Colonialism is “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically”. It’s characterized by one nation subjugating another, often enforcing its own language and cultural values upon its people.
Undeniably colonies reaped benefits such as investments in infrastructure as well as medical and technological knowledge; sometimes also adopting Western human rights standards.
However, coercion and forced assimilation often accompanied those gains. It’s impacts include environmental degradation, the spread of disease, ethnic rivalries, and human rights violations—issues that can outlast one group’s colonial rule.
A prime example of disastrous colonialism was India, formerly part of the British empire, during its 1943 Bengal famine.
Although many cite India’s extensive rail network as a positive legacy of British colonialism, consider that it was built with the express purpose of transporting military and exporting food out of productive regions — even in times of famine. Explaining why that during the devastating famines of 1876-1879 and 1896-1902, in which 12 to 30 million Indians starved to death, mortality rates were highest in areas serviced by British rail lines.
The 1943 Bengal famine was the final British-administered famine in India, claiming around 3 million lives. When Winston Churchill was asked to stop shipping desperately needed foodstuffs out of Bengal, he said Indians were to blame for their own deaths for ‘breeding like rabbits.’
Written by Daniela
Media by Ben Hyland
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