Colonization from the humanitarian and from the anthropological view didn't "civilise" other populations

Good morning, and thank you for accepting this debate.

Today, we’re discussing the anthropological consequences of forced colonization and how such actions have never truly “civilized” the populations they claimed to uplift.

In the Western world — particularly since the rise of the Church and feudalism, but even earlier — there has been a persistent belief in our supposed superiority: that we are more powerful, more intelligent, more advanced than Indigenous societies. This ideology was not just believed — it was violently imposed. Throughout history, we labeled others as “barbarians,” a term rooted in the Ancient Greek βάρβαρος, literally an onomatopoeic mockery of foreign languages. This attitude is ancient, but it hasn’t disappeared — it has only changed form.

How has this mindset evolved over time? In truth, it has stayed fundamentally the same, only adapting to different contexts. We see it in episodes like the Crusades, Columbus's so-called “discovery” of the Americas, and the European colonization of Africa, Asia, and the Indigenous lands of the Americas.

Let’s begin with the Crusades.

And just to be clear: I’m not talking about faith or theology — this is a debate grounded in anthropology and human history. I’m not providing sources in this round, but I can assure you that what I’m about to say is well-documented in every serious anthropology or history textbook.

The Crusades, typically portrayed as holy wars to reclaim the Holy Land, should also be seen as early forms of Western colonialism and ideological domination. They were not purely spiritual missions — they were political invasions, driven by economic interests and the desire to expand Western influence. Under the banner of Christianity, European powers launched military campaigns that occupied foreign lands, imposed Latin Christian rule, and displaced or massacred local populations — Muslims, Jews, and even Eastern Christians.

The Crusader States, like the Kingdom of Jerusalem, were not just religious outposts. They were colonial regimes, importing European laws, feudal systems, and cultural norms into the Middle East. The sacking of cities like Jerusalem and Constantinople was not an accident — it was a display of civilizational arrogance: the belief that Western Christian society had a divine right to dominate.

This same logic — the civilizing mission, the sacred right to rule — was used centuries later to justify the horrors of colonialism in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

From this perspective, the Crusades were not just “wars of faith.” They were the beginning of a pattern: a blueprint of imperialism where faith, power, and conquest become inseparable.

In my view, they marked the birth of an oppressive system — a system that has utterly failed. And we are still living with its consequences today, in the global inequalities, cultural erasures, and power structures that define our modern world.

i rest my case