I was sitting down at a staff meeting the other day, discussing an exam question comparing European colonialism with Chinese colonialism. The question framed Chinese colonialism as a super positive comparison to European colonialism, but literally focused only on Zhang He’s voyages and left out all of the other Chinese imperialist shit in SE Asia, Korea, North Central Asia, Tibet, and what’s now Western China.
I got my way (because I’m technically in charge) and the question was rewritten to exclude the assumption that Chinese colonialism was a positive thing but…
it’s amazing how villainizing the Americans, the British and the French (and the Jews, because of fucking course) as colonialists has given an incredible pass to the vast majority of colonial powers in history.
ChristianLW3 on
Reminds me of how after the war Austrian tried to depict themselves as victims or vassals of Nazis
I still don’t understand why the Nazi rigged the annexation referendum when overwhelming majority of Austrians supported it
PaladinWij on
Glasgow was known as the “Second City of the Empire” for a reason. At one point, it produced something like 20% of all ships in the WORLD. Scotland was a critical contributor to the Royal Navy and as such the British Empire.
TheHistoryMaster2520 on
I’d argue that Ireland, or at least the Irish upper and middle classes, also played a role in colonizing the world for Britain
OengusEverywhere on
To add a bit of nuance here, it was largely the urban middle classes in the Lowlands and the aristocracy who profited from the Union and Empire. For the Highlanders these events actually made their lives worse, between the Highland Clearances (in which farmers were evicted by their own clan chiefs to make space for sheep), economic decline and land inequality in the 19th century, and the thousands of Scots shipped off to fight for the Empire which was putting money in the elite’s pockets
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I was sitting down at a staff meeting the other day, discussing an exam question comparing European colonialism with Chinese colonialism. The question framed Chinese colonialism as a super positive comparison to European colonialism, but literally focused only on Zhang He’s voyages and left out all of the other Chinese imperialist shit in SE Asia, Korea, North Central Asia, Tibet, and what’s now Western China.
I got my way (because I’m technically in charge) and the question was rewritten to exclude the assumption that Chinese colonialism was a positive thing but…
it’s amazing how villainizing the Americans, the British and the French (and the Jews, because of fucking course) as colonialists has given an incredible pass to the vast majority of colonial powers in history.
Reminds me of how after the war Austrian tried to depict themselves as victims or vassals of Nazis
I still don’t understand why the Nazi rigged the annexation referendum when overwhelming majority of Austrians supported it
Glasgow was known as the “Second City of the Empire” for a reason. At one point, it produced something like 20% of all ships in the WORLD. Scotland was a critical contributor to the Royal Navy and as such the British Empire.
I’d argue that Ireland, or at least the Irish upper and middle classes, also played a role in colonizing the world for Britain
To add a bit of nuance here, it was largely the urban middle classes in the Lowlands and the aristocracy who profited from the Union and Empire. For the Highlanders these events actually made their lives worse, between the Highland Clearances (in which farmers were evicted by their own clan chiefs to make space for sheep), economic decline and land inequality in the 19th century, and the thousands of Scots shipped off to fight for the Empire which was putting money in the elite’s pockets