Colonialism
Some have argued that Mouhot may have been a tool for French expansionism, and the annexation of territories which followed shortly after his death. Mouhot himself however, did not seem to be a hardcore colonialist, for he occasionally doubted the beneficial effects of European colonisation:
"Will the present movement of the nations of Europe towards the East result in good by introducing into these lands the blessings of our civilization? Or shall we, as blind instruments of boundless ambition, come hither as a scourge, to add to their present miseries?"
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