What arguments might Europeans use to justify their colonization of the New World?

Answer 1

They used the colonies to expand there reach as a world power. Most of the European countries used there colonies to provide resources for there own development. If your asking how they justified it from a moral standpoint, they had no one but each other to answer to so they did not justify the creation of colonies and most would not have cared to anyway. But the final answer would be they created colonies to expand there power. Colonial expansion has shaped the world into the form we have now.

this ^^^ is wrong... although i do not know the right answer i am aware that europeans DID have other countries to answer to. they invaded Africa and parts of china to colonize they did colonize there to obviously expand and gain power.... and FYI they werent the only country to be colonizing on Africa and china at the time everyone was trying to "get a piece of the pie".......

-Dalton, 15 California

i just needed to know the answer but i found it

Answer 2

The arguments relating to the justification behind the colonization of all country's changes depending of the time in history. At the time of colonization in the Americas any thing that was done by a conquering country was fair enough because they had the strength to do it. Introducing the poor savages to a proper religious and civilized way of life was very much favored at the time. This of course was also the reason that as much knowledge and history was destroyed as possible in these places. As industrialization came more to the fore the reasoning was that we were helping them develop their country's. Today colonization has been taken over by multinational company's under the veil of Globalisation. What ever the argument it was always one that didn't stand up well for long.

Answer 3

There were several reasons that Europeans were interested in controlling what are traditionally considered Islamic Lands. Most of those reasons have more to do with the political and social climate in Europe during the Imperialist Period in Europe.

The following reasons detail the reasons for European conquests in both Islamic and non-Islamic countries in Asia and Africa:

Resources: There were an incredible variety of resources produced around the world that fed into the European industrial machine. Indonesia and Malaysia had rubber trees, Central Africa produces coltan and other metal ores, the Persian Gulf is known for petroleum, etc. The European powers wanted to gain access to these resources to power their industrial rise.

Strategic Territory: Numerous colonies had specific strategic locations, such as Egypt with the current Suez Canal, Morocco with the Straits of Gibraltar, India because of its massive spice production and outlets to the Indian ocean. Indochina was close to the unconquerable Qing Empire. Many colonies were chosen specifically based on where they were and how effectively defense could be maintained by holding those positions.

Christian Evangelism: Many Europeans believed quite strongly at the time that their technological success was correlated with their belief in Christianity. In their view, non-Christians like the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. were hindered by the mentalities present in their religions from being technologically astute. In order to "help" these people to becomes more modern and more worldly, it was "necessary" to teach them the proper way to believe so that they too could succeed. Sometimes this evangelism was benign. At other times, it erupted in full-scale conflict, such as the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

White Man's Burden: Europeans were fascinated with the philosophy of J.S. Mills Jr. and Rudyard Kipling who believed that there was really only one track to humanity and each person was on this track to ultimate advancement. As Europeans were further along this track, it was "incumbent" on them as act of generosity to help those who were not as technologically or "culturally" advanced. There were campaigns across Africa, Asia, and Australia to "Europeanize the Natives" so that they would be "able" to progress properly.

Labor and Military Augmentation: The colonies, especially in Asia, had very high populations relative to European countries. This allowed them to add large numbers to their labor force and to create new military divisions from this large population.

Appearance of Power: European Leaders ascribed power and dominance to those countries who were able to amass a large number of colonies, especially if they were in coveted or strategic locations.

It is worth noting that Europeans sowed discord between many different ethnic groups which had previous co-existed without problems or with minimal problems in order to more effectively govern. However, as the impetus for this was effective governance (as opposed to seeding discord) it is not a reason why Europeans were interested in controlling those territories.

Answer 4

Europeans claimed that they were helping countries modernize