Runninghead: HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 1

History of western civilization

Name

Institution
HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 2

How life changed between the beginning and the end of the 19th century

The United States of America began emerging as an industrial giant in the early 19th

century. Old industries grew as new ones such as electrical power, steel manufacturing, and

petroleum refining appeared. Railway coverage increased considerably, connecting even the

remotest parts of the nation to the national market. Industrial development changed the American

society. The transformation created a new category of successful industrialists and an affluent

middle class (Larson 2009). It also led to the creation of an expansive blue collar society. The

millions of immigrants getting into the country, as well as the massive rural-urban migration at

the time, made the industrial process possible. However, not everybody benefitted from this early

economic boom, many individuals were not employed on a full-time basis, and payment was low

when they had work. As a result, many workers supported and became members of various

worker unions.

Meanwhile, farm workers struggled to keep up as technology led to increased production

and low prices for farm produce. Difficult conditions on the farms caused a massive rural-urban

migration as individuals relocated to cities to seek better income generating options. Individuals

who were born in the beginning of the century were to witness significant changes. A majority of

these changes were as a result of vast technological improvements. For instance, the main source

of lighting would move from candles to kerosene lamps and eventually electric devices. This

generation would see the transformation from transport by foot and horses, to steam engines, to

electric vehicles, and gas-driven cars. They would live through an industrial revolution that

fundamentally altered the way they worked and how they lived having been born and raised in a

society where most people worked in farms. They would later witness millions of people relocate

from rural America to the fast growing cities.

HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 3

By the middle of the century, American cities were growing at an unprecedented rate.

American cities grew by over twenty million people in the last half of the 9th century because of

the industrial expansion (Clark et al., 2008). Immigrants from all over the globe accounted for a

significant portion of this exponential growth. The steady rural-urban migration also contributed

significantly. As much as forty percent of American towns experienced greatly reduced

populations as a result of this migration. Industrial enlargement and growth of population

drastically altered the outlook of American cities. Water and air pollution. Health and hygiene

challenges, traffic deadlocks, informal settlements, and noise became routine. Mass

transportation in form of tram cars, trolleys, and high speed trains were introduced and high rise

buildings started to appear all over the cities. Commuters from the suburbs began to move to and

from the cities for work and other engagements in unprecedented numbers.

Most city dwellers lived in apartments; the center of community life began to grow in

neighborhoods especially those occupied by immigrants. Many such migrant groups tried to

establish and practice their native traditions and cultures. Numerous sections of many American

cities still show signs of those early ethnic cultures. Industrial cities became part and parcel of

America during the latter decades of the century. The cities were characterized by inadequate

infrastructure for meaningful growth and development as a result of the runaway population

increase. Despite the many challenges, the cities nurtured an environment that would later lead to

the cultural and ethnic diversity in America today.

Beginning the second half of the 19th century, America was witnessing a peak in the

widening of its industrial sector and output (Wyatt III, 2008). The production of goods using

machinery in massive quantities was at the center of this increase. This means of production was

initially used and perfected in Britain by the textile industry. In the decades following the
HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 4

popularization of mechanization, machines started replacing individual workers. These included

significantly skilled tradespeople in almost all industries. By the latter decades of the century,

machines were being used to knit socks and stitch shirts and dresses as well as leather used for

the manufacture of shoes. The use of machinery in the production of goods led to lower

production and operational costs. The reduced costs of labor translated to cheaper commodities

for consumers. Therefore, the use of machines in production led to a rising abundance of

commodities at significantly lower prices.

However, mechanization also presented its own sets of challenges. Firstly, the machines

altered how individuals worked. Skilled tradespeople of the foregone days enjoyed the

satisfaction of witnessing the manufacture of goods from the beginning through the various

processes to the end product. When a commodity was finally produced, there was a sense of

accomplishment among the workers. However, the introduction of machines tended to partition

the process of production into smaller monotonous tasks with each individual performing the

same role throughout the day. This mode of work was often repetitive and tiresome. The speed of

work became quicker and quicker; work was performed inside factories designed to house the

machinery. Eventually, factory supervisors started to establish an industrial work ethic which

required employees to work for predetermined periods which were frequently very long.

Are there any benefits of imperial rule to the colonized countries?

The debate whether colonization is beneficial to the colonized countries has raged on for

decades. Would Africa’s economic development be any different if it had not been colonized by

the British? Would it be richer? Would it be poorer? Would there be no difference? For the first

time in history economic historians have begun to conduct empirical research to determine the

effects of colonization on various countries. There is sufficient evidence that colonization leads
HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 5

to some form of economic development during the colonization period. For example, actual

wages rose for workers in the formal sector in the British colony in West Africa. Also, the

physique of military trainees in British East Africa and in Ghana indicates that there was an

increase in height when the two regions were under the British rule, an indication of rising

prosperity (Moradi, 2009). However, many critics argue that colonial governments are predatory.

