E X T E N S I O N THE WHITE MAN S MISSION Colonialism has its ideological foundation in the idea that the white ethnicity is superior to all others black, red or yellow because it has a superior civilisation and the only true religion Christianity. This was the general thought when Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness, but its origins go back much further. In the Age of Discoveries approximately from the beginning of the 15th century to the early 17th century European ships travelled around the world, searching for new trading routes and new markets, and exploring parts of the world as yet unknown. Thus, the Europeans the Spanish, the Portuguese, and later the English, the French and the Dutch made contact with other peoples and different cultures, which they always considered inferior to their own. Therefore, in their relationships Robinson meets Friday (late 19th century with those new populations, they illustration by the German artists Carl imposed their own culture their Offterdinger and Walter Zweigle) language, their religion, their laws and felt entitled to occupy the natives lands and use them as slaves.The Portuguese were the first to organise the trade of African slaves to the American plantations in the 16th century, but they were soon followed by slave traders from all the most important European countries. Religion had a secondary, but still very important, role in the development of colonialism. In South America, for example, the Spanish crown sent Catholic missionaries to make contact with the natives and convince them to give up all their traditions, beliefs and ways of life and accept those of the Spanish above all Christianity. This was because religious conversion made pacification of the native peoples much easier. Those who refused to be converted were often killed and many thought their murder morally acceptable, since the natives were not considered fully human. 68