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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. 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. Non-European people were a novelty in Europe until the 20th century.
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 the great empires of history, unlike the slavery created by the Europeans was not race based. There may have been times when slavery took on an ethnuc color depending on who the great empired warred wuth. Thus after the Roman suppression of the Jews, large numbers of Jews were inslaved (1st century AD). Thus when the Romans invaded Britain (1st century AD), there were large numbers of fair-haired slaves entering the slave markets, but there were never laws attributing slave status to a particular religion or ethnic group. And this was the general pattern in the great empirs of history. European colonialism, however, was indeed racist.
Britain with its Royal Navy led the fight against the slave trade. The battle against the slave trade as the campaign against slavery in America became a moral crusade. The campaihn focused on the evils of slavery. A small proportion of vent abolitionists believe in human equality. Racism was not just a stronly held belief among slavers, but abolitionist as well. Along with ending the slave trade there was no widespread belief that blacks were equal to whites or that blacks should be granted citzenship.
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 justified 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) Slavery was another factor, especislly in America. 6) Science by the 19th century became seen as road to the future and some authors connected evolution with racism--Social Darwinism. 7) 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. The Germans, however, were especially brutal in their colonial polict. Racist attitudes varied from country to country. Here historical experiences affected popular attitudes toward race. And within countries there were a range of individal attitudes. It should not be thought that racism was exclusively a Western phenomenon. Racism was prevalent in other countries, including most of Latin America, India, China, and Japan. Western racism was especually pernicious because the Europeans countries controlled so much of the world. In other countries, racism was more of a domestic problem. An exception here was Japan. The Japanese proved to be very brutal as they carved out a colonial empire in the 20th century. And during World war II, millions would die as a result of Japanese racism. The colonial policies varied, but in all instances were affected by racism. The limited number of colonial peoples in Europe, meant that that domestic policies were not substantially affected. Two exceptions were newly unified Germany and America. Tsarist Russia was a rather strange variant, akind of racism without race. One rather unsavory manifestations of racism in Europe and America were human zoos, especially recreations of African villages.
Non-European people were a novelty in Europe until the 20th century. Population movement was possible from the earliest point in human esixtence. The spread of early man out of Africa is evidence of this. Man at this point was a hunter-gather. One the agricultural neolithic revolution took place, man became much more sedentary. As late as the 19th century, most people spent their lives within a relatively small sistance of where they were norn. As a result, we see destinct European populations based on ethnicity. While there were many varied ethnic groups in Europe, Asians, Africans, and Native Americans were very rarely seen. The Portugese had rhe largest African populations, but more as mulattos because of the Moorish era and Portugal's long involvement with Africa. As the major maritime powers began to build empires in the 19th century, we begin to see small numbers of other racial groups in Europe. This was most common in the major seaports. We note some African boys taken back to Europe to serve as servants in wealthy families. We do not know how common this was or in what countries it was most common, presumably countries sith the largest empires. Based on photographs ans paintings, it was more common for boys than girls. Eventually we see colonial peoples traveling to the mother country for both educations and to seek better paying jobs. These etnic and religious groups involved are now an important part of the European fabric. The people involved vary from country to country.
Comuunism and Fascism are commonly seen as opposite extrmes of the political spectrum. As we have discussed, these two 20th century totalitarian systems have much more in common than is often understood. One exception is the issue of race. Here the two systems differed, at least ideologally. Communists preached racial equality. Marx wrote at length on many topics including race. He was an ardent abolitionist at a time that slsvery still existed in America. For Marx and other Communists, race was just one of the ways that capitalists divided the working class. The opposition to racism was one of the reasons that Communism appealed to non-Western peoples. Fascists in contrast focused on race and ethnesity. Nationalism was a central core of Fascism. And in European countries dominted by a single ethnic group, racism was commonly mixed with nationalism. In fact, Europeans looking at the United States at the turn of the country question whether America was a real nation or capable of devloping and projectging power because there was not dominant ethnic group. Not all European Fascists developed a fixation on race that the NAZIs did. Musolini and the Italizn Fascists had to be incouraged by Hitler to move against the Jews. But in the end they became helpful participants in the Holocaust. And interesting footnote to this discussion is what happened in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism. Once the Soviet state was disolved, the Africans brought to Russia toi study became tatrgets of a very vivicious racism. Communist authoriyies hd suppressed this, but did not eradicate it. We also see a variety of terrible conflicts involving a witch's brew of racism/etnicity/nationalism/religion surfacing in the old Soviet Empire. The worst such eruption was in Tugoslavia, but we see such outbraks in the central Asian countries that were formed out of the old Soviet Union. We are not sure why this has occurred, but susopect that the sermons against racism yhoinlu coovered the Great Russian imperialism of the Tsarist Russi. Communism was in part just a new formulstion of 19th century Tsarist Pan-Slavism.
Where racism was really confronted and dealt with was in the liberal Western democracies.
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