Map of Imperialism

Why do most of the countries go after Africa and colonize there? About every place in Africa is colonized by some other country.

Does Australia play a big role in the trade networks?

If so many countries are in Africa, then why is it still underdeveloped when compared to other places?

White Man's Burden Response

Rudyard Kipling describes the native people very differently as opposed to the Europeans. He speaks so highly about the "white man" compared to the natives. Kipling at various times in the poem describes the natives as uncivilized and not culturally proper. He also believed that imperialism was greater than the government of the natives. The attitude that he shows during this poem is arrogance and this is directed towards the natives. He even tries to tell natives to renounce their current lifestyles and adopt the European ways ("white man's burden"). Kipling is illustrating that everything that the Europeans do is the proper style and nothing else works. Overall, Kipling is trying to support his opinion that all natives are foolish and need to be disciplined, while the Europeans are very advanced and ahead of everyone else. 

Lin Zexu's Letter To Queen Victoria Response

Lin Zexu conveys his distaste for opium by stating many negative aspects of it and the people who sell it. Lin says that opium causes all sorts of pain and problems for the Chinese people; even Heaven is affected by the use of opium. He is even more angry at the fact that opium usage has already spread to many of the provinces in China and nothing is being done to stop it. Also the traders of opium constantly sell opium in China even though there are laws that should prevent this from happening. The punishments inflicted on opium peddlers suggest that Lin's perception of opium's threat to China is a strong one because he believes that if the Chinese people who have interacted with this drug are setenced to death, then the traders who sell it should be killed as well. Lin explains that if there is to be peaceful trading between their countries, then everyone must obey the regulations that have been placed explicitly.