A Small Place By Christopher Columbus - 1619 Words

Colonization was used as early as the 18th century to expand a particular country’s territory. Essentially it supposed to be a positive thing, expanding the territory’s resources such as medicine, and education. Jamaica Kincaid, however, plead the opposite. In her book, A Small Place, she expounded on the after effects of colonialism on her small island, Antigua. The Island, discovered by Christopher Columbus, is only nine by twelve miles long, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean (Kincaid, 80), which has â€Å"swallowed up a number of black slaves† (Kincaid, 14). Jamaica Kincaid, described the slave owner (Europeans) as â€Å"Human rubbish,† who took â€Å"noble and exalted human beings from Africa† to enslave them (80). She†¦show more content†¦Kincaid believes that the slave like structure of the government was led by colonialism. She expressed her anger toward the colonists for colonizing the small island, tur ning it into England and turning everyone they met into English (24). She writes, â€Å"Have you ever wonder to yourself why it is that all people like me seem to have learned from you is how to imprison and murder each other, how to govern badly†¦? Have you ever wondered why it is that all we seem to have learned from you is how to corrupt our societies and how to be tyrants† (Kincaid, 34)? Kincaid wanted the colonist to realize it is by their own faults and their imperfections that Antigua is in the state that is in now. Kincaid also believed that colonialism caused the political corruption that has defrauded Antigua of many rights, such as the right to knowledge. She believed that the Ministers of Antigua gained knowledge to govern from the â€Å"Ill-mannered† British who paved the way for them (34). Throughout her book she has made it very clear that the library is an important source of knowledge for her as it should be for other Antiguan s as well. She reminisced on her childhoods experiences at the library as her own â€Å"sacred place, a cool retreat from the colonized world and an opening to the greater world away from the island† (Byerman, 94). On page 48, we found out that St. John, the largest city and capital in Antigua,