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Matthew Lee
Ms. Hurst
World History
08 December 2017
Imperialism Essay
Although imperialism improved the lives of colonized people by prolonging the average
lifespan through improving the sanitation and providing state-of-the-art hospitals, to a great
extent imperialism hurt the lives of colonized people demonstrated through the loss of traditional
cultures by replacing local authority figures and the loss of all political and economical power
through the restriction of private industries and the emphasis on cash crops.
Imperialism hurt the lives of the colonized people in Nigeria because traditional authority
figures being replaced resulted in the breakdown of their traditional cultures. Before the British
rule in Nigeria, the country consisted of several distinct villages with their own social structure
and leadership. Nigerians practiced a traditional polytheistic religion, and their economy was
based on primarily farming. However, in the early 1900s, the British started to establish colonial
rule over Nigeria and by 1906 they had obtained complete control over the country. After the
British arrived, Nigerians were forced to obey the British government, and all Nigerian authority
figures were replaced by the British officials. Also, the British forced native Nigerians to
undergo a westernized education in order to adapt to European culture. All traditional languages
were replaced as English became the official language of Nigeria. All these drastic cultural
alterations greatly angered the people of Nigeria, which led to intense resistance against the
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British. Unfortunately, defying the British government resulted in thousands of innocent citizens
being brutally killed. Additionally, the Nigerian people’s houses were ruthlessly demolished
despite their symbolic importance the people. This was a terrible thing as the people lost the
majority of their possessions forcing them to buy it from the British. As a result, traditional
clothes, art, and food were all lost, and the Nigerians had to obtain all these from the British.
Little by little, the Nigerian people were losing their traditional cultural values as a result of
British imperialism. Therefore, imperialism had a long-lasting significant impact of Africa
displayed by the major cultural changes and differences.
Imperialism hurt the lives of the colonized people of India because the restriction of
privately owned industries and the emphasis on cash crops resulted in India losing all their
political and economical power. Before the British rule in India, the area was known as the
“Mug...
