The “White Man’s Burden”

 Acquisition of colonies became part of the European power struggle.  No people could match western Europe’s power resources.  In the late nineteenth century, industrial growth and worldwide trade created among Europeans a new global competition for empire.  The search for vital raw materials, markets, and investments intensified economic outreach, leading to ruthless exploitation and domination. Perry, Peden and Von Laue. Sources of the Western Tradition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1999

 Thus started a frantic race to occupy the last unclaimed parts of the world.  The European powers began a “scramble for Africa.”  In 1884 there was a conference in the German city of Berlin.  The European powers gathered there to discuss who would control which parts of Africa.  No African leaders were involved in the conference. Perry, Peden and Von Laue. Sources of the Western Tradition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1999

 The imperialists dominated their helpless subjects; all resistance was ruthlessly suppressed.  Convinced of their superiority, the imperialists often viewed those they were colonizing with disdain, dismissing their culture as barbaric.  Indigenous ways, not understood and generally disgusting to Europeans, provided a challenge to Western attitudes. Perry, Peden and Von Laue. Sources of the Western Tradition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1999

 Their reactions ranged from Social Darwinist racism to a patronizing conviction that they were obliged to civilize their subjects according to their own values.  For some, extending the benefits of imperial rule over “primitive” people was a source of deep patriotic pride. Perry, Peden and Von Laue. Sources of the Western Tradition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1999