How to Colonize a Country
By: Victor C.
In this tutorial on how to colonize a country, Ancient Ghana will be used as an example.If any tribes or resources are mentioned, it is related to Ghana, unless it specifies it is related to Europe.
Step 1:
To begin colonizing your country, find any resources that are useful in the place that you are looking for. Ghana was an example of abundant resources and was next to other countries with resources. Ghana was mostly known for gold and salt. In the past, Ghana used to trade a lot of its gold in a secret trade that...not anyone knew about. Having useful resources, not just minerals, for example wood, agriculture products, etc; can make your country's economy better (once you have colonized it).
[Picture: Resources in Africa]
Step 2:
Find out how much time you will stay on this territory. One way can be "helping" the country you are colonizing, and little by little gain control. It was not possible to do this with Ghana though, since many European countries wanted to take control of Ghana. Ghana was officially colonized by the Portuguese, but other European countries like Great Britain, The Netherlands and Denmark influenced so much that they practically colonized it after. When you colonize, be aware of competition. Not only advanced countries can be competition, but natives sometimes want more territory, like the Ashanti tribe, who wanted more and disturbed resource trading, and ended up doing a friendship treaty with the British and Dutch authorities, so maybe sometimes, you may have to leave an area untouched for natives.
Step 3:
When you first settle in, make sure not to look too violent. Use strategies or another smarter ways of settling in. This way, natives won't get a bad impression of you. This was kind of different with the Europeans, they had to fight with the Ashanti. If you establish roughly, you can make natives be against you, but if this doesn't happen, you can just control them once you are completely established. Resistance can be against you also, but its best to add punishments to prevent this.With punishments, resistance will not be possible, so its better to have some, unless you want to be friends with the natives.
Step 4:
This may go along with Step 2, but it sure is important! You want to decide what use you want to make out of the people already established in the territory (natives). European colonizers had to deal a lot with African tribes, and some where not that easy to deal with, like the Ashanti (mentioned earlier in Step 2). Since you are the one who wants to control a certain country, decide on a variety of uses for the people that are in the territory. Europeans did this using Africans as a trading product, the same way they would trade gold. Slaves were very valuable, and it was accepted, but they also were considered "junior citizens." So you can use people as slaves, or just give them fewer rights, its your choice!
Step 5:
Culture and traditions would be other parts of settling into the country. You may notice strange native traditions. If you like it, or have no problem in leaving it alone, it is fine, but if you do not want it, force your traditions and culture in. It will be evident that traditions will not hurt ideas, or your power, but they may give you a richer culture if it is left alone. This was the case when Africans were brought to the new world, even in racist years, white people did not prohibit Africans from dancing and singing, they saw it as something different and sometimes even encouraged them. Some modern music types have roots in African music. This way, your culture will be better if your culture is...not that interesting.
[Picture: African bongo]
Step 6:
The last step is maintaining your country as stable as possible. You need to focus on main sections to prevent conflicts. First, you need to focus on executive, legislative and judicial branches. Make sure laws are being accomplished, and there is a system of laws and punishment. Also, it would be better if you separate your country into sections, and have control of them in a organized way. The best way of avoiding conflicts with natives is making treaties or including them with your people. Besides, make sure you have a lot of knowledge before taking control, this way, your power will not have any problems. Another important thing would be having a source of profit. With this, your country can have commercial agreements with other countries or colonies, will not go into bankrupt, and will be able to cover expenses. Since avoiding bankrupts is very important, be sure to add a system where your country's population pays for governmental needs. Finally, be sure to include people, to help you to administrate your country, but choose the most honest ones, to avoid fraudulence.
Enjoy!
Hopefully, if you brought new technology, new ideas,and new concepts, these may be combined with the country's ideas and concepts. The same thing happened to the Europeans and Ghana, their European technology and African resources combined, for example, wheelbarrows and gold, and new religions and beliefs.
Well, if you followed all theses steps correctly, you will have success with your country! Thanks for reading How to: Colonize a Country!
The way the this guide recommends how to colonize a country is the way the author would colonize his chosen PBL village, answering the question "How would you colonize your village?"