Page 33 - The Disasters Darwinism Brought To Humanity

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D D A R W I N ' S R A C I S M A N D C O L O N I A L I S M 33
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British Colonialism and Darwinism
The country which profited most from Darwin's racist views was
Darwin's own land, Britain. In the years when Darwin put forward his
theory, Great Britain was in the position of having founded the world's
number one colonialist empire. All the natural resources of an area
stretching from India to Latin America were exploited by the British
Empire. The "white man" was plundering the world for his own interests.
But, of course, starting with Great Britain, no colonialist country
wanted to be seen as a "plunderer" and to go down in history as such. For
this reason, they were looking for an explanation to show that they were
right in what they were doing. Such an explanation might be to portray
the colonised peoples as "primitive people" or "animal-like living crea-
tures." In this way, for those who were massacred and subjected to inhu-
man treatment to be able to be seen not as human beings, but as half-
human half-animal creatures, and their mistreatment would not be
regarded as a crime.
Actually, this search was not new: the first spread of colonialism in
the world went back to the 15 and 16 centuries. Claims to the effect that
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some races had semi-animal characteristics were first put forward by
Christopher Columbus on his American journey. According to these
claims, Native Americans were not human beings, but a species of devel-
oped animal. For this reason they could be put to the service of the Span-
ish colonialists.
No matter how much Columbus is portrayed in films about the dis-
covery of America as having a warm and humane attitude to the natives,
the fact is that Columbus did not regard the native people as human. 19
Christopher Columbus was the person who first set in motion a great
massacre. Columbus established Spanish colonies in the places he discov-
ered, made slaves of the natives and was responsible for the starting of the
slave trade. The Spanish "conquistadors" saw the policy of oppression
and exploitation that Columbus implemented, and continued it: the mas-
sacres carried out reached unbelievable dimensions. For example, the