Status: 07.05.2023 10:44 a.m
Charles III has been crowned king. Lena Bodewein thinks that there are a few things that should be mentioned again at this event and turns the explorer attitude upside down.
What a glorious weekend: Charles III. gets the crown and it’s port birthday in Hamburg. For three days, the city celebrates the duty-free status granted to its ships – and thus the cornerstone for a globally successful trading network. This is how Hamburg merchants came to the South Seas. The British world empire also stretched to there and beyond, the remains of which in the form of the Commonwealth are presided over by King Charles. Despite all the coronation pomp, one mustn’t forget: The legacy of the Empire includes much that still needs to be worked through, such as exploitation, massacres and slavery in the former colonies.
Discover, claim, name
Kenya is one of them. I was recently told that a Kenyan artist is currently touring the UK and discovering the country. But not in “Oh look, let’s explore the Yorkshire moors” vacationer mode. Rather: He discovers, claims and names. In Swahili. Cities, lakes, mountains. This is by no means an action that can be dismissed as original or cute. No, it shows exactly the attitude with which seafarers, adventurers and captains sailed around the world not too long ago and claimed islands, countries and continents here and there for their respective clients and named them after them. See New Amsterdam, Virginia, Louisiana, Bismarck Archipelago. Even if people have been living there for a long time!
Because the travelers had “discovered” the areas. Or they had at least asked the local population, more or less politely, to make room, toil away for the new masters, give up their natural resources, or perhaps, most simply, die. Help was given in case of an emergency.
human shipment
The Germans were not bad in these disciplines, especially in the South Sea colonies. The British were particularly good at it: if they wanted to grow something particularly productive on a large scale on one side of the world empire, let’s say Fiji, such as sugar cane, but the British didn’t think the people there worked hard enough on the plantations, then they did it they just throw a bunch of people from another colony over there. You had enough of it. This is how the Indians landed on Fiji in the Pacific. And vice versa: After the British successfully stole the tea plant from China, they had it cultivated in India, gladly with workers from outside.
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The postcolonial legacy
We still see the result of this nefarious movement across the world in numerous conflicts, such as the Rohingya of Myanmar, whose people were expelled and murdered. In Australia, the British raged among the indigenous population, celebrating veritable slaughter festivals and, moreover, robbing them of their culture. Also by renaming places: for centuries one of the holiest sites of the Aboriginal people was called Ayers Rock. The landmark of Australia was known as Uluru to the local people. By the way, resident for 70,000 years. Just to clarify the timing. Hailed as the great explorer, James Cook arrived a mere 253 years ago in what he later called New South Wales.
Apropos: The lack of imagination with which places in Australia were named is hard to top. A governor gave his own name to almost everything on this continent. Macquarie Harbour, Macquarie Island, Macquarie River, Macquarie Pass, one city, countless streets. By the way, I live on the Bodewein dike in Bodewein-Werder, across from the Bodewein depression on the big Bodewein river.
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2023-05-07 23:16:34
#Coronation #Charles #III #Arrogance #Explorers
