Comment by anigbrowl

Coming from a former colonial possession (Ireland), I agree that one shouldn't dismiss the injuries of colonialism, but I also think it's easy to fall into the trap of imagining that the pre-colonial era was one of benign harmony. It's easy to put the blame on a rapacious colonial power for a society's ills, but in many cases the only reason the external power was able to take over was due to dysfunction in the colonized country that limited its ability to respond to externally-imposed challenges.