Cruise T.

Ms. Bockelman 

Persuasive Essay

2/20/19

Negative Effects of Colonization

European colonization was a way for them to grow and expand in power. They usually just sail and explore different lands to claim them as theirs. They would do this because it was a race for money. Europe would compete with other nations and race to get the most power and money they could. The more land they got usually meant the more resources and trade items they got and that meant more money to Europe. It was also a way for them to get new products. Colonization was mainly for capitalism. There are three different other reason on why they did this as well. The first reason was strictly just for God and religion. That when they found new lands they thought that they could spread the word and continue to spread their religion. The second main reason was that it was for gold, or in other words money. That the nation wanted to get as much money as they possibly could because they thought there was only a certain amount of money in the world and they wanted to get it all. The final reason is that they did it for glory. That the people that went out into the world wanted to find new places so that they would be recognized and inspire other people to do the same as they did. There are two time periods that this took place in. The first time period was the 1400s to the 1600s. This was known as the discovery age. The next period was the age of colonization and this took place in the 1800s.

This colonization was a negative effect for everyone. I have many reasons and examples to support this idea. All of my reasons will clearly state the reason why they were so negatively effected. 

The first reason is that it destroyed everyone’s culture that was involved. The first example that I would like to use is Australia. In Australia they have a day that is even recognized and remembered for how their people and culture was basically destroyed. In a video it said that there were only few survivors of the true Australian native culture. A second example I would like to use is in Japan. Japan used to have such a peaceful and calm culture until Spain invaded and started causing wars and problems amongst the whole country of japan. My third example is the Caribbean. In the Caribbean the people were taken over by all of the Spain invaders because they couldn’t really defend themselves from them and they basically took over all the islands and made them conform to the European rules.

My second reason is that they treated the people so bad, and never really gave them any respect. You can see this in the Caribbean because when the Europeans thought they were getting out of hand they would send military regimes there and they would only really abuse people and it was really unnecessary. Another example is when they invaded India. When they invaded they basically took all of the Indian people and made them slaves so that they would have to work for them. Another place is in Australia. When they came into Australia they killed off so many people and it didn’t need to be done. They could have just negotiated with the people already living there but it ended up just being a mass murder.

The final reason why it was so negative I’d because it never really had any lasting positive effects. Like looking at when the colonized the Caribbean they really didn’t even do anything for them, and even if they did do something the people never really agreed with it. When the Europeans moved them into a democratic government they were really scared to go into that kind of a government because they didn’t think it was gonna work for them. Another example is in China. When they colonized China it seemed like they did almost nothing to improve their lives and way of living. China pretty much built themselves and didn’t really rely on the Europeans to help them. My final example is in South America. The only really good positive effect they gave them was giving them wealth. Other than that they had really skillful leaders before the Europeans came and colonized them. Those leaders could have easily ruled South America without the Europeans getting involved. 

Some say that it left many positive effect but I will debunk a few of those ideas. The first idea is that they helped very weak countries and kind of kick started them. This is wrong because if they had never colonized there is plenty of great leaders from each country that could have easily helped with governing them. Also based off of all of the leaders achievements it could easily show that they were definitely qualified to do so. Another argument could be that they spread religion around these countries. Yes they did spread Christianity, but they didn’t do it in the kindest or really the most effective way. It seemed like they sort of forced it in their face and made them follow it. If I was new to this religion i would not feel comfortable at all with it.

In conclusion I believe that colonization left a more negative influence than a positive one. All because they treated people poorly, took away the countries culture, and didn’t really give them and positive or helpful things to help them grow as a country. Those are all the reasons why I believe they did not help anything by colonizing. 

Works Cited

• Class presentations 
• “European Colonization of the Americas.” Ohio River – New World Encyclopedia, New World Encyclopedia, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/European_Colonization_of_the_Americas.
• “First Wave of European Colonization.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Feb. 2019, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_wave_of_European_colonization.