Colonisation: A Good Thing

That's one possible conclusion from this fascinating research paper, that colonisation was good for the economic development of various islands around the world.

There's a very strong relationship between how long an island was a colony and how rich it is now: the longer it was (or in the case of places like Bermuda, is) a colony, the richer it is now. So score one for the idea that bringing civilisation to the benighted savage has its merits.

There's also a very interesting reason given as to why specific places were colonised earlier than others, or for longer. Wind speeds: how easy was it to get to the place in a sailing ship? The easier it was, the more likely that it would be colonised and the longer it remained so.

However, the authors do warn that it's not all good news. It may well be that the current populations of said islands are now vastly better off as a result of the centuries of colonisation: but that can't be said of the original inhabitants of them. Clearly, given the passing of the centuries they're dead: but on some islands (Jamaica for example) it was colonisation itself that killed them, all of them.

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