The correct answer is lessers under the guise of helping them
The "white man's burden" was a typical ideological expression of 19th century imperialism.
Starting from a Eurocentric perspective, which considered Europeans as intrinsically superior to native peoples, they saw themselves in the "obligation" to "civilize" Africans and Asians, implementing, in most cases in a violent and disrespectful manner, their models of society in the dominated territories.
In exchange for this "favor", they extracted natural and human resources from the territories, enriching themselves in the process.
