- Question
Were there any positives to European Colonialism?
European empires from the early modern period to the twentieth century dominated much of the globe. Scholarship on Imperialism has focused on the destruction and exploitation that these European colonies wrought on their subjects and territories. However, were there any positive results from this process?
Yes, there are positives to European colonialism
This position argues that European colonialism had positives. It holds that empires were vital in spreading the global norms underpinning the modern economy and way of life, that imperialism effectively created the modern world, and that colonial rule bettered some later post-colonial regimes.
No, imperialism is at its core exploitative
This position holds that there were no genuine positives to European colonialism, which was exploitative at its core. It argues that empires were built to enrich their rulers in land and resources, not to uplift the colonised — and that settler colonialism destroyed native populations.