Colonialism - A Moral Reckoning - Nigel Biggar

I’ve noticed that you know Empire has been a feature of human history since almost the dawn of time people with non-white skins Arabs Indians Comanche and others were doing Empire long before Europeans did it why the obsession with the European Empires why why the fixation on British Empire and I interpret it as being an assault on the record of the West.
British Empire Rise
- 1600s
  - Trade between England and India
  - Bases in India
  - Go West across Atlantic
    - Harass Spanish shipping since it was harassing English shipping
    - Hunting for Gold, not necessarily land
- 19th Century
  - Rule East Africa
    - Suppress Arab slave trade
  - End of wars by treaty to rule land
  - Sometimes racial arrogance
  - Mixture of virtue and vice; Imperial venture is no different
- Negatives
  - 150 years of slave trade and slavery
    - 1650-1807
  - Racial arrogance
  - Abrupt disruption of social, cultural and economic lives of Native peoples in North America, Australia and Africa
    - Cultural, scientific gap between 19th Century Europeans and others was vast
    - Impact of modernity, which would happen one way or another, was severe
  - Disease
    - European domesticated animals helped Europeans become immune to many diseases
    - Other people also spread it
      - Indonesian fisherman to Northern Australia
    - Was NOT spread deliberately
- No systematic genocide
- Strove to moderate impact of settlers on natives
  - Especially during 1800s
- Restrained settler violence
- Equal Justice
- India
  - British created it
  - Sadly divided into India/Pakistan due to religious tension
  - Common language/market/state
  - Democracy
  - Vigor of economy is abandonment of socialist policies
- Comparisons between other Colonizers
  - British more reluctant to let native elites to top of government
    - French were better
  - British liberal principle that colonies must become increasing more independent
    - Learn from American Revolution
    - Can’t keep tight control of far colonies
    - Canada 1860
    - New Zealand
    - South Africa
    - India
    - Relaxing commonwealth of nations
    - French wanted to integrate colonies into France
- Violence
  - It was a rough time
  - Belgium cruel to African in the Congo
  - German Southwest Africa
    - Genocide
  - Japanese
    - 100,000s killed in China
- British abolition of slavery
  - 1800s-> second half of life
    - Brazil
    - Africa
    - India
    - Malaysia
    - 1804 - took over South Africa from Dutch and stopped the slavery Dutch were getting from Malaysia
Was Colonialism Racist?
- Racism is common
- Britain didn’t invent it
- Making discriminate judgements about another culture is not racist.
  - Scientifically, technologically, or morally inferior
- You can say about your own race and people compared to 1000 years ago, so you can do it with other peoples as well
- Provided you discriminate
- Christian view
  - Fueled the movements to abolish slavery
  - Everyone equal under God