The Rise Of Imperialism

Imperialism is the extension of a country’s power and influence through means such as colonization or military force. During both the Colonial Era and the Age of Imperialism, European nations acted on imperialist policies and established colonies. The motives that shaped European colonization in the two periods were economically and politically similar, however the 19th century motives for imperialism put more of an emphasis on religion and ethnocentrisms while Colonial Era imperialism was more affected by exploratory motives. The political and economic motivations for colonization and imperialism during the two eras were in nature.

“Imperialism was a cause because building an empire needs manpower such as an army and a navy to conquer and keep the land that they colonised.” Imperialism often brings on nationalism and is accompanied by a strong military.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, America and Europe started increasing their power by taking over land in another part of the world. The first reason for imperialism is the nations wanted to take an empire to give it new markets in which to sell goods, and from which to buy raw materials. The second reason is they felt that taking an empire would give it more naval bases from which to project power, this would allow their nation to become a more important power. The third reason are the need to civilize other cultures on the rest of the world of US, and European countries felt that they had a superior civilization and that they had an obligation to spread that civilization to other countries.

Imperialism is a factor that has transformed societies and nations over the course of history. In the past, nations such as France, Great Britain, Germany, and Spain have been categorized as “imperialistic” nations. These nations referred to advanced technology as power. The industrial revolution and increase in new technology gave them the idea to want to spread their ideas to other countries around the world. This involved taking over nations and building colonies to benefit the mother country.

During the 1700’s through the 1900’s empires like France and Britain began to take over land in various continents and turned them into colonies. Although Britain and France saw this as a positive thing, the colonies proved to be difficult to control. Today it is hard to tell if the acquisition of these colonies was more beneficial or detrimental to their respective motherlands. Britain was the first European nation to imperialize. This is because England is an island and was running out of natural resources, and with growing population, there was no way to tell when England would run out of resources. Britain also had the world’s strongest navy. This brought up the idea to imperialize. Some other reasons for imperialism was the desire for

Between 1870 and 1920, the European nations took the use of imperialism due to economic, political, and social forces to control the less-developed locations of the world. Economical forces used the need for raw materials for a reason to take locations. Social forces such as racism, thinking that themselves, the Europeans were better than whomever they were taking over. Political forces used militarism more often than not to take the less-developed locations of the world. The use of economical, political, and social forces were all important during the rise of imperialism during the 1870s through 1920s due to the humanitarianism (used in both political and social forces), racism, and the market through world trade with the need for militarism.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the European intentions were to gain land which would allow them to grow their power as well. They were looking for land, and raw resources that would boost their economic growth and industries. The want for Africa grew as diamonds and gold were discovered in South Africa, no European power wished to be left out of this discovery. There were other forces at work that drove imperialism in the European nations. Just like the need for better economic growth, political and social forces accelerated as well. The Industrial Revolution became known as one of the major driving forces for imperialism. The race for colonies brought a sands of national pride, the Europeans were determined to be the greatest. The Europeans were looking for as much land as possible, they wanted their power to be known throughout the world. They believed they were the greatest, and they were determined to show

Imperialism means to maintain a certain strategy or system of improving power of an empire or nation. This definition is extremely significant because it expanded the authority of nations and cultures. In addition to this, there were plenty of reasons Europeans wanted to imperialize. The first and foremost reason was that they desired to imperialize natural resources. Some of the main natural resources that worthed a lot were gold, copper, tin, and diamond.

Lastly, politics and fighting for the highest power affected imperialism. “The political impetus derived from the impact of...power struggles [w/in] Europe and competition for preeminence [in Europe], Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were competing for power…” (Document R). More power means a country can take control and demand their necessities.“The economic motive is by no means to be dismissed but alongside of it there evidently was another one, not so easy to define but none the less real - the power complex - sheer love of power” (Document M). Along with economics, which is still a big factor, politics and being powerful afflicted conflict over

Imperialism began in in the 19th century as Europe began to force itself upon weaker countries by commandeering control of those weaker states’ economies and governments. The acquisition of these states was legitimized through creating racial divisions and encouraging stratification of the classes where the white man asserted himself as the pure and capable

Since there were many nations involved, there were many attributes that led up to imperialism. Firstly, the Europeans wanted economic expansion. Since the industrial revolution had taken place, the Europeans were in need of more natural resources. They also wanted new markets for the sake of selling industrial products. To achieve this they had to look for more places outside of Europe and colonize it.

Imperialism is defined as a policy of extending a country 's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Countries during the Industrial Revolution wanted to imperialize due to social, political, and economic reasons. As early as the mid 1800’s, the European countries craved the idea of power and conquering new lands in order to obtain resources/raw materials. They took over Africa, the Ottoman Empire, India, and Southeast Asia due to this as well as for their convenient location. They believed that the more land one owns, the stronger the country would be. Although some can argue the fact that imperialism had a detrimental effect because these countries lost their culture and independence, the end result of this was definitely more positive than negative both short term and long term. These countries would not be as thriving today if this had not happened. European Imperialism in parts of the Middle east, Africa, and Asia had more of a positive impact on the world due to education, modernization, healthcare/sanitation, and more trade/resources used.

In 1853, Western imperialism was at its height. It was spreading to several countries. The British colonized India, the Dutch colonized Indonesia, the United States colonized the Philippines, and the French colonized Vietnam. In 1929, the crash of the stock market brought a worldwide depression, known as the Great Depression. The depression caused instability in many countries. International commerce declined and tax revenues, profits, and personal income decreased. The Great Depression especially impacted countries that were in need of raw materials. Between the time of 1853 to 1941, Japan’s culture and political structure changed anticipating westernization because they wanted to be seen as equals to the Western countries. Japan also became more militaristic so that they would not be seen as a victim of imperialism. Although Japan experienced some changes, Japan continued the ideology of kokutai as a method for imperial advancement.

Since it became a necessity in the 19th and 20th century to rule over other nations for economic and political prosperity, the Europeans did the same for the sake of the mother country, which greatly influenced the respective aspects. The European or the new Imperialism is a movement, which brought the worldwide effect of white supremacy. As far as the ideas of historians are concerned, new Imperialism was the product of economic rationale. It is obvious that every nation looks forward to uplift their economic status. Although the new Imperialism was a product of economic rational, it was largely justified for social and political reasons such as “civilizing missions” to help these countries out. While social effects helped to cause the new Imperialism, it was the economic advantages that forced the major plays of Europe into the grand scheme of the new Imperialism.

It is reasonably hard to measure the extent of the influence that imperialism has had on the contemporary world, at least due to the fact that imperialism shaped the appearance of the modern world, starting from the name of places and geographical boundaries, to the establishment of a globalized economic system. Accordingly, European colonization has left its mark on many parts of the world, especially by providing a strong foundation for the formation of a cultural universalization, substantial changes in the education system, an occurrence of a language hierarchy, and the emergence of a world economic system (Osterhammel and Petersson 2005, pg. 73-77). Through altered societal structures, a restricted access to education, substantial changes to the cultural values of colonized countries, and the special division of the labor market, the age of imperialism has had an outsized impact on the modern developing world, perhaps more than any other particular age.