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.
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Nice posting Hye Ran!
ReplyDeleteI like how you gave the definition for colonization, which gave the readers hints for what you are going to talk about in your posting. I also like how you explained some of the excerpts from the poem "white man's burden". It allowed me to understand what the poem meant, and it was an effective way to back up your reasons for colonization. But I wonder if this paragraph could be more organized? I had some difficulty organizing the informations in my head while reading the first paragraph. Other than that, you did a really good job-especially when you described how colonization gradually leads to exploitation. You used background information to help the readers understand better. I wish I could learn how to connect my points smoothly like you. Great job!