Response to Yali’s Question

I think that the White Europeans came to control the lands in Africa and the Americas because they had enough resources and desire to conquer the land and take control over the people. The Europeans had the ships and manpower to take over the less sophisticated cultures. The Europeans had just completed and were in the process of an industrial revolution, so they had recently obtained the technology needed to overthrow the ruling clans, tribes and nations. In addition, they had just encountered a wild spread disease that had killed approximately 25 percent of the population of Europe; therefore they wanted to find better life and live without the famine and illness that was well known to the Europeans. Furthermore, the people living in Africa and the Americas had no desire to conquer any more land or have any encounters with foreigners, especially foreigners who brought with them horrible germs that would eventually wipe out much of the native people. Many of the native culture had no problems and lived sufficient lives without the modern technologies of the Europeans.