Heart of Darkness #2.1

Marlow starts off with an account of London in old times because he wants to compare London to Africa. He does this by saying that England used to be uncivilized just like Africa and, and so the Romans colonized England just like the English colonized Africa. The civilized cultures always think that it is their duty and their right to "civilize" the ignorant and less capable cultures. The civilized cultures think that they know what is best and so they ignore the protests of the cultures they are destroying.