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Where Every Cap Tells a Story.

A tale of Europeans showing up uninvited, taking everything, and calling it "civilizing the world"

🧠 Narrated by Ned Neuron, part-time historian, full-time conspiracy-by-cornbread theorist

“Colonialism is like your neighbor breaking into your house, eating your food, and then sending you a bill for the favor.”
– Ned Neuron, after reading exactly one history book

🚢 Once Upon a Time, People Couldn’t Just Stay Home

Picture this:
Europeans in the 1400s sitting around being bored, slightly broke, and hearing rumors of gold, spices, and other people’s stuff just lying around somewhere else.

Instead of minding their own business, they did what every overconfident drunk uncle does:

“Pack the ship, Carl. We’re going on a world tour!

Except this wasn’t a party cruise — it was the beginning of centuries of domination, exploitation, and extremely questionable maps.

💰 “Discovery” Was Just Fancy Theft

Columbus didn’t discover America — he found a place where millions already lived, then claimed it for people who had never heard of showers.

This pattern happened EVERYWHERE:

  • Europeans show up

  • Plant a flag

  • Call the locals savages

  • Take all the shiny stuff

  • Build forts, churches, and government buildings while locals do the actual work

In other words:

“Nice place you got here. Mind if we own it now?”

🔥 “Civilizing Mission” Was Just a Marketing Pitch

Colonizers told themselves (and the world) that they were:

  • Bringing “civilization” (newsflash: there were already thriving civilizations)

  • Saving souls (while sometimes burning people at the stake)

  • Bringing technology (sure… also disease, slavery, and arbitrary borders)

It’s like someone showing up at your dinner party, smashing your plates, and saying:

“You’re welcome, I’m modernizing you.”

🗺️ Borders Drawn With the World’s Worst Crayon

One of colonialism’s most lasting horrors: borders.

Europeans loved drawing lines on maps like toddlers with sugar highs.

These lines:

  • Ignored ethnic groups

  • Split up kingdoms and communities

  • Forced rival groups into one “country”

  • Created conflicts that still rage today

Basically, colonial mapmakers were like:

“What if we drew a line… right here? Boom. New country.”

💣 Let’s Talk The Loot

Colonial powers got super rich by:

  • Exploiting natural resources (gold, oil, rubber, ivory, you name it)

  • Forcing local labor (sometimes literal slavery)

  • Exporting raw materials to Europe while blocking local industry growth

It was the original corporate heist — and it built fancy European cities on the backs of colonies.

Meanwhile, colonies were left with broken economies, looted treasures, and trauma that lasted generations.

📚 But Wait, There’s More: The Lies They Taught Us

In school, you might have learned that colonialism:

  • Brought education and medicine

  • Built roads and railways

  • Introduced “modern government”

What they didn’t say was:

  • Schools mostly trained locals to be obedient workers

  • Railways shipped out resources (not for the local people)

  • Governments were structured to benefit the colonizers

It’s like burning down someone’s house, then claiming credit for the new tent you left in the yard.

🤬 And We’re Still Dealing With It

The chaos colonialism caused didn’t vanish. Modern issues like:

  • Border conflicts

  • Economic instability

  • Corruption (fueled by colonial divide-and-conquer tactics)

  • Debt traps set up before independence

All of it traces back to that moment when Europeans were like,

“Hmm… free land. Mine now.”

🧠 Ned’s Angry Yawn Summary

  • Colonialism wasn’t exploration. It was exploitation.

  • The consequences still haunt the world.

  • Borders, wars, wealth gaps? A lot of that is colonial leftovers.

  • Next time someone brags about colonial “achievements,” hand them a book and a strongly-worded glare.

💌 Share This With Your Nerdiest Friend

Got someone who still thinks colonialism was about tea parties and infrastructure?

👉 Forward this. Tell them to bring snacks. We’re tearing up that fake history book.

Where history gets messy, jokes get spicy, and Ned Neuron turns every empire into an embarrassing family reunion story.

Because the past doesn’t get less dumb just because it’s in a textbook.

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