Corey Siler

The Colonial Masquerade The idea of colonialism in the eyes of the British Empire was that they were taking control of areas all around the world and establishing their government and societal values in the newly occupied countries. Colonialism was often justified by a number of means because in doing so the British could justify their occupation and control of the people because they saw their actions as in the best interest of the people they were ruling. Colonialism has had far reaching consequences that still impacts the world, even until this day, because of the actions and policies of the ruling class from the height of the British Empire through the end of the British world domination. The basis of the need for colonialism was rooted in the British Empires need for raw materials. Seeing how England was poor equipped to supply the raw materials necessary for fueling a growing empire they were forced to go elsewhere for their raw materials to make goods for the citizens. The British used the guise of helping uncivilized people become more European as a justification for their occupation of the different countries. While on the surface the British tried to portray themselves as a group that was simply trying to make the standard of living higher around the world they were simply using colonialism as a tool to get resources and maintain their control of most of the globe. The most obvious example of British colonialism is their occupation of India for close to two hundred years. The British Empire came into India to colonize them

and utilize Indias vast natural resources. They again used the masquerade of raising the standard of living in India as the basis of their occupation but they were there simply to control one of the largest countries in the world. The main argument of the British Empire was their raised standards of education; which, while it was not the true aim of their occupation they truly did raise the education standards in India during their stay there. While the occupation of India is certainly negative because someone else should rule no group of people without the approval of those being subjugated, the British occupation of India has had some positive repercussions. The westernization of the Indian people has echoed down to this day and has helped Indias economy be more versatile, powerful, and accessible to countries around the world. Due to the British colonization of India the English language has taken a very strong hold in India, which has helped the country to be more diverse than it would have been without the occupation. This in no way justifies the actions of the British who were not truly trying to help the people they ruled but the long lasting consequences have impacted India positively throughout the years. It can be argued that the British occupation of India and the spread of English has helped India become a major dealer in todays international market. While the British used the threat of their military might to control the Indian subcontinent once they had successfully colonized the country it was the British Empires economic trading that allowed them to take really grasp power in India. The British first convinced the Indians that they were there for merely trading purposes and since there was a lot of money at stake the East India Company had

good reason to put a military presence in India. This front for the impending colonization was effective because British officials were very good at using trade as a guise to get their foot in the door of countries. An example of this is Colonel Creightons sway over Kim OHara and used the Anglicized education to sway Kim into the western way of thought. Rudyard Kipling did an excellent job of showing the imperial persuasiveness of the British Empire. The effect of westernization had mixed results on the people of India but many western ways of thought still prevail to this day. The forced westernization of the Indian people created a lot of tension at the time and has had lasting effects on the relationship of the Indian people and the British but out of the wickedness of imperialism a new India was forged. The British Empires colonization of countries had many far-reaching effects that still resound to this day. The British used the guises of education and trade to help them to establish control of countries and then they would implement their own ways of life on the people subjugated to British rule. The masquerade of colonialism was not just to help control the people they were ruling but it was also used as a way for the British to justify their actions of suppressing foreign people because they believed that they were doing the people a favor by giving them a more civilized life. This allowed the British to rationalize their actions throughout their entire imperialistic movement. However, while the forced occupation of any people is morally bankrupt the colonization of places did have positive effects as the ways of life the British implemented so long ago has allowed formerly colonized countries such as India to continue to flourish in the modern times because of the

policies and governmental rule they learned during their time of colonization under the rule of the British Empire.