Effect of Conquest of America on Europe's Relationship with Africa and Asia - Article Example

Effect of Conquest of America on Europes relationship with Africa and Asia When Christopher Columbus sailed towards the New World and finally arrivedat the Caribbean in October of 1492, a new age has begun. It would usher in a period of globalization, of the increasing integration of the world from isolated cultures into one that is characterized by increased contacts among peoples as well as the increase in the degree of intervention by the Europeans in the experiences and histories not just of America but also of Asia and Africa. As European powers raced to conquer new territories, the course of the world history has been altered forever. This paper will explore the impact of the European conquest of the Americas in the former’s eventual relationship with Asia and Africa. In the book about James Cook’s (2009) voyage throughout the world, it was emphasized that very few sailed for the purpose of pure and simple exploration alone (4). Each ship that ventured out to the unknown world has gold, territory and glory as objectives for the country it served. When America was discovered, it was found that its natural resources were in abundance and in the flurry of new explorations fueled by the American colonial success, they found Asia and Africa and the new resources that they had to offer, resources that can be easily exploited and easily compliment their interests in the New World. It is in this respect that the African slavery became significant. The mines of Peru and Mexico, the plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean - they required new laborers after the number of indigenous peoples were effectively decimated upon the arrival of the colonizers. According to Crosby (2003), the Andean Inca civilization alone lost more than 8 million of its 9 million indigenous natives (22). During most of the period of colonization of Africa, its main utility for its colonizers were its slaves. Millions of Africans were shipped to the plantations in America and this trade in itself has been a major source of revenue for Portugal. Besides the slaves, however, Africa also supplied ivory, gold, diamonds, cocoa, nut oils and timber. The case of Asian relationship with Europe, the situation is a little more different than the African experience. Unlike the latter, Asia fell to European colonization rather later. It was only after the 1850s wherein the West made some significant headway in colonizing the Far East. This variable contributed to the manner by which the Asian colonies were exploited and administered. For instance, Spain ruled the Philippines through Mexico. Then, Asian slaves were not common while their raw materials produce and other products were either sent to Europe or to Latin America for processing. Britain was also able to milk India dry with its precious stones, spices, tea, and other resources. Asia, somehow, was treated like Latin America, a source of wealth for its masters that wield their power from Europe but not in the degree or manner the Europeans exploited Africa. What the colonization of the Americas, Asia and Africa demonstrated was the fact that these continents became embroiled with some form of globalization especially producing a type of division of labor that we could actually identify as roughly similar to what we have today. One analogy that could probably describe the situation was how other races were exploited in order to enrich and provide for the requirements of the European imperialists. A less emotional description would argue that during the age of colonization, nations became engaged with specialization in goods production and in occupation by their respective peoples, according to the resources of their home countries and their status in the empire that they belong. An important variable that must be underscored in this investigation is the fact that the European hegemony during the Age of Discovery is not mainly driven by the absolute superiority of the European technologies and weaponry. Spain, for example has risen to its imperial status and consolidated its global dominion through the combined efforts of its explorers, adventurers, missionaries and entrepreneurs who facilitated the transfer of resources from the colonies to Spain, which effectively sustained its global empire (Kamen 2004, xxvi). The gold, precious stones and other raw materials that Spain was able to loot were not taken merely because the natives they were able to dominate cowered in fear with their rifles offered them in submission. Magellan found this out for himself when a Philippine native fatally wounded him with an arrow. For Spain, religion also played its part, making many natives willingly subject themselves to the Spanish rule. Moreover, the European colonization is not an evidence that the relationship between the conqueror and the conquered was defined by the difference in their intellect, physiology or whether the subjugated was the lesser mortal. Forster, Thomas and Guest (1778) highlighted this in their observations of the numerous races that inhabited the Pacific islands. For example, they stressed that to say some races are different or inferior from the Europeans on account of materiality is inadmissible because – as demonstrated by the natives of the South Seas – all peoples possess “the exercise of reason and common sense, the formation of ideas, the language of the heart, the refinement of moral sentiment, with the gifts of speech” (341). If there is any positive outcome to the relationship between Europe and their territories in Africa and Asia, it was the increase in trade and economic output that have paved the way for modern economic development. No one can deny that Europe’s conquest of most part of the world has established transnational routes that linked countries and races together facilitating not just the flow of goods but also the exchange of culture (Kamen 242). By the time decolonization began, the share of trade in the gross domestic product – the main beneficiary of this development – dramatically increased in Asia and Africa. The degree of sophistication of the imperialist trade systems has also paved the way for the kind of globalization that became the basis for the modern version that is in place today, wherein states are at times in competition with each other, while in some, complement each other in bilateral and multilateral trading through specialization. By the time the European conquest of Africa and Asia began, the formula of colonization was perfected. It involved a systematic method that began with conquest and followed by administration and settlement. Economic development was pursued in varying degrees and thought as necessary in order for a territory to remain viable for the colonizer. The offshoot of this was that as the European powers divided the world among themselves, they have created boundaries that has not existed previously and forced different peoples to live together in one community. In addition, along with the slave trade, which saw the migration of millions of Africans to the plantation economies of America, new settlers increase in the colonized territories as mass migration from Europe and traders from other countries commenced. These developments led to the new dynamics in the colonial societies wherein conflicts of interests and struggle for domination by one ethnic group over the other persisted. According