preview

The Various Structures Of Empires And Global History

Better Essays
Utilizing three major events this essay will explore the relationship between the various structures of empires and global history. Understanding empires and imperial rules are fundamental understanding the reasons why and how certain events transpired. Beginning with a brief introduction of empires, including the general reasons empires expanded and how. Following the definition of empires, we will use the various social, political, and economic structures of empires to discuss how the slave trade, industrial revolution, and the scramble for Africa were a have a causal relationship with empires and imperial rule. Empires use political and economic power to expand into other territories and overtake the people by fostering…show more content…
Socially, as before mentioned, they would create inequalities among the people native to that society. Politically, they would use military force to capture individuals and force them into slavery. Economically, an empire could impose a market on the colony restricting trade or they could use indirect control by making the state economically dependent on the Empire. Physical occupation was one means of expansion empires could impose their economic or political will creating the same dependent relationship between an empire and a colony (Class Notes, Feb 9). The strategy of dividing and conquering has been used from the earliest of empires. The Roman empire effectively used a strong army that conquered areas and took slaves for agricultural work. The Romans made strategic decisions about who were going to be slaves and those that would have limited rights (Laxer, p. 26 – 27), thus dividing the population and conquering vast amounts of land (Class Notes, Feb, 7). As with the Roman empire, the European empires understood that in order to expand the supply of labour needed to be tightly controlled; the development of the slave trade was a critical event that highlights how empires functioned and the resulting impact on global history. The Spanish empire’s search in Latin America was, not for the traditional resource of agriculture rather, for mineral reserves, such as gold and silver, was
Get Access