Essay On European Imperialism

At the turn of the century, America and the views of its people were changing. Many different ideas were surfacing about issues that affected the country as a whole. The Republican Party, led by William McKinley, were concentrating on the expansion of the United States and looking to excel in power and commerce. The Democratic Party at this time was led by William Jennings Bryan, who was absorbed in a sponge of morality and was concerned with the rights of man. The nation’s self-interest was divided into different ideas between the two parties. At this time imperialism and anti-imperialism were the dominant topics regarding America’s destiny.

Throughout the history of the world, imperialism has played a major role. Imperialism is one country’s complete domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. Imperialism has many positive and negative effects. The Age of Imperialism is considered 1800 - 1914. During this time Europe became a major world leader. European countries set up colonies all over Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and encouraged their citizens to populate them. European imperialism boosted Europe’s economy, and made them a world power. Imperialization had an entirely different effect on Africa, Latin America, and Asia. People of these countries were mistreated, they lost their culture, land, and self respect. The negative effects of

American Imperialism has been a part of United States history ever since the American Revolution. Imperialism is practice by which powerful nations or people seek to expand and maintain control or influence over weaker nations or peoples. Throughout the years there has been many instances where the Americans have taken over other people countries, almost every time we go into we have taken over a new piece of land. The Americas first taste of imperialism came about five hundred years ago when Columbus came to America. We fought the pleasant inhabitants and then took over their land making them slaves. Americans over the years have been known to become almost selfish, no matter how much we have we will never be happy until we control the

From: Romesh Dutt, The Economic History of India Under Early British Rule Englishmen…have given the people of India the greatest human blessing – peace. They have introduced Western education. This has brought an ancient and civilized nation in touch with modern thought, modern sciences and modern life. They have built an administration that is strong and efficient. They have framed wise laws and have established courts of justice.

People of the Victorian Era had very strong opinions about it (Smith 1), and they were certainly unafraid to make their voices heard. During this popular period in European history, middle class men were the ones who were usually grappling with the repercussions of acute alcoholism (Smith 1). Drinking was a very popular pastime for working men of Europe circa-1800s. The term “alcoholism”, however, was coined by a Swedish physician in 1849 (Hanson 1). The later half of the nineteenth century was called “the golden age of the saloon” because this was where most men could have been found in the late evenings, drinking (Hanson 1). Drunkards were looked down upon by most, and they were seen as “wasteful, scorned, and purposeless” by people around them (Smith 1). As the steady influx of people who believed in the latter grew larger and larger, people that disagreed with the consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol formed temperance groups. The temperance movement was a popular, controversial topic of the Victorian Era (Smith 1). Their beliefs revolved around the curbing of alcoholism in the working class. A common misconception is that temperance groups’ prerogative is to outlaw the consumption of alcoholic beverages (Smith 1), but this is not the case. Temperance groups want only to control the alcoholism in their society and reduce the grasp it has on people’s lives. Conversely, the working class that supported drinking argued that it was irrelevant (Smith 1) and had no bearing to the “more pressing” issues of the era (Smith 1). The working class insisted that the temperance movements were diverting people’s attention from “more important” matters, such as the myriad of health concerns associated with pollution and sanitation (Smith

The history of Americans and alcohol began with the Mayflower. Most long term ships during the 1600’s included a large amount of alcohol because it was more sanitary than water and being on a boat for weeks and also helped pass time (143). During the time of settlement in the Newly discovered America, drinking was connected to religion. “Drink is in itself a good Creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness,” wrote Increase Mather, the famed Puritan preacher, “But the abuse of drinking is from Satan.” (144). Arguably after three centuries of differing opinions, this is how alcohol is perceived today.

The age of the empire is responsible for creating the foundation for our modern day view of race. A factor not given much thought before European imperialism, race became a key determinant of social standing after Europeans engaged in the African slave trade to acquire workers for the colonies in the Americas. Even after the colonies liberated themselves from their founding countries to become their own nations, the predisposition left by slavery to assign worth based on skin color remained. Throughout history and in the present day, misconceptions and prejudices about race continue to be an issue for countries like Brazil and the United States.

Social, economic, and political change altered the nature of imperialism in three principal ways. One was the amplified need for natural resources, two was the new understanding of economics, and three was the expanding sense of what it meant to be civilized. All of these events and ideas were lead up to by the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution altered the course of history in numerous ways but the most significant is certainly that of imperialism.

