Imperialists constantly sought ways to justify their presence abroad.

However, common arguments such as Social Darwinism and the civilizing mission did not convince opponents of imperialism. Many people understood, though, that the true motives for imperialism were largely the economic and militaristic interests of the mother nation. Nonetheless, most European nations were eager to claim as many colonies as possible. To this day, some believe that the process of imperialism helped the colonies modernize but this came at an extremely high cost. While a degree of modernization was achieved, it is marginal compared to the negative effects of artificially created boundaries, cultural distortion, economic exploitation and political oppression. Ultimately, the mother countries involved in imperialism gained far more from the experience than did its colonies. During the Scramble for Africa, imperialists usually showed no regard for the mixing of ethnic groups within their colonies. Artificial states were created containing tribes that were bitter rivals. Since Europeans had little interest in the natives politics, these ethnic mixes were ignored. In German East Africa, for example, one native documented that all people were the same before the whip, referring to the equal beating of jumbe and akida people (Overfield, p. 14). This pleases the speaker because he dislikes both of these ethnic groups. This is a direct result of artificially created colonies. Groups of people were forced together despite having different backgrounds and sometimes disliking one another. The problem persisted throughout the colonial period and beyond. After Europe abandoned its colonies, the varying ethnic groups were forced together into a country. However, without a shared background, there was no nationalism and occassionally hatred between groups. This contributed to widespread violence in Africa following decolonization, including the genocides in Darfur and Rwanda. Although imperialists did not intend to bring rival groups together, their greed for land and disregard for the natives politics resulted in unnatural ethnic mixing. Though this problem was kept under control by the military presence within colonies, it became catastrophic after the colonies gained their independence. The process of imperialism also resulted in the changing of native culture, often times negatively. Europeans integrated themselves into their colonys societies. A German official describes that village plots were set up in each akidas area, during the early 20th century in German East Africa (Overfield, p.16). Regardless of the social hierarchy that may have been present before, the Germans created a ranking system based on ethnicity that suited them. This served as a detriment to the local culture. Additionally, the missionary goal of imperial movements often resulted in the loss of native languages and religions. What Europeans may have considered as civilizing, actually contributed to acculturation. Local languages were replaced with European languages and the native religions were replaced by Christianity. The previously mentioned artificial borders also contributed to distortion of culture. The Social Darwinist philosophy had detrimental effects to the unique cultures of European colonies, which lasted after the mother countrys departure. Economic practices associated with imperialism were particularly unfair towards colonies. Most colonies benefited their mother countries in two ways economically: by serving as pools of resources and cheap labor and by providing a market for finished products. During the collection of raw materials, overseers would often use brutality towards native workers. During the cultivation process, there was much suffering, often stemming from whipping (Overfield, p.16). Conditions in the Congo Free State were particularly brutal. Natives who did not meet their rubber quota were punished by having their hands cut off (Lecture). During cultivation of resources, the natives were often paid extremely little if at all, essentially making

theses practices slavery. The money that laborers did earn was often taken from them via unfair taxes or required bribes to prevent further suffering (Overfield, p.15). Furthermore, imperialism had long term effects on a colonys economy. By exploiting a colony for a few resources, the mother nation prevented the colony from developing an economy of its own. Since the colonies exported only raw materials, their industry was never developed. Instead, the colony would rely on its mother country for manufactured goods. In India, for example, cotton imports increased twofold between 1860 and 1882, during British presence (Overfield, p.19). After decolonization, these nations were left with one dimensional, non-industrialized economies hardly what one would consider modern. While most nations had raw materials, the lack of industry meant a heavy reliance on imported finished products. Even in some countries with abundant resources, Equatorial Guinea for example, corrupt governments make prosperity nearly impossible. The presence of corrupt governments in many former-colonies further disproves the modernizing effects of imperialism. As with other issues, the political situation in colonies was unfortunate for the natives both during and after the colonial period. Liberal Western philosophies such as representative government and the ability to succeed through hard work were not passed through to colonies. Natives faced political oppression within the colony compared to their white counterparts. However, the detrimental political effects of industrialization became more evident after decolonization. Many colonies were simply abandoned with no set political structure in place (Lecture). This resulted periods of political turmoil that seldom ended well for the new nations. In countries such as Nigeria and Congo, decolonization was followed by periods of civil war (Lecture). Both of these struggles ended in a form of dictatorship for the nation (Lecture). Unfortunately, almost all former colonies faced violent periods of discord following decolonization and Democracy was rarely the outcome. Thus, politically, the countries are not any better off after imperialism than they were before, and the new governments can hardly be considered modern.