Quote:
Originally Posted by stone hands
i dont think so, if you read the words and intentions behind residential schools for example, it looks like theyre doing it in what their opinion is the best interest of the savages who dont know any better
its easy to look back and be like: yeah, that stuff they did was cruel and evil (and indeed it was), but like... if they were really in that buisness they would have just killed them all. missionaries go to save people with the best of intentions, however misguided they are
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I think it's a little bit of both to be honest.
There was a secular component that was concerned about control and order. Canadian and British politicians back then used to debate "The Indian Problem" which was about how to subjugate a group of people that were resistant to it. Conquering wasn't economically viable, so subversion was strategy they went with. That's where religion largely comes in.
I don't think the colonial nations ever could have physically conquered the people. Russia tried that in Siberia during their colonial expansion eastward to North America, and it ended badly almost every time. They eventually found that cultural subversion through enticing indigenous peoples to accept the Russian language and Orthodox religion was the more profitable route.