Read this excerpt from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden' and
then answer the question that
follows:
Take up the White Man's burden-
Send forth the best ye breed-
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild-
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.
Take up the White Man's burden-
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit
And work another's gain.
According to the poem, how did the imperial powers justify the colonization
of African and Asian nations?
A. The imperial powers believed that they needed African and Asian
resources to grow their economies.
B. The imperial powers believed that they could use African and
Asian territory as military bases.
C. The imperial powers believed that they were spreading a superior
culture in Africa and Asia.
OD. The imperial powers believed that they would eventually be able to
bring democracy to Africa and Asia.

The White Man's Burden was a poem written to justify imperialism by describing how it was a "burden" for the imperial powers to bring civilization and dignity to otherwise uncivilized nations, hence the phrase "new-caught sullen peoples, Half devil and half child". Imperial powers intended to go to these lands "To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride By open speech and simple", meaning they would colonize these lands under their control in order to replace their current culture with that Imperial nation's "superior" culture.

(Note that although each answer option is correct in some way to the historical context of imperialism, the poem only depicts C as the main intention of this Imperial colonization. D is the next closest answer, but democracy was only spread by Imperial nations that had it has their political system, such as the US, whereas the writer of this poem was from British India, and did not necessarily support democracy)