Robert Young on Colonialism and Imperialism

Robert Young reading
"POST COLONIALISM"
Reading Summary

• Even though the terms "colonialism" and "imperialism" are sometimes used synonymously, they are not the same. This is evident in the fact that we have "post colonial studies" but not "post imperial studies".
• Common factors between colonialism and imperialism:
• Both involve "forms of subjugation" by another.
• Domination
• Historically:
• Empires expand over one land mass...they grow out to conquer lands joined to them. Example: Chinese empire, empire of the Moors, Roman empire (which grew so large that it broke into two divisions- byzantine and holy roman)
• Sixteenth century water travel evolved and allowed Europe to build empires past the limits of the sea. Sea travel allowed geographical expansion as well as the ability of populations to stay in touch with their homeland.
• Empires became geographically incoherent. Eg: SPanish and Portugese empires in South/Central America. They extracted riches from the land and converted the indigenous people to Christianity.
• Spanish imperialism was based on Ottoman and Roman model- tribute structure.
• British Empire in North America was concerned about settlement and was colonial.

Imperial versus Colonial

Imperialism: "an empire that was bureaucratically controlled by a government from the center, and which was developed for ideological as well as financial reasons". Driven by ideology from a metropolitan center. Concerned with expansion of state power.

Colonialism: "an empire that was developed for settlement by individual communities or for commercial purposes by a trading company". Developed in an unorderly fashion on the periphery. Economically driven.

Imperialism was of two types- Roman, Ottoman and Spanish....and late nineteenth century Europe.

Colonialism was also of two types- Colonization aand Domination...or Dominions and Deprendencies...or Settlement (British North America, Australia, New Zealand, French Algeria) and Exploitation (American Philippines, Peurto Rico, British India, Dutch East Indies, French India, German Togo, Japanese Taiwan).

Colonies have two groups: the settled and the exploited. Today's former setttler colonies have two existances: they have freed themselves from colonialization of the mother country (Eg: US, Canada, Australia), and the settlers who went to those regions and ended up oppressing the indigenous peoples. Young calls them "persecuted minorities emigrating and then themselves persecuting minorities". Colonialism did not come without its share of geographical violence. The colonizers exterminated natives to take over the formerly occupied land. Also, the plantations on the land needed labor which came in the form of slaves taken from the native population.

As far as imperialism is concerned, the Spanish created the first European empire in the Americas. The British empire though, predated British Imperialism by several centuries. The word "imperialism" is a hybrid term; a political system of actual conquest and occupatoion, and a general system of economic domination. Imperialism consists of direct conquest through politcal and economic domination, and is ruled from the political center. Young's example of this power structure is the Pentagon and CIA in Washington. It is a dominating ideology.