Rudyard Kipling, a novelist, and poet of British descent, wrote the poem White Man’s Burden in 1899. The poem was first published in February of 1899 in a magazine in the beginning of the Philippine-American war. Kipling advised America to take up the burden of empire the same way the other European nations had done (Kipling, 2017). Imperialism is described as a burden that white countries should take to help other inferior, non-white countries. Kipling viewed colonization more like a moral duty or obligation. “White Man’s Burden” has remained very prevalent up to date, as a justification for imperialism. The poem sparked the rise of debates on whether America should take control of the Philippines after the American-Spanish.
Britain and Indian
British became interested in India in the 1600s when the British East India Company had begun building up posts of trade in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras (Pickersgill, 2017). Mughal Empire managed to control the invasion of foreign traders in their empire early when Britain was still trying to invade India. However, in 1707, the empire collapsed, disintegrating states. Due to this separation, with the French's help, Colonel Robert Clive managed to victory over the Indian army (Pickersgill, 2017). British victory over India marked the beginning of British East India's company control over India. Indian natives were too many compared to the British, so the British opted to use sepoys and Indian soldiers. Indian soldiers finally rebelled in 1857, which prompted the British government to take control of India finally (Reddy, 2017). Previously, Britain only supervised the activities of British East India Company. After getting full control of Indian issues like racism and mistreatment of Indians started coming up. British took control of India's economy.
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Motivations behind the British invasion of India range from economic, political, to religious. Britain was interested in taking over lands and products in India, mainly for-profit and financial control. Politically, Britain wanted to take control over Indians to become more powerful and more robust compare to other European nations (O’Neill, 2017). The Social Darwinism theory, which in simple words means survival for the fittest, was applied in the pursuit to take over India (Winlow, 2020). Social Darwinism theory states that influential people are better than others. The Darwinism theory, therefore, justified colonization. Colonizers were regarded as powerful and therefore had a right and duty to colonize other countries. Britain’s relationship with the Indian natives was very poor. According to Reddy (2017), when Britain first took control of India, the Sepoys were their allies, but later on rebelled. Britain changed India's farming in cash crop farming for export purposes. Focusing on cash crop farming made it impossible for Indian families to provide food for themselves, which resulted in resentment.
Ethnocentrism is one of the effects of imperialism in India. Indian traditional practices were disregarded and made to seem inferior, primitive, and archaic. Leck (2020) stated that religion was one of the factors that were profoundly affected by ethnocentrism. Indian natives' religion was highly criticized by the British. Britain imposed their way of life on the Indians. “White Man’s Burden” (Kipling, 2017), was more validation for the mistreatment of Indians. They decided that they need to take over India to help them develop technologically. Kipling’s poem justifies everything done by Britain. The first line of the poem is apparent, "Take Up the White Man's Burden." This line clearly shows that the white man has the right to take control of other countries. Kipling urges the British to take control of sullen people who are only half-human and half devil. Line 50 "have done with childish days" (Kipling, 2017). Indian ways and traditions are seen as childish and ought to be done away with through colonialism.
References
Kipling, R. (2017). The white man’s burden. Poem.
Leck, R. (2020). False Universals and the Science of Religion: Max Müller and the Episteme of Cosmopolitan Imperialism. The European Legacy , 25 (4), 455-468.
O’Neill, D. I. (2017). Burke and Paine on the Origins of British Imperialism in India. In Comparative Political Theory in Time and Place (pp. 105-129). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Pickersgill, B. (2017). The British East India Company, John Bradby Blake, and their interests in spices, cotton, and tea. Curtis's Botanical Magazine , 34 (4), 379-401.
Reddy, S. (2017). Rise of the Machines: The State, Its Subjects, and the Sepoy Rebellion. In the British Empire and the Literature of Rebellion (pp. 1-72). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Winlow, H. (2020). Darwinism (and social Darwinism). Evolution.