Between the period of 1870 and 1914, European powers was at an all-time high. The European powers shifted from being land-based empires to sea-based empires. Land-based empires were typically short-lived, unstable and had limited power. While the new transition of sea-based empires according to class notes, shaped the modern world’s network of long-distance trade. European powers switching to sea-based empires caused major growth, such as global trade and the “New Imperialism”. Coming from this new entry was the Industrial Revolution, which according to John Hobson’s, “Imperialism caused mass production, development of communication and transportation, economic surplus and global trade”. This was the start of major imperial growth between European Powers. European powers started to realize that they had the power to expand their empire globally and take over undeveloped markets. In the 19th century before the war, nationalism and imperialism was extremely important to European Powers. European Powers realized they had the power to go from imperialism to direct colonialism, where they could gain control over other territories.

Imperialism has played a large role in U.S history and other countries. Factors that can be changed through imperialism are global power and trade investment in other countries. Imperialism is a natural way of expanding and is beneficial to the U.S. Although imperialism has caused wars, there are many positive results, such as annexation and involvement in other countries, better trade, and the rise of the U.S as a global power. Therefore people believe imperialism is necessary to make the U.S stronger.

In the United States, the consumption of alcohol is more or less ingrained in American culture. Whether beer at the baseball game, wine from Napa Valley, or bourbon from Kentucky, alcohol has shaped American culture. The rise in immigration during the late 1800s and early 1900s led to towns establishing saloons in order to lure in potential customers and boost the local economy. By 1900, there were nearly 300,000 saloons—Kansas City alone had over 100 saloons for every one person (Okrent 27). These quickly became associated with vice and excess, and often doubled as casinos or even brothels. Most Americans saw these as foul, repugnant and vile institutions that were at odds with their cities’ values. This rise in shady saloons and alcohol consumption led to a rise in alcohol-related offenses, which accounted for nearly half of all crimes committed. Not merely limited to criminal offenses, excessive alcohol consumption during the early 20th century led to high rates of cirrhosis (15 for every 1000000) and chronic alcoholism (10 for every 100000) (Blocker, 235). Factory managers disapproved of their employees drinking, noting that it lowered productivity, but the largest and most vocal opponents of alcohol were middle-class women, who argued that alcohol degraded the morals and virtue of men, left children fatherless, and left wives abused and neglected.

During the nineteenth century, imperialism developed and shaped the country of Europe. Europe’s global expansion begun in the fifteenth century, but the it grew rapidly suddenly in the nineteenth century due to industrialization, creating an exceptionally powerful country. Imperialism is when a country extends their power into another country or state for it’s resources. Europe expansion mostly took place in Africa. In 1880, Europe ruled about 10% of Africa, but in 1914 they ruled all of Africa expect Libya. Africa had declining empires, and local wars and slavery had left the continent weakened, making it easy for Europe to take over. Some of the causes for Imperialism were due to economic, political and military, society, and science and invention reasons. When Imperialism occurs, adoption and adaptation also occurs. The idea of the more powerful country is adopted, but during the process it is also changed. This is seen in Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, A Meeting in the Dark by Ngugi wa thiong'o, and Water, directed by Deepa Mehta. Imperialism impacted the characters in the story, and changed their lifestyle.

Imperialism relations are also decided by force today, and the Europeans, the Americans and others have to constantly defend their peace-loving community. Every state sees itself threatened by the others, and each claims that it only defends itself against the others. If it were true that all states are merely defending themselves, then they would be able to leave each other alone. The rights which one state ascribes to itself against another state are defended. This is an important point: the interests that states have in each other brings the states into conflict with each other not the desire to be left alone. So one has to explain how a conflict exists in ordinary buying and selling, and it is insufficient to explain the conflict between states by resorting to images from the past. It is true that the Spanish stole the Mayans' gold, that colonialism was a form of robbery. Someone who accuses today's governments of robbery actually accuses them of engaging in conflicts that do not fit the world

The British Empire was an empire on which the sun never set. Lasting for over three hundred years, Britain became the global hegemonic power of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the wilds of Australia, to the fertile lands of Africa, the British Empire ruled over a quarter of the world’s population. With the empire ever expanding, visual and material culture became relied upon to help consolidate the empire. Overall, whether an advertisement for soap, or the funeral for Dr. Livingstone, visual and material culture was at the forefront of British imperialism.

According to history professor, K. Theodore Hoppen in his book The Mid-Victorian Generation the amount of alcohol consumed during the 19th century was about “33.2 gallons a year, per person” (353). He explained that people would consume alcohol in most social settings stating that “The bulk of drinking undoubtedly took place in public houses” (353) as well as use it medicinally for ailments as miniscule as a cold. In his research Hoppens found that alcohol had become so consuming that legislation tried to encourage citizens to only drink beer, which was thought to be less alcoholic, but the efforts were dropped when ‘spirits’ drinking stayed elevated. These monumental amounts of alcohol consumed was before the affects of addiction were fully understood in the 19th century and this inevitably made