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European Exploration and the Cultural Origins of Exploitation

A philosophical exploration of how early European migration patterns and survival pressures may have shaped cultural norms that later influenced colonial expansion and exploitation of other peoples worldwide.

Posted: 2025-Aug-07

December 14, 2017

Driving through the beautiful landscapes between Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Meridian, Mississippi, I found myself wrestling with questions that have troubled me for decades. The earth's abundance surrounds us, yet we continue to fight over resources and exploit one another. This contradiction led me to deeper reflections about human nature, divine justice, and the cultural forces that have shaped our world.

Reconciling Divine Justice with Historical Inequality

For years, I've struggled to reconcile my faith in a God who shows no partiality with the apparent favoritism woven throughout religious scripture and human history. The Hebrew scriptures, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith's revelations all seem to describe an arc of history dominated by preferential treatment—where descendants of certain lineages are favored while others remain perpetually disadvantaged.

This framework has never made sense to me. A God who is truly "no respecter of persons" would neither favor nor disfavor groups of children based on their ancestry. The variations and conflicts we see throughout history must be the result of human choices and cultural patterns, not divine decree. When groups suffer consequences, it's because they've brought those consequences upon themselves through their collective actions, not because God has inflicted punishment upon them.

The Question of European Dominance

This theological wrestling led me to a historical puzzle that has bothered me for twenty years: Why did white Europeans come to conquer and exploit literally every other continent on Earth? The scope of Western European colonial expansion is staggering—they subjugated and exploited peoples across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. What cultural or historical forces could account for such systematic global exploitation?

Migration, Environment, and Cultural Formation

The answer, I believe, lies in understanding how small cultural groups develop distinct characteristics that persist across generations. Consider the principle that families and clans can develop particular personalities and cultural traits—whether through genetics, social learning, or both. These traits become embedded in the group's identity and are passed down through thousands of years.

When early humans left Africa and migrated northward into Europe, they entered increasingly hostile environments where resources were scarce, especially as glaciers receded. Small groups competing for survival in these harsh conditions would naturally develop strategies for acquiring resources from other groups. Over generations, this survival strategy could become a cultural norm—taking advantage of others for your group's benefit wouldn't just be acceptable, it would be moral within that cultural framework.

The Concept of Amoral Familialism

This reminds me of research conducted by scholar E.C. Banfield in post-World War II Italy. He identified what he called "amoral familialism" in certain communities—a social structure where the immediate family was the only unit that mattered morally. Whatever you did to gain advantage for your family was justified, regardless of its impact on other families or the broader community.

In communities dominated by amoral familialism, Banfield observed no civic cooperation or collective action for communal benefit. Each family operated solely for its own advantage, with no incentive to contribute to the common good. In contrast, neighboring communities with different cultural values regularly came together for collective projects, like rebuilding a convent for local nuns.

Cultural Evolution and Global Expansion

If we apply this concept to European cultural development, we can envision how thousands of years of survival-based exploitation could become deeply embedded in the cultural DNA of European societies. The same adventurous spirit that drove early groups to explore hostile northern territories would later drive global exploration. But this exploration carried with it the cultural assumption that taking advantage of other peoples for your group's benefit was not just acceptable—it was the natural order of things.

This framework provides a coherent explanation for the systematic nature of European colonialism. It wasn't driven by inherent racial superiority or divine mandate, but by deeply ingrained cultural patterns developed over millennia of survival in resource-scarce environments.

A Different Understanding of Human Differences

This perspective also offers a simpler explanation for human physical differences. Skin color variations likely result from biological adaptation as populations moved away from the equator—more melanin near the equator, less melanin farther away. The cultural and behavioral differences we observe stem not from divine favoritism or racial hierarchies, but from the environmental pressures and survival strategies that different groups developed over thousands of years.

Understanding our history through this lens doesn't excuse the tremendous harm caused by colonial exploitation, but it does help explain how such systematic patterns could emerge without requiring us to believe in a God who plays favorites among his children. Instead, it points to the power of cultural evolution and the long-term consequences of survival strategies developed in response to environmental pressures.

The beauty I see in creation as I drive through these landscapes reminds me that the earth truly is sufficient for all of us. The scarcity and conflict we experience often stem from cultural patterns we've inherited rather than from any divine design or natural law that demands exploitation. Recognizing this gives me hope that different patterns are possible.