When the Spanish and Portuguese
did their best to conquer the Western Hemisphere, places like Germany, Italy,
Belgium, the United States, and Japan focused their attention on Asia and
Africa. European motives and activities were shaped by the military capacity
and economic power. Like most places,
they used military forces to push their way into multiple countries. At first the European military advantage lay
in organization and command structure.
The Europeans fought hard for the new territories that they wish to
take. They mainly took over the
adversaries who did not have greater or equal gun power as the Europeans. Close to everyone in large and complex
civilizations of India and Southeast Asia lost the political sovereignty and
freedom of action they had previously exercised. In places like India and Indonesia the colonial
conquest grew out of earlier interaction with European trading firms. For example, the British East India Company
played the leading role in the colonial takeover of South Asia. With many places constantly attempting to
make an impact on Indonesia, some areas held out until the early twentieth
century.
This
process evolved an ongoing number of peaceful meetings to negotiate trade and
land among the competing Great Powers.
The most challenging places to take were those that contained decentralized
societies because Europeans were unable to communicate to any form of authority
for them to defeat. So, in the end, it
was up to the villages and towns to defend themselves from being taken
over. One British official commented on
how he wished they didn't have to destroy a village in order to take control
but they saw no other option. Though,
one clear option would have been for the Europeans to not be so greedy and to
live with the space that they have. Neither
the Europeans nor any other country have to invade on anyone’s territory,
taking away many peoples sense of security.
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