Are the two examples provided sufficient to conclude that colonization favors development? We

will evaluate this question to find out the economic consequences of colonization and to

determine if it is beneficial or harmful to the host country.

Various academic research conducted in Africa determined that colonization had some

benefits to the host countries. According to various studies, most African countries witnessed

systematically growing revenues during the colonial era relative to the base year 1885. Africans

benefitted from the introduction of mining technology as well as the railway system. Also,

colonization was found to have promoted integration into the global trade. However, it is not

clear to what extent colonization was responsible for this development. Experts argue that in the

wake of worldwide trade expansion much of the development would have occurred anyway, and

it is not possible to determine precisely what contribution was due to colonization.

Still, the fact that the average standards of living improved does not mean that all citizens

experienced better living conditions (Heldring & Robinson, 2013). For instance, the

impoverishing effect of land expropriation and the establishment of dual economies on earnings

in South Africa indicates that Africans witnessed a serious decline in the standards of living

because of colonization. Therefore, while the formal sector earnings were going up, the rest of

the society cut off from the sector was facing a fall in purchasing power.
HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 6

Researchers observe that assessing the effect of colonialism involves looking at the

counterfactual and not only raw figures. Studies must therefore take into account the trajectories

the colonized nation would have taken if it had not been colonized. For instance, would South

Africa had witnessed impoverishment if the state of Zulu had taken charge of the Rand and the

development of the gold mining business? If the colonialists came with institutions or

technology, then their absence would have prompted the South Africans to implement or invent

the equivalents themselves. Also, any of this information must be considered within the

framework of existing tendencies and global comparisons. It appears likely that even in the

absence of colonization, the world health organization would have provided medical technology

just like the missionaries would have provided education.

An individual must carefully consider what occurs after colonization to clearly

understand its effects. It is a conceptual error to only judge the effect of colonialism on

development by studying the results during the era. In the absence of colonialism, Africa would

have looked very differently. The economic deterioration in post-independent Africa can be

blamed on colonialism since the nature of mechanisms that caused the deterioration were created

by the colonial powers.

To ease the use of counterfactuals we separate colonies into three categories. The first

category consists nations that had a central government at the time they were colonized such as

Rwanda, Benin, and Ghana (Austin et al., 2009). The next category is made up of countries that

had white settlers at the time of colonization and includes South Africa, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.

The last group consists of countries that did not have substantial number of white settlers, either

had a combination of centralized and non-centralized societies like Uganda and Nigeria, or

lacked a notable form of government before colonization such as South Sudan and Somalia.
HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 7

It appears logical to infer that all categories of the countries above would have

established similar contacts with the rest of the globe. This means that missionaries would have

still converted the people and established schools. Similarly, the world health organization would

have attempted to disseminate medical technology, and the United Nations would have sought to

ban forced labor. Still, the countries would have upheld export trade as they had before 1885. In

relation to political institutions, the first category of nations would have continued with the kind

of development and state formation that had happened in the 19th century. There is evidence that

Ghana, Botswana, and other countries were achieving more centralization and consolidation. We

also assume that countries in the other categories would have sustained the political path they

had in the 19th century.

Considering the above trends and arguments, I argue that the first two categories of

countries were retarded by colonialism. The assumption that the earlier path of political

development would endure is enough to argue that the countries would be better off today.

Indirect rule made local leaders unaccountable to their subjects as colonial rule blocked political

progress. Even if these countries possessed coherence absent in others after colonization, they

had quite more predatory leaders. The nations also struggled due to the unchanging colonial

heritage of racism, stereotypes, and perceptions that African they not have possessed but that

have since plagued many African nations. In conclusion, it is hard to present proof with credible

counterfactuals to claim that there is a single African country that is better off because it was

colonized. Quite the opposite.

HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION 8

Reference

Austin, G., Baten, J., & Moradi, A. (2009). Exploring the evolution of living standards in Ghana,

1880-2000: An anthropometric approach. In Economic History Society Conference,

Exeter (20 March-1 April 2007).

Clark, G., O'Rourke, K. H., & Taylor, A. M. (2008). Made in America? The new world, the old,

and the industrial revolution. American Economic Review, 98(2), 523-28.

Heldring, L., & Robinson, J. (2013). Colonialism and development in Africa. In The Oxford

Handbook of the Politics of Development.

Larson, J. L. (2009). The market revolution in America: Liberty, ambition, and the eclipse of the

common good. Cambridge University Press.

Moradi, A. (2009). Towards an objective account of nutrition and health in colonial Kenya: a

study of stature in African army recruits and civilians, 1880–1980. The Journal of

Economic History, 69(3), 719-754.

Wyatt III, L. T. (2008). The industrial revolution. ABC-CLIO.