The Oxford dictionary defines Colonialism as “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically”.
When European powers began colonising the New World in the 15th century, the concept was not a new one. The Romans, Phoenicians, Aztecs and the Chinese had all occupied vast territories long before the modern era. For the purposes of this essay, I will confine myself to European Colonisation from the 15th century onwards. As defined above, colonisation sets up an unequal relationship between the colonial power and the indigenous people. All colonising nations set out to justify their invasion of foreign territories with noble intentions, but
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The English felt that as long as the Irish persisted in their uncivilised ways, loyalty to church and crown would never be realised. This historical vision bolstered the conviction that the Irish were culturally inferior to, and far behind, the English in developmental terms. “Wild Irish are as civil as the Russies in their kind; hard choice which is best of both, each bloody, rude, and blind.” George Tuberville, Tragicall Tales (1568) Page 28. Through subjection, the English colonisers reasoned, the Irish could be made …show more content…
The main principal and end goal of the colonial enterprise, at this point was to preach and baptise the aboriginal people into the Christian religion. However this was overshadowed by the goal of civilising the nation. On page 7 of The American Civilising Process, Stephen Mennell says: “Priests had for centuries drawn up latin compendia of precepts of christian behaviour. Table manners illustrate the general pattern of development. Compared with later periods, the medical books place relatively few prohibitions on behaviour at the table. One was told not to slip soup from ones spoon or smack ones lips noisy. Everyone took food form a common dish, placed it on a plate or a trance of bread and are with the fingers. By Caxtons time (about 1477-8) there were some prohibitions on knives. By 1560 it was more common for each guest to have his or her own spoon. By late 17th century no one longer are soup directly from the common bowl.” These quotes illustrates how Christian conquerers felt about civilisation. The focus on the evolution of table manners is indicative of how they felt about civilisation across the board. That to be ‘civilised’ meant to be like them. This, shows that once the first age of European colonialism had drawn to a close, religious justifications did not disappear entirely, but were overtaken by a secular civilising
Document 4 says, “The curse of the Popery, with its degrading idolatry and corrupting priesthood, is the root of Irelands misery.” The English Presbyterian that states this represents what the English people thought of the Irish. The Irish were not as developed as the English and the English did go in and industrialize in certain areas such as Ulster and parts of Dublin. Even though Ireland did gain wealth as Document 5 states, most of the money stayed within the Protestant population that came from England and Scotland. Document 5 blames it on the Irish character and the in general stupidity of the Irish people. The English also felt that if the Irish were given “Home Rule” then they would persecute against the Protestants in the north. Document 7 says that the worst people of Ireland (Catholics) will be under control of the best people of Ireland (Protestants). Eventually this was resolved when Ulster stayed a part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Catholics partially got
* Pearce and Adelman B believed that Ireland benefited from the Union, especially after 1829, and ‘maintenance of the Union therefore became the bedrock of British policy for almost the next 100 years’. * Policies were often based on ignorance of the situation – the British tended to try to get away with as little as possible. For example, the Maynooth Grant 1845, Land Acts 1870 and 1881, the attempt to push Home Rule on the Irish in 1920 * ‘Irish practical problems were turned into English political ones’ (e.g. land) – something that they were n’t. Legislation was considered and judged in an English context, not in an Irish one.
170 years after the potato blight sent the Irish to America they are said to have assimilated to the point of over-acculturalization. Today Catholicism and St. Patricks’ day are the only things that differentiate this group from other Anglo-American groups. Not only were they able to conform to mainstream society they have been referred to as America’s favorite group (pg. 294). Although they are still characterized today as heavy drinkers and fighters, they are no longer considered sub-human and
Many of England’s problems could be solved in America, and so colonization began. When the earliest settlers came, England had the responsibility to continue the Protestant Church, and prevent the Catholic Church from converting the entire Native American population of North America (Morison, p.105) A potential Protestant refuge could be based there in the threat of civil wars or a change of religion.
A succession of English monarchs had used the planting of Protestant English and Scottish people on lands seized from Irish Catholics as a way of increasing loyalty to the British Crown. This is an example of how the British treated the people of Ireland unfairly. In 1912 the British parliament gave home rule to Ireland. Home rule is when a country who is ruled by another country is given the ability to govern itself. However, some people in Ireland's Northern counties did not want home rule.
