3.4 Capitalism's Legacies


Economics was the driving force behind historical imperialism. Remember that globalization occurs when the nations of the world become interconnected. One of the major ways of interconnection was through commerce, the buying and selling of goods and services. In fact, when most people think about globalization, they think about the economic aspect of how nations relate to each other.

Capitalism in one form or another has existed for centuries. Essentially, capitalism is the idea that individuals have the freedom to own private property, including the means of production such as land, factories, machines, tools, and materials, and can use them with human labour to make personal profit. Goods, services, and labour are exchanged for money. Decisions about what goods to produce, how to produce them, and where to invest are all made privately. Individuals and corporations compete with each other for shares of the market.

Capitalism is an economic system based on values and beliefs. It is based on the idea that wealth is good and that individuals should have the freedom to own property and make their own decisions about how to use it. For people to continue to become increasingly rich, production and consumption must continuously increase. The theory further says that, if the economy grows, then wealth will trickle from the rich to the poor. As a result, all people will have a higher standard of living, be healthier, and live longer. Overall, their quality of life will be better.


These values were new to people in many of the colonized lands. Their cultures did not value personal wealth or individual decision making about property. The idea that the land could be owned and treated as a commodity rather than a valuable life-giving force was also new. Many Indigenous people had traded or bartered goods to obtain what they needed. They did not have currency and did not know what money was all about. People who were not used to the concept of private ownership of land, such as Canada's First Nations, soon found their traditional lands bought and sold for money. This was a foreign concept, and they did not understand it. As a result, when treaties were signed, they often did not fully understand what the terms meant.


Slavery: a legacy of imperialism and capitalism

Indigenous people from South America and Africa also became private property. African slaves were captured and imported to the Americas to increase the wealth of property owners by working on their plantations in exchange for poor housing and food. In some countries, slaves became a huge proportion of the population. For example, in the mid-1700s in Belize, a small Central American country, over 75% of the male population were slaves! Today, we consider this behaviour to violate the rights of the African people, but it was commonly accepted at the time. At the same time, others had the view that slavery was wrong, and they fought to give slaves their freedom. The legacies of slavery are still felt today.

By exporting capitalism around the world, European colonialists increased their own wealth. They obtained products unavailable in Europe, such as coffee, tobacco, and cocoa from South America, and spices and cotton from Asia. They provided jobs and income to the people they employed. To other countries, they brought technology to improve their own lives and to enable industrial production that eventually helped many people. The Indigenous people from nations around the world were able to become more wealthy. Some people believe that the Indigenous people of all colonized nations live much better lives today than before colonization.


Critics of capitalism say that many Indigenous people also lost their livelihood when their traditional lands were taken and their lifestyle became impossible to follow. The consumption of products and destruction of habitat for farming, homes, and cities also led to environmental problems such as the extinction of various types of plants and animals. Increasing consumption led to increased destruction of the environment. Capitalism also allowed rich nations to dominate and/or control less-developed nations. Some believe that capitalism exploited people in these nations to the extent they are actually worse off now than they were before imperialist times.

Think About

If the growth of capitalism was a legacy of historical globalization, what legacy has it left us today?
Capitalism is the dominant economic system in the world today. Most people believe in some form of capitalism, but what form of capitalism works best? Should individuals and corporations be allowed to pursue wealth without restrictions, or should some form of government control be applied? Is global capitalism good for everyone, or does it lead to an increasing gap between rich and poor individuals? Does it lead to increasing prosperity for all countries, or does it create rich and poor nations?