Figure 1.--An all to important part of European imperialism was racism. Not all Europeans were affected, but racist fellings were so pronounced that this European probably would not have brought his family home. The photograph is not identified. We think it may have been taken in French Indochina in the 1890s, but we are not at all sure. It came with a lot of British photographs so British Burma is another possibility. Image courtesy of the BP collection.

An all to important part of European imperialism was racism. We are not entirely sure why that was. Racism does not always flow from imperialism. There were many empires in history that did not develop such fervent racist attitides as the European colonialists. This appears to be the case with the Persians, Romans, Ottomans and other great empires. We note many many web pundits that insist that colonialism by its very nature is racist. This has, however, not been the historical experience. A reflection of this was slavery. This was an institution that until modern times was common and often an important part of the imperial economies. Slavery in these empires, unlike the slavery created by the Europeans was not race based. European colonialism, however, was indeed racist. And we do not fully understand why racism became so intense in the Western world. There seem to have been several different factors that fueld European racism. 1) The inballance in technology seemed to suggest that white Europeans were a more avanced people. 2) That technological inballance led to an inballance in military power. Thus the Europeans had the ability to impose their will on others peoples. 3) The inballance in technology as well as the ability to exploit other peoples created an inballance in living standards which strengthen the European view that they were superior. 4) Christian religious teaching fueld and justicied colonialism as bringing civilization to the heathen. (Here Christianity also taught against the worst abuses and was a major factor in the fight against slavery.) 5) Science by the 19th century became seen as road to the future and some authors connected evolution with racism--Social Darwinism. 6) Nationalism emerged as a powerful force in the 19th century and some rabid nationalists connected race with the nation. This was especually true in Germany, ironically the European power with the least experience with other races because of its small colonial empire. Racist attitudes varied from country to country. Here historical experiences affected popular attitudes toward race. And within countries there were a range of indivudal attitudes.

Created: 7:55 PM 1/2/2008
Last updated: 7:56 PM 1/2/2008