Gospel, gold and glory; these are the themes that characterize the age of New

Imperialism. Between 1880 to 1914, the major European powers engaged in furious quests for
territory in the South Pacific, Asia and Africa.1 Motivated by the desire to expand power, wealth
and influence, they competed with each other in a large-scale race to establish colonies and
monopolize trade networks in other countries. By 1914, 85% of the world’s land mass had come
under European power.2 Unlike before, colonial expansion was enforced onto the colonies
through formal control. This involved the use of violence, cultural interference, economic
coercion and political manipulation to subdue the local natives. All of this was justified by the
moral mandate to civilize the natives who they deemed were uncivilized. By examining the
specific case of British imperialism in Africa, the relationship between colonizer and colonized
can be further elucidated.

Africa, as a vast unexplored region connected to the main trading route to India3, became
a highly lucrative and strategic prospect to a rapidly industrializing Britain towards the end of the
19th century. Prior to 1865, Britain’s interests in Africa were limited to Cape Colony in the south
and Cairo in the north.4 In that year, the discovery of gold deposits in South Africa resulted in a
flood of surplus profits that the British used to build a railway system that spanned the length of
Africa.5 Then began their march into the interiors of sub-saharan Africa, making colonies along
the route of the new Cape-to-Cairo railway.6 As soon as control of a colony was established, the
British put their newfound, agriculturally rich lands to use, producing cash crops to be exported
to the global market and a wealth of raw materials to fuel the manufacture of goods back home.

British expansion did not happen without resistance from the natives. Their resistance
efforts were well-organized, but nothing matched the military technology that the British forces

1 Garfield Gini-Newman and Usha James, Legacy--the West and the World (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2003),
333.
2 Gini-Newman and James, 333
3 S. Herbert Frankel, “The Cape to Cairo Dream: A Study in British Imperialism,” Wiley Online Library (John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd, December 19, 2007), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1813-
6982.1937.tb02125.x, 33.
4 Frankel, 34
5 Frankel, 35
6 Frankel, 33
wielded against them.7 For each successful war the British waged, hundreds of native lives were
lost. Those who did survive had their villages burned down before being forced out of their
lands. In commenting on the destruction inflicted by Britain’s expedition of 1900 in Nigeria,
British mercenary Frederick Lugard remarked that “the very great loss of life among these
ignorant savages, and the burning of their villages” was necessary to teach the African natives
lawful conduct, and to make way for the building of telegraph lines and roads in their country.8

Evidently, a well-connected system of transport and communication was crucial in

ensuring colonial pursuits were profitable. The transport of goods on the railway system between
colonies and trading stations increased the volume and rate of trade, resulting in surplus profits
that could be used for further colonial expansion9. Expansion was also aided by the railway line,
as it allowed the efficient dispatch of troops for military settlement in more areas. Despite the
displacement that natives endured during this period, the new influx of infrastructure made travel
and communication easier, and encouraged urbanization in the years to come. If we look at cities
in sub-Saharan Africa today, most of them located along the old railroad lines of British rule are
more developed and economically stable than cities in other areas.10

Civilizing the natives was a belief that guided British colonial policies in all of their
colonies. However, subtle differences existed depending on what they sought to gain in each
colony. By comparing the similarities and differences of British imperialism in India and Africa,
one might see how the goals of imperialist ambition are intrinsically linked with the specific
ways in which colonies are impacted. The occupation of Africa and India was executed primarily
to make them producers of raw goods and consumers of manufactured goods.11 When the British
arrived in both regions hoping to trade goods with locals, they were met by a population who had
a reliable agricultural system of sustaining themselves, and therefore did not need to cooperate.12
In response, the British imposed exorbitant taxes on natives in both colonies as a method of labor

