What is “the white mans burden” about?

It's a poem about the Philippine–American War in 1899–1902, which exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the Filipino people and their country.

Explanation:

nothing certain is known about what happened, but it seems that the country declined gradually, perhaps due to bad government, or, more likely, due to a series of bad harvests, which resulted in widespread and recurrent famine.

your mothers brothers brother in law would be your father.