The Age of Exploration by the European countries from the end of the 15th century to the 18th century certainly seemed like a good idea at the time. Travelers and traders had since the 8th century been moving goods and ideas all across Asia and into Europe. Everyone made a few bucks and some friends and alliances along the way.
If running caravans from Constantinople to Beijing was profitable, how much more would big sailing ships to places where glass beads were considered a wonder of modern science? But too often the locals were not that happy to have “white guys” tell them what god to worship, clothes to wear, and how to sell their native handicrafts and raw materials.
Unfortunately, a good idea at the time easily leads to “Unintended Consequences”. In the interest of furthering “globalization” and “international cooperation”, it was necessary to take over these places to make sure there were enough spices, precious metals and other goodies available in Europe. Trading posts became trading fortresses and then wholly owned colonies.
Of course, the colonizers all agreed that the indigenous people had no say about their lands. Look at the Philippines, for example. Even before the Americans got here, the Spanish, British and the Dutch all fought over who gets Manila. Now, several centuries later, you probably could not give the city of Manila away for free to any of them. And that is the point.
Certainly, the United States made a big financial profit from owning the Philippines. But how much blood and treasure did they spend defending their colony from the Japanese? Having its air force and navy at the Clark and Subic bases was the only way the US was able to sustain its Vietnam War. The 50,000 Americans killed in that war might have preferred that the Philippines did not exist.
With a “British Commonwealth” passport, people from Jamaica, South Africa and Malaysia all moved to the United Kingdom. Hindus and Muslims on the subcontinent could not get away from each other fast enough, killing a few hundred thousand in the process. Yet, Pakistanis and Indians live side by side today as “Brits”…sort of.
While much is their own fault, India is an absolute disaster area since its independence in 1947. The war with Pakistan has run hot and hotter every day since the partition. India’s social structure and civilization that lasted for at least 2,000 years, collapsed under colonization and subsequent independence. Should India have stayed a colony or never been one?
More than 12,600 farmers and agricultural laborers committed suicide in 2015 in what is one of the world’s poorest countries. On average, life is worse for Indians than it is for Africans. On the World Happiness Report, India is ranked in the 122nd position. While other nations improve, India has fallen from 35th place to 80th place on the corruption index. And India is where the Taj Mahal was built in 1648. Buddhism, influencing billions of Asians, developed there 2,500 years ago.
Today India is in many ways the embodiment of a “third-world hellhole”. Is European colonialism to blame? We will never know, will we? However, it might be a fair assumption that former colonies that gained independence in the 20th century are successes despite being a colony and not because of all the supposed benefits of colonization. What might have the Philippines accomplished if not for American hotdogs and spaghetti?