Colonization of Asia
H uman nature is characterized by curiosity and the desire to discover or get more. This
prompted Europeans to colonize other continents, including America, Africa, Asia, and
Australia, in pursuit of trade, industrial wealth, spreading religion, or just for power and
influence.
I will explain the European colonization of Asia, where trade was at its height, including in
my country, Iraq. Europeans used to import goods from Asia, including silk, spices, and
pottery, but things soon changed after the Ottoman Empire closed traditional trade routes and
took control of most regions of Asian countries, at the same time, there was an improvement
in shipbuilding and navigation, which made it easier for the Europeans and the English to
expand their influence in the countries of Asia to increase profits and secure better trade by
sea. (National Geographic, n.d.)
Europeans aspired to obtain wealth and expand their empire between the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, by discovering new lands and claiming them for their motherland, and
this was with the support of the Catholic Church to spread Christianity to the rest of the
regions. The quest to discover commodity markets to trade their products and new trade
routes was one of the reasons that prompted them to discover the New World (National
Geographic, n.d.). For example, Portugal traveled to distant lands to exchange weapons for
spices. (Analyze history, 2022)
Europeans viewed the New World as a great economic wealth. Kings wanted more gold and
minerals in the Americas, but soon the demand for spices increased, prompting Europeans to
sail west across the Americas to find a sea passage to Asia (Mitchell, 2023). As for Africa,
the same reasons prompted the Europeans to occupy Asia, including commercial reasons to
invest money and sell European-made goods in Africa, and the desire to control raw materials
such as cotton, palm oil, rubber, and precious metals, which include gold and diamonds, and
because of the high labor in the market, and because of the desire to increase production, the
Europeans wanted to control the African workers because of their cheap wages, and among
other reasons is the Church's desire to spread Christianity in African countries. (South
African History Online, n.d.)
The European occupation expanded greatly, but there was a need for manpower, which
prompted Europeans to enslave Africans, which was a natural phenomenon at the time due to
the flourishing of racial and social discrimination, as Africans were seen as the lowest class
of Europeans, and that slaves were more suitable for working on agricultural land (BBC.
n.d.). Slavery was not always involuntary, some Africans promoted the idea of slavery by
selling a member of their family into slavery for money to pay off debts, and sometimes to
escape poverty and starvation. These reasons made slavery seen as a natural phenomenon
among the European colonizers. (Hellie, 2023)
In the end, I would like to say that in our time, and despite the existence of some countries
such as the United Kingdom that impose their rule on small countries, the phenomenon of
colonialism and slavery cannot occur again globally due to intellectual progress, and this is
H uman nature is characterized by curiosity and the desire to discover or get more. This
prompted Europeans to colonize other continents, including America, Africa, Asia, and
Australia, in pursuit of trade, industrial wealth, spreading religion, or just for power and
influence.
I will explain the European colonization of Asia, where trade was at its height, including in
my country, Iraq. Europeans used to import goods from Asia, including silk, spices, and
pottery, but things soon changed after the Ottoman Empire closed traditional trade routes and
took control of most regions of Asian countries, at the same time, there was an improvement
in shipbuilding and navigation, which made it easier for the Europeans and the English to
expand their influence in the countries of Asia to increase profits and secure better trade by
sea. (National Geographic, n.d.)
Europeans aspired to obtain wealth and expand their empire between the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, by discovering new lands and claiming them for their motherland, and
this was with the support of the Catholic Church to spread Christianity to the rest of the
regions. The quest to discover commodity markets to trade their products and new trade
routes was one of the reasons that prompted them to discover the New World (National
Geographic, n.d.). For example, Portugal traveled to distant lands to exchange weapons for
spices. (Analyze history, 2022)
Europeans viewed the New World as a great economic wealth. Kings wanted more gold and
minerals in the Americas, but soon the demand for spices increased, prompting Europeans to
sail west across the Americas to find a sea passage to Asia (Mitchell, 2023). As for Africa,
the same reasons prompted the Europeans to occupy Asia, including commercial reasons to
invest money and sell European-made goods in Africa, and the desire to control raw materials
such as cotton, palm oil, rubber, and precious metals, which include gold and diamonds, and
because of the high labor in the market, and because of the desire to increase production, the
Europeans wanted to control the African workers because of their cheap wages, and among
other reasons is the Church's desire to spread Christianity in African countries. (South
African History Online, n.d.)
The European occupation expanded greatly, but there was a need for manpower, which
prompted Europeans to enslave Africans, which was a natural phenomenon at the time due to
the flourishing of racial and social discrimination, as Africans were seen as the lowest class
of Europeans, and that slaves were more suitable for working on agricultural land (BBC.
n.d.). Slavery was not always involuntary, some Africans promoted the idea of slavery by
selling a member of their family into slavery for money to pay off debts, and sometimes to
escape poverty and starvation. These reasons made slavery seen as a natural phenomenon
among the European colonizers. (Hellie, 2023)
In the end, I would like to say that in our time, and despite the existence of some countries
such as the United Kingdom that impose their rule on small countries, the phenomenon of
colonialism and slavery cannot occur again globally due to intellectual progress, and this is
