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European Imperialism

Source 1

I was anxious to see to what extent the natives had “adopted the fostering care” of your Majesty’s “benevolent enterprise”, and I was doomed to bitter disappointment. Instead of the natives of the Congo “adopting the fostering care” of your Majesty’s Government, they everywhere complain that their land has been taken from them by force; that the Government is cruel and arbitrary, and declare that they neither love nor respect the Government and its flag. Your Majesty’s Government has sequestered their land, burned their towns, stolen their property, enslaved their women and children, and committed other crimes too numerous to mention in detail. It is natural that they everywhere shrink from “the fostering care” your Majesty’s Government so eagerly proffers them. There has been, to my absolute knowledge, no “honest and practical effort made to increase their knowledge and secure their welfare.” Your Majesty’s Government has never spent one franc for educational purposes, nor instituted any practical system of industrialism.

Source:  George Washington Williams, Open Letter to King Leopold on the Congo, 1890

Question 1

Short answer

 Explain one critique of imperialism alluded to in this letter. Include evidence that supports Williams’s claim.

Question 2

Short answer

Explain one example of how a similar critique could be given for European imperialism in a region outside Africa.

Question 3

Short answer

Describe one counterargument Europeans would have provided in response to Williams's accusations.

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