7 S.C Ukpabi, “British Colonial Wars in West Africa: Image and Reality” 20, no. 3 (1970): pp. 379-404,
https://doi.org/http://www.jstor.org/stable/41229087, 396.
8 S.C Ukpabi, 396.
9 Frankel, 33.
10 Rémi Jedwab, “How Colonial Railroads DEFINED Africa's Economic Geography,” VOX, CEPR Policy Portal,
March 2, 2017, https://voxeu.org/article/how-colonial-railroads-defined-africa-s-economic-geography.
11 Gini-Newman and Usha James, 342
12 Gini-Newman and James, 342
recruitment as well as a source of funding for colonial activities.13 The only way for natives to
afford these taxes was to work in British mines and plantations, effectively being coerced into
providing cheap labour.14 There, workers had to work for low wages in poor working conditions
that were often far from home.

The economies of both countries were heavily impacted as British transformed them from
subsistent agricultural economies to agriculture for export. Food shortages and famines became
commonplace as land was primarily used to grow and export cash crops. To survive, both
colonies became dependent on the import of food.15 Furthermore, the imposition of trade in these
colonies made it cheaper to buy manufactured goods from Britain rather than locally.16 The rise
of cheap manufactured cotton in Britain is an example of this phenomenon, as it crippled India’s
handloom textile industry beyond recovery. Prices for cotton from Britain were so low that it
reversed India’s role in global trade, making it an importer of cotton textiles and an exporter of
raw cotton.17 This method of price fixing was employed across both colonies and it stifled any
form of industrial potential because local craft sectors had no incentive to develop any further.18
This benefited Britain as it gave them new consumer markets but it created economic
dependency in both colonies.19 As a consequence, the rate of industrialization in both countries
fell dramatically in the years after British occupation.20 This is one of the primary causes for the
slow rate of development in both countries, but the extent of this is informed by other factors as
well.

Unlike in Africa, India was also a prospect for British settlement, which meant there was
greater emphasis and investment in social development. According to Subrahmanyam, the
British spent significantly less on social welfare and education in comparison to India, and this
only changed late into the years of colonial rule.21 In India, education was established with

13 Gini-Newman and James, 342

14 Gini-Newman and James, 342
15 Gini-Newman and James, 342
16 Gini-Newman and James, 342
17 Gini-Newman and James, 342
18 Gini-Newman and James, 342
19 Gini-Newman and James, 342
20 Gini-Newman and James, 342
21 Gita Subrahmanyam, “Ruling Continuities: Colonial Rule, Social Forces and Path Dependence in British India
and Africa,” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 44, no. 1 (2006): pp. 84-117,
thoroughness and rigour early on to train locals towards occupying positions of civil service in
the British administration.22 Firm foundations were laid for India’s education system during
colonial rule while in Africa, education was merely utilized as a means of controlling the African
population. Despite the fragility of the schooling system in Africa, it did provide an important
framework for further development of education after the Second World War.23 As a result of
Britain’s educational policy in its colonies, India saw a surge in highly skilled, educated
professionals whose contributions shaped India’s economic growth in the 20th century.24
Similarly, Africa too has produced a strong educated elite class, albeit much later, during the
emergence of educational reforms aimed at empowering Africans to pursue careers in
academia.25

The administration of education in both colonies had further implications in the political
realms. On average, Indians were given 28 years of training in political positions prior to
independence, as opposed to 9 years in Nigeria and Kenya.26 Consequently, India’s transition to
self-governance was smoother and today, they are a nation with a stable democratic system.27 In
most African countries, however, the exit of British rule resulted in a power vacuum that gave
rise to warlord politics and corruption, causing civil conflicts that continue in the present day.28
Nevertheless, the spread of Western ideas through education in both countries were instrumental
in raising up a politically conscious class of elites who would go on to participate in nationalist
movements.29 Ironically, the ideas inherited from colonial rule would be used in both countries to
resist colonial power.

