The word “colonialism” comes from the word “colony” which is a group of people living under the rules of a parent state. Almost always, colonies develop in places where indigenous people have lived for generations with their own traditions and culture (Wolny, 2005). Colonialism has long term harms whereby the most serious one is the former colonies having inability of shifting themselves towards self development and resource extraction effects. In a nutshell, colonialism was in the forefront in nurturing underdevelopment of colonies as well as encouraging the dependency culture. There was excessive exploitation of the colonized countries, resource draining and increase of dependency which showed that colonization inhibited the developing nations’ struggle to become independent.
Colonialism led to the exploitation of the natural resources within the colonies as well as the control of trade. The colonies were derived of agricultural resources and valuable minerals. In controlling trading activities of the colonies, the colonizers established linkages in the world which enables then to manipulate and dominate trade and markets. As the rulers are able to enhance their competitive advantage, colonialism granted them the power of specializing in production and disposition of surplus produce at the expense of the colonized population. Everybody knows that education makes people and countries to become self-dependent. Colonialism weakened the educational systems of the colonies. For example, the political crisis in Africa emerged due to imposition of alien rules. In order to meet their economic and administrative needs, the colonial masters educated few Africans to assist them in controlling the colonies. Therefore, many people were forced to be dependent as they were never educated. In practical sense, Africans were perceived as people who took and obeyed orders without thinking. Thus, independence still exists in most African countries (Gheddo, 1973).
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In conclusion, colonialism paved way to underdevelopment and dependence. As the colonial masters maximized the use of natural resources at their benefit, they created an environment that they solely benefited.