European influence in Africa Essay

The presence of Europeans in African countries had a great influence on the cultural benefits, traditions and norms of Africans. African societies were composed of small ethnic groups bound by deep cultural and traditional benefits. Slave trade in North Africa disintegrated these cultural systems. The entry of Europeans in North Africa led to breaking of those small indigenous units into modular states that could be easily controlled by the colonial rule. They abolished the indigenous legal systems and imposed new legal systems based on European concepts of law. North Africa was integrated into the world capitalist system, where its main function was to provide raw materials and new markets for Western industrial revolution. This led to imposition of taxation forcing Africans into cheap wage labor. Land grabbing and alienation in settler colonies made it impossible for the economy of the colonized countries to grow. This is because the colonial administrations only developed areas they saw fit for their benefit and it led to growth of colonial cities such as Dakar, Lagos and Nairobi. Westernization in North Africa led to the rise of Christianity and reduced the number of Muslims in sub Sahara, which contributed to the destabilization of Africa traditions and cultural benefits. Christianity promoted the assimilation of new ideas and new lifestyles such as monogamy and nuclear family. African societies believed in polygamy and extended families. This is being practiced even to day. Christian missionaries introduced Western education, which involved mastery of European language and literacy. The adoption of new habits and tastes coupled with Christianity and western education, led to the development of a new elite that included teachers, clerks, lawyers and doctors. Slave trade degraded the value of African people because they were used against their will to benefit the European economy. This impacted negatively on African leaders because some still practice slave trade today. Europeans brought about, modernization in Africa in terms of Western education, Christianity and Western lifestyles. European influence in Asia (1650-1815). South East Asia comprised of societies that varied in different aspects. Main societies in south East Asia included China, Thailand and Cambodia, therefore European influence on South East Asia varied extensively depending on indigenous states. Societies in South East Asia had very distinct traditional beliefs and rulers who reigned with a conviction of permanency and stability. Europeans created new economic relationships in South East Asia by establishing new industries like rubber production and improvement of traditional ones such as rice and sugar industries. They were improved and expanded to meet the European needs. Communities in Cambodia protested against economical changes when agribusiness in form of plantation farming was introduced. Europeans aimed to make the traditional cultures modern. This was received positively by some south East Asians who had been trained in Western schools. They believed that Western culture would have positive effects on their cultural and economical backgrounds. The elites adopted the European language and mode of dressing. Adoption of the Western culture led to political, economical and social growth in Asia. However, it was difficult to assimilate the European culture and lifestyles in Asia because of the diversity of Asian cultural customs and traditions. Asia is composed of Muslim, Christianity and Buddhism and therefore impacting Christianity in Asia was difficult. These traditional settings emphasized on unifying of social, economic, political and social spheres, though it is impractical to unify all the spheres. The influence of Europeans in Asia was highly varied and uneven throughout the region. They used superior military technology to achieve conquest and monopoly. The Portuguese invasion of Malacca led to the decline of the trade systems as they tried to dominate the spice trade. The European therefore, caused the detachment of producers form their traditional markets. As a result the powerful trading cultures in southeastern Asia collapsed due to colonial influence. European influence was limited to the coastal ports and the adjoining regions. Peasant life in Asia was not affected by the European influence as they remained inside the confines of their village. (Alagappa 130-138). European influence in Middle East (1825-1941). Middle east societies combined religion with governance of their states. European powers overwhelmed the region and tried to separate governance from religion. They replaced the indigenous educational, social and political systems through modernization. The Kuranic schools were replaced by the Western education. Middle east is an Islamic region that viewed European powers as enemies for creating Christianity in the Muslim dominated region. This created a sense of distrust of the Europeans by the Arabs. Europeans faced great resistance form the Arabs who used national movements to adopt anti-western speeches in order to gain favor from their people.. European powers in the Middle East replaced the Muslim leaders by non-Muslim leaders to create artificial political territories since they did not arise from the societies. They created states that had conflicting ethnicities and divided other ethnic groups into two or three portions. For instance they divided the Kurds into Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. (Kaelble 120-127). Dividing ethnic communities stirred political rivalry and violence in the Middle East. It also created instability among the Arabs, preventing political, social and economical development. The Arabs formulated revenge missions to the Europeans and resisted any form of invasion whether political, economical, educational or social.