Pearl Binder's Treasure Island: The Collonization Of The Colonization Of Ocean Island

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The forgotten people of Ocean Island, the Banabans, had their island mined away from under them and had their island taken from them during World War II. They have transformed their culture into a whole new way and continue to live in the hope that one day they can live the way that their ancestors once did. This is the case of many places around the world that have been colonized. Colonization is not beneficial to developing countries because it brings diseases, it overthrows traditions, it upsets resources, and it separates families. In order for the reader to understand how colonization affected Ocean Island, the reader needs to understand the history of the Island. In Pearl Binder’s book, Treasure Islands: The Trials of the Banabans, she tells of what Ocean Island first looked like. Ocean Island, or Banaba, is one of the many islands in the Pacific. It is situated almost exactly on the equator. The whole island is three miles long and two and a half miles wide. The highest point of Banaba is 270 feet. The island was rocky but had quite a bit of land for growing crops. After living peacefully by themselves for a long time, the Banabans allowed travelers to enter their land, which changed their lives forever. Blackbirders, who are labor recruiters, came to Banaba in 1862 as a result of the Civil War happening in the U.S. (Binder). The need for cotton was in high demand so they needed workers to harvest it all. The blackbirders came and kidnapped strong young men from the villages to use them for working in Fiji, Honolulu, South America, and Queensland where enterprising planters had started cotton plantations. While slavery was ending in the U.S., it was just starting in the Pacific (Binder). At the end of the nineteenth century... ... middle of paper ... ...ough they won the case, it didn’t change what had happened to them, their lives were still never going to be the same again. This was all because of the introduction of colonization to their land. Colonization although might have brought some good things such as newer technology that helps us now, it tore apart cultures and societies that had already existed. New technology is great and it is good that colonization brought it, but colonization brought more bad than good. Families were separated, traditions were ruined, new diseases killed people, and a whole island was ruined. This was all because of colonization. The Banabans could have stayed peacefully on their own island with their families, traditions, and resources and would have been fine, but colonization was brought to their island and their lives changed forever. Colonization should have never happened.

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