What are the major benefits of being colonized

Question

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Answer 1

Hi Jasmine, from Portland,OR...hope you had a great day at school.

Thank you for connecting with Wyzant...I am here to help.

 

This is a very interesting question AND CERTAINLY the answers will vary and come to you from many points of view. As a student, that is what we as teachers want you to seek, get information from ALL sources. 

 

So here is mine, from a historian, AS WELL as a Native American...living in an 2017...

Keep this in mind HISTORY is only recorded by those alive to tell the story

First off all, many indigenous people all around the world have suffered because of the actions of those whom history labels as explorers, discoverers, and or adventurers.

If historians had the opportunity to ask people whose land, homes, communities, worlds were colonized by others, when asked if there were or are there any benefits to being colonized, they would ALL say NO! Of course, I am presuming their answer, because the people whose aboriginal lands were invaded by 'colonizers' are not, around to tell their story. Fortunately, though sadly, there are just a few Native American tribes in the US, who remain, to make sure the stories of what colonization did to them and their ancestors. May I ask you to consider modifying your question from 'What were the benefits of colonization?' to 'What were and are[because the affects remain as well as some people are still under threat of colonization] the after affects of colonization?' That would be a legitimate question. So here are the affects of colonization, on general terms, then I will give you some examples:

• To colonize means to dominate, take from another, or establish a settlement, political system. Now if the area were a void of humans, people in an area then perhaps that would not be an issue. However
• prior to 1492(in relationship to the Western Hemisphere) there were people, communities, villages, town, people, who lived, farmed, raised families, established some level of commerce, some level of education, some level of religion, some level of recognizing other peoples. Granted, even then, in the Western Hemisphere, some of these groups of people abused and waged conflict against others, never the less, there was some level of civilization that existed.
• The European powers chose to come to the Americas. They weren't invited. The Eastern Hemisphere didn't even know the Americas were here.
• With that said, perhaps somebody else, other that Columbus would have stumbled across to the Americas. 500 years before Columbus Leif Erikson, a Norseman stumbled across North America. But you, me and American students learn that Columbus discovered America.
• After 1492 the lives of ALL the people of the Americas was set down a path that leads us to where we are today. Yes, there are some very bad things that occurred since then, yet there have been some positive outcomes, which we all benefit from. But like I said earlier, if we asked the original people who lived in the Americas what they thought about being colonized, I can assure you their answer would be...'Would rather do without colonization!'
• Columbus did bring some things which we now see as positive outcomes of the European invasion [I will say it here...the terrorism], such as technology, the wheel, horses, different concepts of science, and of course, the eventual progression into the country we now live in.
• But with along with what Columbus brought, which is known as the Columbian Exchange, were diseases not known to the Americas, which killed millions of Native people. The concept of land ownership, which was a trait of European monarchs. A majority of Native people viewed the land as one for which they were responsible for, not for owning it or selling it. In addition to diseases which killed millions of Native people, another thing introduced into the Americas was slavery of Africans.
• The Columbian Exchange, along with diseases, certain bacteria, insects, vegetation, and animals, which has changed the environment of the Americas, so much that many of the species that were here in the Americas prior to 1492 are now extinct.
• With the Columbian Exchange, the Americas gave the rest of the world a number of things which only existed in the Western Hemisphere, like corn, pumpkins, potatoes, tobacco and turkeys to name just a few. Also included were a vast amount of knowledge of language, science, biology, and science, not known in the Eastern Hemisphere.
• This exchange did come with a heavy price for colonization. Also taken from the Americas were gold and silver, which now adorn many churches, cathedrals, buildings and palaces of Europe, including the Vatican. In addition to the price paid in gold and silver, was the price in lives lost, in the name of the Christian god. One needs to also know that even in Europe, at the time, religion took the lives of millions of people.
• There are millions more of issues to point out, but I am sure you didn't expect this much. So in conclusion, colonization has no benefits, except for the aggressors, the invaders, those how feel it is within their right to take from others, just because they can. It can be similar to a bully at school who forces one kid to do something or give up something because of their force or power to do so.

Jasmine, there are not 'benefits' to colonization, only the after affects of colonization. As you can probably tell, I am Native American. I am only here because my ancestors lived through their colonization. 

 

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