Question

Discuss what the author of Reading 3.1 (The silver mines at Potosí, in what is now Bolivia, were an important source of silver for Spain's trade with China, helping to fuel Europe's rise to economic dominance.illustration from Cieza de Leon 1553) meant by “colonialism also created ideological subordination.”

Answer 1

It’s true that colonialism also created ideological subordination in two important ways. Firstly, colonizers propagated the idea that they are superior in terms of their race, culture, religion and customs thus made themselves the savior of the colonized. They ensured that the colonizers change their ways of living by adopting the culture and lifestyle projected by the colonizers. Secondly, they systematically made the colonized to believe that their systems are inferior and forced them to adopt the practices and customs of the colonizers. This ideological subordination wiped out many of the indigenous culture and civilization that thrived for thousands of years in different parts of the world.

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