DBQ 17

European imperialism in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries had resulted in transferring areas of Africa and Asia into a colonial empire that had really only benefited the British. This was the case for British colonialism in India. As imperialism began to spread all throughout Europe, the colonizer and the colony itself did not see eye to eye. They both the positive and negative effects of imperialism began to show. Both the colony and the colonizers had a different view on what was happening to the countries. The British, who were the colonizers, had felt that what they were doing to the colony was helping it. They felt that it was right to be able to control a country and alter it as they please. The British had introduced to the colony many new things such as education, means of transportation and most importantly, better and quicker ways of communication (Doc 1). They felt that it would be good to educate the colonies the way that they were educated, passing on their knowledge of how things should work. The British had begun to bring peace and order to the colonies and they had created a good strong government (Doc 2). The English introduced a westernized and more modern education to the people of India. Not only did they westernize their education with modern sciences and modern life, but they also made a frame for them by establishing laws and courts of justice (Doc 3). The English also ran their government for them because they felt that they would not be able to run their government properly. The British were taking over India in a countless amount of ways. They had helped reduce the famine by bringing in a new form of irrigation. They felt that the people of India were living in a cleaner healthier environment because of the British rule. They also did away with the infanticide and the slave trade (Doc 4&5).

England may have been helping India in many ways, but they worked their way around helping the people of India to make sure that they were going to be able to benefit from it all the most. The British had begun using India to help them import raw materials. India had become the “agricultural colony of industrial England.” This lead to poverty all across India and the standard of living decreased rapidly (Doc 6). Little by little the responsibilities of the people of India began to slowly be ripped away from them (Doc 7). They ran their government, not even giving them a representative. They began to establish unfair laws and they lived off of India as if they were living on their own homeland. They took that that India had gained from their imperialistic acts (Doc 2). This had proved that both the colony and the colonizers had a different view on imperialism. England felt that what they were doing to the country was for the better and the people of the colony were going to agree with that they were doing. On the other hand the people of India were suffering from poverty and a very low stand of living. They had no say in their government and were not able to live their life the way they wanted to.

Imperialism was both good and bad for the different countries from all around the world. People wanted to be left alone and live their life the way they had wanted to. Not by the laws of a foreign country. Though on the other hand, other countries had enjoyed benefiting from the natural resources of another foreign country!