Colonization Features of Colonization the Present Day Essay

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Colonization

Features of colonization

The present day global stratification is a result of the colonization and conquest by European nations of the indigenous nations most of which were in Africa. Direct colonization largely ended but the ideology that came with colonization still lingers on in people's identity within their cultural spheres as well as their political, social and economic practices. Colonization began with entry of the colonizers forcefully into the indigenous nations. This was followed by complete destruction of their culture and governing of the nations by the colonizers. Colonization was driven by the desire to acquire land as well as the natural resources found in the land. They also wanted labor which was readily available from the natives. They wanted raw materials from the land and labor so as to support their economies which were on the rise.

There are four main features of colonization; the legal and political domination, administrative, ideological and medicine or western healing (Kotright,2010). The colonialists came with completely new legal and political perspectives and practices which were different from the ones that existed before. This significantly shifted the politics and administration within the societies and the countries at large. . The colonizers wanted to suppress the indigenous people in all possible ways and they did this through suppressing their legal rights because they viewed the colonized subordinates as being their savages and hence not entitled to any legal rights.

The second feature of colonization is administration. The colonialist countries came up with new administrative rules that would be used to govern the nations. They designed a reserve system which they would used to isolate the natives and claim their land. They created administrative boundaries within the native lands which they used for their own advantage. They also came up with administrative positions for the local people where they appointed locals who were loyal to them. They used these local leaders to rule the lands they way they wanted, the third feature is ideological changes. The colonialists came with new ideas which they used to foster an ideological change among the locals. They completely changed the cultural beliefs of the locals as well as their cultural; patterns. They stripped the cultural values and rendered most of the cultural values irrelevant or diminished totally. This is because the colonialists perceived their cultures as being superior to those of the local cultures hence attempted, and successfully so, to replace these cultures with their new and foreign cultures.

The colonialists based their ideological changes on the fact that they were trying to bring civilization to the people. Language of the people, their mode of dressing was all under the ideology and values of these colonialists. The native culture turns against the members of the societies and hence devalues as well as gives a definition of the people's identity. Therefore the native culture was completely diluted and replaced by the values and beliefs of the colonialists. The fourth feature of colonization was medicine. The colonialist came with the hope for cures of various diseases which the traditional medicine could not cure. This was a sigh of relief to many natives since they had really struggled with some disease. This made it easy for the colonialist to convince the local leaders and the populations that they had good intentions for them. However, this was not the case since they just wanted to gain selfishly from the land.

Canadian Indigenous people colonization

After the war in 1812 between United States, Canada did not require military assistance from the Aboriginal community. European communities wanted more land for economic purposes .These reasons combined with an increase in the number of Christians; the improvement of the aboriginal communities as they were considered being inferior and enhanced private and public wealth; chap labor creation. There was an ultimate plan that they would use to solve the problems through destruction of Aboriginal culture and their traditions in various ways. The four features of colonization are relevant when it comes to the colonization of the Aboriginal people (Thira, 2008).

The first wave made the declaration of Aboriginals as being savages who were not able to look after themselves. They were also declared incapable of controlling their institutions, communities or even buy alcohol. There was the designing of legislation which would control the Aboriginal population together with their traditional practices, which served social, spiritual and personal tasks which were essential for the survival of the cultures of the communities. Such legislation was aimed at controlling and assimilating 'Indians' into the social and economic mainstream.

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The second feature of administration involved relocation of communities and the creation of reserves. The territories of the Aboriginal people were not considered as settlement that was meant for Christian nations. It was termed acceptable to take over the land either forcefully or through acquisition. Most communities were forcefully relocated from what they knew to be their traditional homes to small reserves which had very little resources. There are instances where the communities were taken to perceived new villages which were not conducive since there was no food and they starved, some even to death (Thira, 2008).

The third feature was the ideological manipulation and colonization. This resulted in a complete shift in the ideology of the Aboriginal people. Initially the colonilaists created school systems which were to bring the Aboriginal people together with a basic aim of mentally manipulating them in a collective manner and formatting their thinking to a suitable direction as deemed fit by the colonizers. There were several Christian denominations brought up with the intention of bringing civilization to the perceived uncivilized Aboriginal people as indocated by Gray R., (1982). The fourth feature, the western healing, continues to take place as the Aboriginal communities are denied proper, quality and equal medical care like the rst of the Canadian population. This is the opposite of initial colonization where the colonizers gave medicines. In the case of the Aboriginal people, the community is oppressed and hence does not benefit from professional caregivers, the centers of treatment.

Since 1980's an Aboriginal reclamation system for traditional beliefs, language, practices and cultures has been established. This will ensure that problems that the Aboriginal people face are overcome. The members of the communities have taken the initiative of taking care of their children so as to remodel those victims of the systems.

Neocolonialism

Neocolonialism is some sort of colonization which is ongoing in the current times even after colonization ended many years ago. These are seen as current practices which are aimed at demeaning others though they are done discreetly. An example of these practices is the theft of land which has left the Aboriginals living in poverty to the present day. The women are seen to be raising children on their own and most of them live below the poverty line. The houses that the Aboriginals are currently living in areas termed as potential threat to their health. The Aboriginal people are considered as exotic sexual commodities. The men assume the 'right' to rape whether the 'right' is done under the excuse of prostitution or not. Prostitution is considered as a form of colonization towards women. Prostitution of the Aboriginal women still goes on and it is therefore seen as a form on neocolonialism since most of the times women are misused. Most men take advantage of the subordinate state of women and hence abuse them sexually. Women are taken as commodities and often misused by men, this can be seen as a form of neocolonialism as the women are oppressed and looked down upon in society (Farley, & Lynne, 2008).

The effects of colonialism on indigenous people around the world

The term Colonialism as it is understood by most people refers to things like the resource exploitation of the indigenous lands, the residential school syndrome, the expropriation of the lands, racism as well as a welfare dependency. The question of intrusiveness by the European powers is not only a matter that the colonial style visited on the locals and caused damage to the lands they stumbled upon, but to also effective the colonialism was on the indigenous people all over the world. Focusing on the three countries namely; Spain, England and France, from these countries it is evident how deep the impacts of colonialism were on the colonized. For instance, in North and South America, it is most definite that at least one of the named three countries' languages is majority spoken.

Looking back at the historical period when colonialism begun, Spain was seen to have emerged as one of the most violent, opportunistic hence ultimately lethal power brandishing country, facts that enabled them to colonize the Americas. They managed to accomplish the feat by making sure that they utilized the assets found on the newly found land, more so the free labor. England on the other hand used other methods that were less intrusive on the Native American communities along with the bulk of the genocidal acts in the Northern America that was….....

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