The first Irish arrivals therefore decided to stick together in groups rather than work as individuals. They formed all-Irish work crews for construction companies and eventually ended up monopolizing a few markets. This myth of being victimized at every stage warned the Irish community to be wary of others outside their community, the others who are waiting to lure them and destroy their identity and social progress. This slogan was a self-soothing explanation to their low rates of upward social mobility back in the 18th and 19th Century. It identified a culprit to blame and justified their ruffian behavior. Even after prosperity this myth didn’t vanish and still serves to keep them on guard about how other communities might betray them or pull them down.
During the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution gave certain countries in Western Europe a big boost of economic power. France, Britain, Italy, and Germany emerged as industrialized powers, with high population and high production. During a time when Social Darwinism was popular, it was only natural that these nations compete with each other for survival. The most important motivation for Europeans to colonize during the 19th and 20th centuries was to strengthen their own countries in order to compete with the other European powers.
The Irish were subjected to racism, because many people felt they were worse than “Colored People” and should not be allowed were they were. The reason they believe this way is because the black people tolerated the treatment and the Irish would not suffer the maltreatment in silence and spok...
Introduction: The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as a proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans are aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on.
Colonialism is a process by which European power takes control over and dominates and exploits an indigenous group by appropriating their land and resources, extracting their wealth, and using them as cheap labor. In Canada, the British evaded the Aboriginals (indigenous people), with their vision of creating a capitalist society. The vision was to have Aboriginal people produce commodities off their own land in return for goods. -Thus began slavery in Canada. Sometimes, merchant capital often had to use force to transform pre- capitalist societies in order to introduce commodity relations and production.
In this way the religion practiced by the Native Americans was taken as contradictions to Christianity. The natives were informed that Christianity was designed to be an eternal rule of significance and a means from which they could use to return to God from their religions that had deviated (Eliot par. 3). Through sermons given by Whitfield, the minds of the natives were engaged in religion and making religion the subject of most of their discussions. They embraced all the opportunities to hear what was been taught on Christianity. The Christian revivals were attended by the young and old alike (Edwards par.
For Gerald of Wales, religion was one of the most essential aspects of being a civilized human being. Therefore, when he wrote, The History and Topography of Ireland, he portrayed its inhabitants as subhuman and barbaric during his apparent travels to Ireland. As a colonizer, Gerald picked a far away place in which many had not been to, in order to establish them as the “other”. Unfortunately, for Gerald, he may have ridiculed the Irish for their lifestyle conveyed in his writing, but his exploitation of them most likely was done because he could in fact relate to them. In the book, The Postcolonial Middle Ages, Jeffery Jerome Cohen’s analysis in his chapter, “Hybrids, Monsters, Borderlands: The Bodies of Gerald of Wales”, closely focuses on Gerald’s cultural hybridity, which mirrors his accounts of the Irish. Although he deemed the Irish as barbaric, they were also hybrids, thus he also shared a feeling of displacement with them. Nonetheless, he still held himself to a higher degree because they did not properly celebrate Christianity, ultimately leading them to make other unpleasant decisions.
Exploration led to colonization and was carried out for many reasons but the main reasons include religion, status, economic purposes, resources and militarily tactical purposes. Much of early colonization was for trading of raw materials between continents and countries. Dominant religions sought to spread gospel and “civilize” the indigenous people by making them conform to Western beliefs and ways. Status and recognition was also pursued by country leaders w...
On the 14th of September in the year 1607 the Earl of Tyrone Hugh O’Neill and the Earl of Tyrconnel Rory O’Donnell fled Ireland alongside officials, their families and numerous Gaelic chieftains. They left Ireland from Rathmullen in County Donegal. This flee was to become known as the flight of the Earls. They arrived in the Spanish Netherlands and then eventually made their way to Rome. The Flight of the Earls led to the most drastic form of the British government’s policy of plantation in Ireland. The Flight of the Earls has remained as one of the most memorable events in the history of Ireland. But what exactly were the reasons for the Flight of the Earls? The causes have been debated by historians with different interpretations as to why they fled but it is clear that the influence of the Earls in Ireland have been diminished greatly in the years prior to the Flight of the Earls. This essay seeks to clarify the reasons for the decline in power of the Earls in Ireland through exploration of the solidification of British rule in Ireland, along with key events in the years prior to the Flight of the Earls such as Hugh O’Neill’s campaign and onto the nine years war and the Battle of Kinsale and the Treaty of Mellifont after the Battle of Kinsale.
However, speculation suggests that the English occupation of Ireland and the subsequent suppression of Irish culture played an important and significant role. (Gavigan). One