Colonisation and Its Inhumanity
The Colonialist
"Man Was Made to Mourn"
Part Of a Dirge by Robert Burns - 1784
Many and sharp the num'rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves
Regret, remorse, and shame!
And man, whose heav'n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn,
Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!
Colonisation is defined as "the act or process of sending people to live in and govern another country".
"Strange Fruit"
Tribute to Abel Meeropol and Billie Holiday
History of Colonisation 1492 to 2007
Click an Image to Enlarge it.
Christopher Columbus discovered the New World for the Kingdom of Castile and Leon in 1492.
Private adventurers thereafter entered into contracts with the Spanish Crown to conquer the newly discovered lands in return for tax revenues and the power to rule.
By the time the Spanish arrived the advanced Mayan civilization was thousands of years old
Colonisation 1492
The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of 14 colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin, an agreement regulating European colonisation and trade in Africa.
Impacts of Colonization
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Disease: European illnesses like smallpox and measles devastated Indigenous populations who had no immunity.
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Forced Resettlement: The Spanish forced rural populations into centralized colonial towns to control labor.
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Cultural Suppression: Missionaries destroyed traditional codices, temples, and religious artifacts, forcing conversion to Catholicism.
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Labor Exploitation: Indigenous people were subjected to forced labor systems like the "encomienda" refering to a 16th-century colonial labor system used by Spain in the Americas and the Philippines, where the crown granted colonists the right to demand forced labor and tribute from local indigenous populations.
Two Paintings Potraying The Effects During and After Colonisation
The Iconic Hut of Africa Appears in Much of Rodney's Work and is used as a symbol of the strength of Africa to survive throughout its history.
Still Life With a Coloniser's View
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas 36 x 24
This Painting titled "...and the Colonizers Left" suggesting that what the colonisers left behind was turmoil, but they could not take away the country's "colour" or strength to rebuild itself.
The smaller work (acrylic on board) is the original. Rodney recently reviewed it and felt his statement should be stronger. Using digital apps and techniques such as digital collage (as did David Hockney) he made the larger work.