What impact did colonialism have on development

in the developing world?

Introduction:
Colonialism is the policy of one nation using its powers over other territories, buy
extending and occupying the other territories through colonization, which is the process
of controlling and occupying other territories. In the 18th and 19th centuries, during the
industrial revolution, European countries became stronger and richer through
industrialization as the other countries outside of Europe became weaker since they failed
to industrialize. Increasingly, the European countries began eyeing the counties outside of
Europe as sources of raw materials and markets for their goods.
Colonialism affects cultural, political, religious, economical and social aspects in
the colony (i.e. the territory that has been colonized). It has positive aspects in which it
may lead to better education, improvement in social aspects, and it may also lead to the
modernization and development of the colony. But it also has negative impacts, for
example loss of culture, loss of land, unfamiliar system of government, lack of respect for
traditionsetc. Therefore sometimes the colonialism may lead to imperialism, which
is the policy of one country or empire extending the rule of authority over other
territories or states. It often involves the exploiting of the resources of colonized country
or territory. Colonialism also leads to capitalism (i.e. the policy of ownership of the
means of production) during the European colonization, the capitalism policy developed,
usually the rate of capitalism increased in the colonies after colonization. It can be argued
that colonialism has positive and negative impacts on the development of the colonized
territory.

Main body:
Colonialism is defined as the policy of countries extending their powers over other
territories. In the 18th and 19th centuries, during the industrial revolution due to
industrialization European nations became stronger, therefore they started eyeing the
other countries that are rich with natural resources, and the countries that would be good
markets for their goods and started occupying them by the process called colonization.
They started occupying those countries that have failed to industrialize during the
industrial revolution. This process had positive and negative impacts on the development

of the colonized territory, it had positive impacts since it often led to modernization of the
colony, provided better education, since they opened and established universities,
institutions, schools and faculties with European systems of education, and started
learning and using foreign languages, also led to the modernization and development of
the society due to the interactions between the people from the two different countries
and cultures. Clearly the process was not entirely negative. The Europeans brought their
laws, education systems and views about civilization in to the colony and helped
modernizing their societies; for the most part the Europeans were able to suppress
opposition within the countries they ruled. They increased trade, used raw material to
feed industries back home, and improved infrastructure by building roads, railways and
electricity plants and improving irrigation projects. Distances that once took weeks to
cover were covered in days. Schools were built that offered a European-style education.
Some were built by the colonizers. But these improvements were spotty and generally
didnt have much effect on the majority of the population.

On the other hand colonialism had negative impacts as well, since the powerful countries
were using and exploiting the colonized countrys natural resources and they were using
them as their markets, the colonized countries found their local economies destroyed or at
least dramatically transformed as their populations were forced and used to produce and
consumer goods for the country that had colonized them rather for themselves. The
population of the colonized country became second class citizens as the people in the
other country began to think of themselves as superior and feel it was their duty to
civilize and educate the people in the colony. Therefore colonialism in some cases could
lead to imperialism (which is defined as the policy of one nation to exercise and use their
power over another nation to exploit their resources and use their people as their labor
and consumer goods and use their land as their goods market and benefit from every
aspect and era of that country). And this often led to the decrease in the development rate
of the colony especially economically. Hence imperialism is often considered as
geographical violence. for example, when Britain occupied India, India had to grow
and provide cotton for Britain, then they were shipped to Manchester, England where it
was made into finished goods which were sold back to India for a tidy profit.
The colonizers also exerted pressure by controlling trade, defining the terms of the trade
and forcing the colonies to become indebted to them so they could demand concessions.
And most importantly the rise of capitalism, the colonizers owned the production means

such as factories farms and work areas and the people from the colonized country were
only the workers. There were also cultural traditional and social changes, and more than
that, they began using European languages instead of their native language and attended
European universities. Therefore it could be argued that it is difficult to state whether the
colonization was all a positive or all a negative
process in the history of development in the developing countries, since it had both
positive and negative impact on the development on the colonized developing countries.

Conclusion:
Colonialism is the policy of occupying and controlling a country or a territory by
a stronger and more powerful country. Through colonialism powerful countries and
nations were able to use another countrys resources and use them as markets for their
goods. There is no doubt that when a country is colonized by other country social,
cultural, economical, political and other changes in other aspects and eras will occur in
the occupied territory. These changes may lead to the development of the colony. But it
may also lead to the loss of cultural values, respect for traditions, social values and
boundaries. Therefore the colonization process had positive and negative impacts on the
colonized country, especially on their development.

References:

Henry Bernstein, colonialism, capitalism and development, copy from the library.

Richard, P. & Elaine, H. (2009), Theories of development, 2nd edition, The

Guilford press, New York.