echo Colonisation has significantly shaped the world we live in today. Many countries continue to bear the mark of years of exploitation and domination by foreign nations. From wealth disparities to cultural erasure, colonisation has had economic as well as social and cultural impacts on these modern societies, including Malaysia. A UN report has highlighted colonialism lives on today in the forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. Understanding these lasting effects helps us to understand and address present-day inequalities, paving the way towards a more equitable future.
What is Colonialism?
Colonialism is defined as the “domination of a people or area by a foreign state or nation”. This domination included the exploitation of the nation’s land, resources and population, whilst also imposing its own language and cultural values amongst the people. One of the most successful colonisers were the British. By the end of World War I, the British Empire controlled roughly a quarter of the world.
Economic Effects
A persistent challenge in the world today is the global inequality in the distribution of resources. Colonisers plundered vast amounts of wealth and resources from colonised regions, including raw materials and forced labour, to fuel industrialisation in their own countries, leaving these regions underdeveloped.
In places such as North America, inclusive institutions were constructed by the British to foster economic growth and progress. However, in other areas like Latin America and Africa, extractive institutions were imposed to exploit these countries’ resources. This helps to explain the current economic inequalities between the Global North and Global South.
This has resulted in present day wealth disparities between former colonial powers, who are now successfully developed and leading countries, and former colonies who, due to a lack of wealth and resources as a result of colonial exploitation, are still ‘developing’ and labelled as ‘Third World’ countries. According to Peter Smith in the Cambridge International AS and A Level Economics Student’s Book (Second Edition), in 2018, the world population was estimated to have reached 7.6 billion, and 6.3 billion of these people lived in so-called ‘developing countries’. This persisting imbalance has resulted in former colonial powers claiming global economic dominance, forcing former colonies to rely on foreign aid and international loans. These include places like Africa, India, and the Caribbean, who face ongoing economic challenges due to these inherited colonial structures. Peter Smith further states that in 2015, it was estimated that 736 million were living in absolute poverty, of whom more than a half were in sub-Saharan Africa.
Former colonial powers frequently fail to, or refuse to, acknowledge that they are only the established wealthy nations they are today as a result of the years of exploitation endured by colonised regions, which is the main reason why these underdeveloped regions are struggling, and unfairly, have to turn to them for economic aid.
Social Effects
The social effects of colonialism are deeply linked to the legacy of slavery, which continues to shape modern racial inequalities. In the 15th century, European imperialists landed in Africa and set in motion the Transatlantic Slave Trade, in which 10-12 million Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas to work as unpaid labourers to grow cash crops. Not only was this an extremely brutal and violent process, but it also dehumanised and violated individuals and set in place modern racial hierarchies and tensions.
An example of the mistreatment of those taken from their homeland to Britain, was seen in the Windrush scandal, where members of the Windrush generation—Caribbean migrants who arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971– were wrongfully detained and deported due to bureaucratic failures rooted in historical prejudices against non-white populations. The scandal exposed how racial biases and systemic issues continue to disadvantage communities who were once exploited under colonial rule.
“Often those who complain about immigration or racial diversity neglect the impactful role colonisation played on the world, emigration is often a consequence of British interference on their societies, yet immigrants are met with policies that have been created to make them as uncomfortable as possible.”
– The Impact of the Past: How British Colonialism Affects the Modern World
Cultural Effects
Another aspect of colonisation was the suppression of indigenous cultures, as well as the imposition of the language, traditions and religions of the colonising country. This forced assimilation was often carried out through education systems, eroding indigenous knowledge systems.
Language is another area where colonial influence persists: many countries continue to use languages imposed by colonisers (e.g. English, French, etc.) over native languages. This struggle is seen through Malaysia’s Dual Language Programme implemented in public schools, where there is debate over using the coloniser-imposed language English for practical and educational reasons or to preserve Malaysian culture through the use of the native language, Bahasa Malaysia.
Efforts by previously colonised countries to reclaim their cultural identities continue to be seen. For example, there has been a revival of Māori culture in New Zealand, which has been called the Māori renaissance.
Global Power Dynamics and Neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the “the control of less-developed countries by developed countries through indirect means”, which “perpetuate colonial forms of exploitation of developing countries.” This form of imperialism can be seen through multinational corporations and international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which have a significant impact on developing countries’ economies through economic policies that maintain power imbalances dating back to colonial times while trapping countries in cycles of debt and economic dependency.
Africa, for instance, sees foreign entities controlling a large amount of their natural resources, while the local people receive little benefits. The Democratic Republic of Congo is also economically exploited for their abundant resources, with foreign corporations siphoning away all the profit while workers face low wages and working conditions.
Beyond financial control, cultural hegemony reinforces the dominance of the West in global politics, media, and education. Western ideals, values and narratives shape international discourse and make it harder for post-colonial nations to reclaim their own identities.
Calls for Reparations
Colonisers had often justified their actions by claiming superiority over colonised indigenous peoples, and that they improved life and ‘civilised’ people in these places. While places such as Ghana did experience a rise in literacy, nutrition and health, this has to be consolidated with the extent of violence, imperialism and damage that accompanied it, such as the horrific Bengal famine that resulted in the deaths of around 3 million people.
“The fact that colonialism had positive effects on development in some contexts does not mean that it did not have devastating negative effects on indigenous populations and society. It did.”
– The economic impact of colonialism
“As South Asia historian John McQuade writes, “It takes a highly selective misreading of the evidence to claim that colonialism was anything other than a humanitarian disaster for most of the colonized.”
– “What is colonialism?”, National Geographic
In response to these lasting harmful effects and inequalities, countries have begun demanding reparations for the exploitations countries endured under colonial rule. It continues to be an ongoing debated topic today. Movements for public apologies and financial compensation have gained traction in places like the Caribbean, Africa, and India.
“…transitional justice mechanisms such as truth commissions, reparations programs, public apologies and measures to ensure remembrance and education, as well as guarantees of non-recurrence were essential to tackle the most deep-rooted causes of colonial violence.”
– Racism, discrimination are legacies of colonialism, OHCHR
IN CONCLUSION, colonial influences have clearly shaped the world we live in today and continue to impact post-colonial nations. Educating ourselves on the truth of colonial history, will help us better understand the remnant effects left behind and encourage global efforts toward reparations and acknowledgement of historical wrongs, as well as encourage the active preservation, revival and celebration of forgotten suppressed cultures.
“The majority of British people are still proud of colonialism and the British Empire. Americans continue to show an almost total indifference to the lasting poverty and devastation inflicted on the country’s indigenous population.”
– A Quick Reminder of Why Colonialism Was Bad, Current Affairs
“History is not stuck in the past. What we remember, and how, helps us understand who we are. Learning about empire – from the brutal suppression of Kenya’s Mau Mau uprising to WEB Du Bois’ work on colonialism – would mean understanding that colonialists created race and the racial hierarchy to control and govern colonies around the world. Unpicking how and why race was constructed would make for a more sophisticated discussion about racism now and chip away at the idea that [Britain] was ever an exclusively “white” country.”
– Put our colonial history on the curriculum – then we’ll understand who we really are”, the Guardian
Written by: Reeya
Edited by: Tisyha
