People colonize other countries to spread their beliefs, religion, power, empire and to gain access to new resources. Every nation has its own culture, therefore when countries are colonized, cultures are shared. When the British colonized Australia they wanted to expand their empire, giving the British Government more power. When a country colonizes or 'takes over' another country, they gain access to everything that is on the land. When the British people colonized Australia, they gained access to all the natural resources that were available in Australia.
King Leopold II became the king of Belgium in 1865. Leopold loved and abused his power. In 1860 Leopold said he believed "that the moment is come for us to extend our territories. I think that we must lose no time, under penalty of seeing the few remaining good positions seized upon by more enterprising nations than our own.” During his reign, Leopold bought large areas of land in Africa, now known as the Congo. Leopold's reasons for colonization was to extend his empire and gain more power.
Often colonization leads to the exploitation of the people who already inhabit the land. When the British colonized Australia, they took advantage of the Aboriginals by; raping the women and forcing them off their land. 'Half Caste' children (half British, half Aboriginal) were taken away from their Aboriginal mothers to a place called Moore River. At Moore River the British Government said they would 'educate the children' so they could be 'absorbed into the general community'. The British encouraged the 'Half Caste' children to believe that the Aboriginal Race was insignificant and worthless. When the Aboriginals were 'Absorbed into the general community', they were employed in low paying, high risk jobs. Employment was of no use to the Aboriginals, as they would have lived happily in their villages, learning their culture, in a healthy way. The British however, gained from the Aboriginals 'low-cost' employment.
Another example where colonization lead to exploitation was when King Leopold II colonized Africa. A cartoon, published by Linley Sambourne in 1906, depicts the Congolese being strangled and crushed by a white snake. The white snake represented King Leopold II. The Congolese were forced into labour. The abuse was particularly bad in the rubber industry and included the enslavement and mutilation of the Congolese. Missionary John Harris of Baringa was so shocked by the treatment of the Congolese that he wrote a letter to Leopold's chief agent in the Congo. The letter said that he had "just returned from a journey inland to the village of Insongo Mboyo. The abject misery and utter abandon is positively indescribable. I was so moved, Your Excellency, by the people's stories that I took the liberty of promising them that in future you will only kill them for crimes they commit." Harris' letter showed how much the people of Congo had been exploited and that Leopold had used the people's work for his own gain.
