The Effects of Westernization

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Asia, Africa, and Latin America have all been influenced by the transmission of Western cultural values through direct as well as indirect contact. By means of colonization Asia, Africa and Latin America were particularly affected as Western values were enforced upon the populations by colonial assault. During this era traditional cultural pursuits declined and stagnated in the face of Western conquests. The attitude is much the same now as it was then, “However disagreeable the “medicine” may be, it is worth it for the “backward” people to become just like people in the West, (Haviland, 2008). European colonization greatly changed the cultures of the above mentioned countries cultures, economies, and religions. Driven by the desire for material gain, to spread religious beliefs and to expand territory, westernization directly impacted the countries colonized. With the conquest of the Inca and Aztec empires Spanish influence spread from Mexico to South America, while a growing market for new foods such as tea, coffee, sugar, rubber, tin and oil stimulated trade and colonization in parts of Asia. Indigenous people of Latin America were used as a source of labor since Spanish conquest and assimilated into more dominate cultures. After nearly three centuries of European rule Latin American countries gained independence and yet the indigenous people still remain the poorest and least represented group. In recent years there as been awakening of Latin America's indigenous people as movements led by militant peasant leaders are participating in and leading political changes which toppled Ecuador’s democratic president. In Asia colonial impact is found in the schools as English was favored in instruction, economic policies gen... ... middle of paper ... ...ation directly created long-term changes in the cultural, economic and religious structure of the countries colonized and indirectly affected countries with which trade was formed. Positive effects have been improvement in the modern infrastructure, standard of living, technological advances, while negative effects include loss of cultural identity, disease, and repression of indigenous people. Works Cited Property Rights and Governance. (2010, November 17). Retrieved June 3, 2011, from Country Profile: Nigeria: http://usaidlandtenure.net/usaidltprproducts/country-profiles/nigeria/country-profile-nigeria#top Haviland, W. A. (2008). Anthropology: The Human Challenge. Belmont, CA: Thomas Learning. USAID: Nigeria. (2011, June 1). Retrieved June 8, 2011, from USAID: http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/countries/nigeria/

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