How Did Imperialism Affect The Lives Of The Colonized People

Although imperialism improved the lives of the colonized people by providing western infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, to a great extent it hurt their lives through cash crops along with traditional cultures being forcibly broken down.
To begin, imperialism was seen to help the lives of the Southern Africans by implementing modern infrastructure, including hospitals and schools. Although the Europeans motives to provide these utilities were mainly out of self-interest, the people of Congo and South Africa benefitted from these actions. Before imperialism, travel within Africa was extremely difficult due to a lack of proper waterways/roads and the numerous diseases present in the continent. This prevented Europeans from entering for several decades,
From the beginning, India was a very important country for the British, because, with a population of 300 million people, it was a prime market for British manufactured goods. In fact, “the British considered India the brightest ‘jewel in the crown’, the most valuable of Britain’s colonies” (World History Textbook, page 357). Policies were created to allow for Britain to control most of the Indian economy, and any Indian competition to British goods was banned. An emphasis was also placed on the use of cash crops in India. Cash crops are crops that are produced solely for commercial value rather than for actual use by the farmer. The conversion over to the use of cash crops resulted in reduced food production in many Indian communities. Less food means higher costs and, overall, leads to widespread famine across India. The fact that the British controlled their agricultural production, economy, and trade in general, which threatened traditional Indian lifestyle, exhibits how Imperialism also negatively affected colonized