaning, to “cultivate”, “practice”, “tend”. From the story "Reasons for Colonization" by Richard Hakluyt’s extract, he talks about people colonize because of these reasons, "The glory of God by planting of religion among those infidels" which means that they want to spread the Christianity religion to the people who doesn’t have faith in this religion. "He also states the fact that people colonize because 1.) To plant Christian religion. 2.) To traffic. 3.) To conquer. In my opinion, the main thing why people colonize is “to conquer” because in the colonization in Australia, the British people colonized to take over the aboriginals land, culture and tradition. They felt that it was the right thing to do for their advance in their nation and therefore thought it was a sensible and a justifiable action. In the poem written by Rudyard Kipling, the “White man’s Burden”, Kipling's plan of the poem was to show to the Americans to colonize the Philippines, in the poem it says “To seek another's profit and work another's gain.” This quote emphasizes that people (Americans) colonize because they want to gain money and work. “Go mark them with your living and mark them with your dead.” This quote shows the encouragement and gives confident to the colonizers as the poem is saying treat the land like yours and do anything they want even stamping their life and death. “To veil the threat of terror and check the show of pride;” this quote indicates why the people colonize to show them that they can treat the indigenous people and show their pride and power. These strong reasons would support the colonizers want to go to settle in the land and have control in it.

Colonization can lead to exploitation by first settling in the land and later on as the colonizer gains more power, they start to do some cruel action like exploitation which would take advantage on the indigenous people. Here is an example of colonization gradually leading to exploitation; King Leopold II owned the territory of the Republic of the Congo, over two million square kilometers. Leopold had pledged under the terms of the General Act of the Berlin conference that he would restrain the East African slave trade by “promoting humanitarian policies”, “guarantee free trade” and “encourage missions.” In November 1888, he broke up his promises because after he saw how his power was increasing in Congo and made a law that was totally opposite of what he said to the General Act. He issued three decrees: first he prohibited trade in arms, second he commanded the terms for the employment of indigenous workers, forcing them to be a temporary worker for terms of seven years and third he established the Force Publique officer corps where entirely of whites were included. This decree forced the Congo men to collect rubber and ivory and if they didn’t bring enough, they would hold their wives and children captive or kill them and burn their villages down. This exploitation went all the way up to becoming genocide. These were the acts of Leopold that gradually lead him into the exploitation from colonization.
In the picture, “In the Rubber Coils” a Congo man is tied and twisted by Leopold II who is represented as a snake. The man is being strangled by the Leopold because the Congolese isn’t bringing enough rubber and ivory. Overall, colonization can become exploitation because the colonizers can be thirsty for power and therefore wants to act inhumane.

"IT'S A POWERFUL DAY FOR AUSTRALIA"

In my opinion apologies are important because the person you have been hurt realizes, that person have made a mistake. Most importantly, an apology shows how regretful you have been for hurting someone. Apologies may not cure the illness in the past but it can reduce the pain that the person had and make a better future. In this situation, although Mr. Rudd says that he is “sorry”, the hurt, anger and the frustration from the aborigines would still remain for some indigenous people in Australia. “Stolen Generation” was a criminal and a raciest act; hence it is difficult to accept an apology by Mr. Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia. When Mr. Rudd said “We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all” and “A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country Australia". These speeches made a difference to the aborigines by showing emotional scenes which emphasize that they are taking the apology from Mr. Rudd. However, for some aborigines an apology did not recover their painful wound in the past because in the “Stolen Generation”, the colonizers kidnapped the children and forced the culture and population of Australia to “breed out”. The apology spoken by Mr. Rudd made a difference but some Australians still think that they don’t have to make an apology to the aborigines.

In the picture above, you can see that how a three minute apology touched the minds of the people (aborigines) and gave confidence to turn the nation into a new page.