to Mattoso (1986), for instance, “it is certain that the arrival in Africa of powerful European nations, well armed and avid for profit, helped to exacerbate rivalries and foment tribal warfare” which has already existed even before they arrived (17). If one examines the dynamics of the colonial societies closely, one would find that they exhibit some melting pot of interests that somehow reflected a local version of colonizer-colony relationship, with one ethnic group lording over the other in an exploitative relationship. This was demonstrated in the process called as the miscegenation and manumission, which began in Brazil and would permeate throughout the colonies of the European empires throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Mattoso explained that even with the emancipation of slaves, the social characteristics of colonial communities were the same: There were white masters, masters of mixed race, and black masters. Their behavior did not depend on their color or social position but on their quality as individuals. But for the slave master – whether rich or poor, white or black – was always a “white”, because to be white… meant to adopt certain superior attitudes, to wield a certain power (115). Another important variable in the success of the European invaders were the maladies that they brought with them. According to Crosby, the migration that inevitably came after the conquest of America, affected the creatures that have enjoyed isolation, peace and health the most: These killers came to the New World with the explorers and conquistadors. The fatal diseases of the Old World killed more effectively in the New, and the comparatively benign diseases of the Old World turned killer in the New (37). An account by one of the earliest American scholars, Oviedo, underscores the gravity of the above claims. He, for instance, recounted how about a million Indians were estimated to live in an American settlement called Santo Domingo and that by 1548 “five hundred persons, children and adults, who are native and are the progeny or lineage of those first” remained (Crosby, 45). Although there is very little record that could demonstrate the European’s impact to indigenous life in Asia, the cases of the American experience suggest some adverse effect that contributed to the success of the European colonization by subjugation. When the natives were not killed by swords and rifles, they were smothered with diseases that claimed their lives nonetheless. The way European colonizers commanded submission - through force, violence or disease - have negatively affected the psyche of the dominated races, which would – as a result - assume the submissive role in the relationship. The psychological inferiority would be felt throughout Asia and Africa as much as it did in America and would dictate the relationship between Europe and most of the rest of the world until today as depicted the client relationship that persisted, for instance, in Europe’s wars wherein previous colonies are expected to ally themselves to their previous masters. The European colonizers in their years of domination of Asia and Africa have systematically eroded the indigenous social, political, economic and also cultural structure, with European versions finally taking their place. For instance, the Philippines became a predominantly Christian country. India have modeled much of its bureaucracy after Britain in the same way many states in Africa reflected influences from the French, German, Dutch and English, in the way they administer their affairs. Because of this, it was easy for former colonies to become client states or dependents of their erstwhile colonizers. After most colonies earned their liberation, imperialism persisted beyond mere occupation or land grabbing. Countries such as Britain, Spain, France, Germany and Netherlands, exerted their power and influence through their wealth and the technological advances of their societies. These variables allowed them to prevail in a new international system wherein the weak states can be manipulated and, yet again, exploited in the name of international trade. Here, the old imperialists became the producers while the developing new states were the suppliers and consumers. The sheer wealth of Europe enable them to dominate the new economic system because they are important market for the new states that came to rely on the revenues of their exports of raw materials. The Europeans are quick to take advantage of the new opportunity by cultivating and encouraging such economic dependence in order to control the way countries adopt policies in such a way that they serve their interests. Again, the colonial environment that has been established, reinforced and embedded in many developing states allowed for this new kind of exploitation because of the pre-existing channels and networks that had been in place in their years of imperial rule. The division of labor that emerged during the globalizing developments triggered by the European conquest of America did not radically change today, at least in structure. When in the past, the world economy is divided between the colonizers and the subjects, today, they were replaced by the United States and the European states on the dominant side, and their client states on the other. The system is roughly the same: the former group provides the manufactured goods while the client states serve as sources for raw materials. Conclusion The European conquest of the Americas has several important effects in Europe’s relationship with Asia and Africa. First, and most important of all, is that it was crucial in making these two continents participants in the integration of the world into one global economic system. This variable has several underlying issues, most of which reflect a narrative of exploitation and domination that has permeated even after the advent of decolonization. For instance, there is the issue of the division of labor that persists even today in the international system. It demonstrates an important variable in the dynamics of the relationship between Europe and its former colonies from the beginning of colonization to the kind of capitalism and globalization that permeate today. Many developing states’ dependence on European wealth allows for their continued exploitation or at least manipulation. The structure that has been perfected during the Age of Discovery is still very much functioning today, although the mechanisms are less overt and direct in their operations. It is not surprising to find that many people across Asia and Africa still think of “white” as superior, dominant and exploitative. Unfortunately, it is impossible to remedy the situation. The West has the means to perpetuate their power. Thanks to the resources they have amassed in the past. Works Cited Crosby, Alfred, The Columbian exchange: biological and cultural consequences of 1492. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003. Cook, James. First Voyage Around the World. Bremen: Salzwasser-Verlag, 2009. Forster, Johann, Thomas, Nicholas and Guest, Harriet. Observations made during a voyage round the world. University of Hawaii Press, 1778. Kamen, Henry. Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492-1763. Harper Perennial, 2004. Kamen, Henry. Pathfinders reference. Mattoso, Katia M. de Queiros. To Be a Slave in Brazil, 1550-1888. Trans. Arthur Goldhammer. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1986. Read More