Are former British colonies better off now compared to other colonies and why
score:4
The English colonies you mentioned ended up better because they tended to be better to begin with. The successful ones had either a lot of structure or few natives. India and Singapore had established economies and political systems before the British got there. They didn't need to be built from the ground up. Cape Colony (south africa) was a dutch colony for 150 years before the British got there and there was also something to tie in to. Australia and Canada had few natives.
The French colonies had a lot of natives without a lot of structure. The Saharan ones also had more nomads and raiding was a common part of the nomadic economy. These nomads had to be contended with. Rather than adapting an existing system to fit their needs, the French had to impose a new one from scratch.
The Belgian Congo was very poorly managed. The Germans didn't rule their colonies for very long and didn't invest as much as the British did in them. The Dutch colonies tended to be stolen by the British but they tended to be pretty good while they lasted.
Upvote:4
I seriously doubt you can make any such generalisation. Case in point, Zimbadwe is one of the worst countries in the world, when under British rule it was affluent. It used to be the bread basket of Africa, now it's starving. And that has nothing to do with the fact that it was British before, and everything with the way it's being run now.
And the same is true of everywhere else pretty much. Indonesia is doing rather well, despite the way the Japanese ripped everything that could be fit into a cargo ship from the country during WW2.
OTOH despite being very rich in natural resources and having received massive aid over the decades, Cote d'Ivoire is dirt poor.
What most of these countries have in common is that they pretty much reverted to the state they were in prior to the colonial powers coming there.
Indonesia was a mostly peaceful nation of farmers and traders, Zimbadwe en Cote d'Ivoire were scenes of near constant tribal warfare.
Of course many people don't want to hear that, and will call you a racist for pointing out the truth, but there you have it. The current situation in those countries has pretty little to do with the way they were run during the colonial era, and much more with the mentality of the people that were there before and still are there now.
Most all the colonial era did was give them a bit of infrastructure to build on if they so chose after independence. And yes, the British colonies mostly got more of that than the French ones, but if they ruined or ignored it after independence (as happened in general in sub-Saharan Africa, far less so in Asia) you can't blame that on the colonial power that left those roads and other structures behind, and the trained people.
More post
- 📝 What is the origin of these assertions about The Palaces of Qin shih Huang?
- 📝 Were Korean and Tibetan rulers ever styled as 'sons of heaven'?
- 📝 Historic leisure activities (especially the elderly)
- 📝 Turko-Mongol horse tactics and Western European response
- 📝 Before television sets became commonplace, did people generally watch movies only once?
- 📝 Why were all Y-12 operators of Manhattan Project women?
- 📝 Why were Soviet attitudes towards Israel inconsistent in the late 40's and 50's?
- 📝 What was the first assassination/murder recorded on film?
- 📝 What was the official policy of British administration about the integration of Indian Princely States in 1947?
- 📝 What is the meaning behind this Panama joke published in a 1914 newspaper?
- 📝 Why are stamps put in the top-right corner of post?
- 📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
- 📝 What is the earliest mention of use of spyglass by seafarers?
- 📝 What are the causes of the 1773 Boston Tea Party?
- 📝 Why were swords used in battle?
- 📝 Did the Germans rule England?
- 📝 How many trucks did Russia and Germany have at the start of Barbarossa?
- 📝 What is the largest secret kept in history?
- 📝 Who really fired on Ft. Sumter - the South or Local Charleston, SC militia?
- 📝 Newton, Galileo, and Gravity
- 📝 Was Saladin Agnostic?
- 📝 Why is there a gap of information in Russia for human migration?
- 📝 What tactical situations made the use of traditional horse cavalry effective in World War II?
- 📝 Did Mithridates VI ever lead 500,000 soldiers?
- 📝 What was the church's attitude to "magic" prior to the 15th century?
- 📝 Why didn't Spain and Portugal become industrial powerhouses in the 20th century?
- 📝 Do we know what the Watergate burglars were after?
- 📝 Does written language change language more than oral tradition?
- 📝 Why have both July and August 31 days?
- 📝 Why did John Ganson vote contradictorily on the 13th Amendment?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Are former British colonies better off now compared to other colonies and why
- 📝 Why didn't Turkish become an official language in former Ottoman colonies in the Middle-East and North Africa?
- 📝 Why were the Thirteen Colonies more successful, both economically and socially, than other colonies?
- 📝 Why are Illyrian and Thracian cultures not studied as thoroughly as other balkans people?
- 📝 Why are former SS Engineers and Scientists who worked for NASA still honored?
- 📝 Why are Turkish people and other Turkik people considered of Mongolic race if their language is not in the Mongolic language family?
- 📝 Why is Germany's history of colonialism and imperialism less prominent compared to other European nations?
- 📝 Why are the German and French languages so different?
- 📝 Why were helmets and other body armour not commonplace in the 1800s?
- 📝 Why did the German army execute so few soldiers in World War I compared to most other armies?
- 📝 Is there a historical explanation as to why the USA people are so litigious compared to the French?
- 📝 Why were British ships not of the same quality as French and Spanish ships until the latter part of the 18th century?
- 📝 Why are the USA and Canada's states border so straight?
- 📝 Why are the French and Indian Wars / Seven Years' War not considered WW 1?
- 📝 Why are cereal grains so important to agriculture and civilization?
- 📝 Why did the Dutch, French & British acquire minor colonies in South America?
- 📝 Why did the Chinese Nationalist party members go to the island of Taiwan and not to any other island?
- 📝 Why didn't the Persians make and use ballistas and other kinds of artillery?
- 📝 Why are most of the world's oldest buildings in Europe and not in the Fertile Crescent?
- 📝 Why did France put so many resources into fighting Algeria in comparison to its other former colonial holdings?
- 📝 Why was slavery profitable in the Southern colonies and not New England?
- 📝 Why were gravediggers, actors and former gladiators (but not slaves) banned from the Colosseum?
- 📝 Why did Nepal and Bhutan not become a part of India like other princely states when colonial rule ended?
- 📝 Why did Chicago and other cities choose an L (elevated metro) when most others chose underground subways?
- 📝 Why are Vikings singled out for raids in Britain and Ireland when records may indicate most raids were by local rulers?
- 📝 Why did the British take Hong Kong instead of any other of the later treaty ports?
- 📝 Why the six hour gap between British and French declarations of war?
- 📝 Why are Vorarlberg and Tirol part of Austria, when they are only connected to it by high mountains?
- 📝 Why did some colonies of the British Empire have their own currencies?
- 📝 Why did animation become so huge in Japan compared to other countries?