On the other hand, the adoption of Western ideas was directly linked to the decline of
cultural traditions and customs, as the British took measures to Westernize both societies. Most

https://doi.org/10.1080/14662040600624478, 95.
22 Subrahmanyam, 95.
23 Subrahmanyam, 95.
24 Subrahmanyam, 95.
25 Roland N. Ndille, “Educational Transformation in Post-Independence Africa: A Historical Assessment of the
Africanization Project,” March 2018, https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201808.0062.v1, 5.
26 Subrahmanyam, 101.
27 Subrahmanyam, 102.
28 Subrahmanyam, 102.
29 Raymond D. Crotty, When Histories Collide: The Development and Impact of Individualistic Capitalism
(Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2001), 84.
schools in both colonies were run by church missionaries, whose prime motives were to convert
locals through education.30 Many Africans resisted by maintaining their traditional practices, but
there was also a trend of Africans who gradually altered their traditional practices to align with
Christian values.31 For example, the appearance of African sculpture changed in the years
following British rule, because of pressure from missionaries who viewed it as a form of
idolatry.32 The systemic application of religious doctrine resulted in the increasing acceptance of
Christianity, and today, it is the largest religion in sub-Saharan Africa.33 In India, the loss of
culture manifested slightly differently. It occurred mainly through the creation of a separate class
of educated, English-speaking Indians, who adopted a combination of Western and Indian
values. Influenced by Western ideas of equality, some of them stood actively against inhumane
traditional practices in India, such as “sati” which the British outlawed in 1929.34

In both colonies, the British applied a policy of “divide and rule” that resulted in the
creation of divisions between natives along ethnic or religious lines. In India, British introduced
the Morley Minto reforms in 1909 which gave Muslims more political representation, in an
effort to remove them from the growing nationalist movement.35 Within a decade, India was
gripped by communal violence between Muslims and Hindus that led to the deaths of 2000
people36. The irreconcilable divide between both factions resulted in the creation of Pakistan as a
separate Muslim state. Today, both states still find themselves embroiled in conflicts over
religious rights and territory. In Africa, The Boer Wars from 1899-1902 in South Africa acted as
a precursor to apartheid in South Africa.37 To settle tensions between white and black farmers,
the British government enforced the Natives’ Land Act of 1913, which prohibited black Africans
from occupying 90% of the land in South Africa.38 Although racism was already deeply
embedded in British Africa, the act formalized racial segregation and is regarded as the
30 Ball, Stephen J. “Imperialism, Social Control and the Colonial Curriculum in Africa.” Journal of Curriculum
Studies 15, no. 3 (1983): 237–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/0022027830150302, 238.
31 Ball, 238
32 Gini-Newman and James, 345.
33 Gini-Newman and James, 345.
34 Gini-Newman and James, 346.
35 Richard Morrock. "Heritage of Strife: The Effects of Colonialist "Divide and Rule" Strategy upon the Colonized
Peoples." Science & Society 37, no. 2 (1973): 129-51, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40401707, 145.
36 Morrock, 145.
37 David Smurthwaite, The Boer WAR, 1899-1902 (London: Hamlyn, 2002), 7.
38 Editors of Lumen, “Post Colonial Africa,” Lumen, accessed July 27, 2021,
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/south-africa/.
precedent of racist legislature in South Africa’s apartheid system. Despite the government’s
efforts to restore the rights and socioeconomic standing of Black South Africans, the rates of
poverty and unemployment amongst them are still high.39

European imperialism was undoubtedly a monumental force of change in the world with
far-reaching impacts that exist today and will extend into the future. From a purely moralistic
standpoint, the actions of imperial powers were reprehensible. They took drastic measures that
resulted in the loss of native lives, land and the permanent degradation of their cultures. In
pursuit of self-interest, however, colonial powers unintentionally gave them tools that would be
essential to their development. On the other side of the coin are better life expectancies, living
conditions and the advancement of human rights. Instead of trying to neatly categorize
imperialism as essentially positive or negative, we must engage with the complex, multi-faceted
ways in which the effects of European imperialism unfolded and continue to do so.

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