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The negative economic impact of colonialism
The negative economic impact of colonialism
Political and economic impact of colonialism
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From its earliest settlement in the early 1600s by small groups of British individuals to the conclusion of the American Revolution, when some five million people were poised to sprawl across a continent, British America had a dual economy. On the one hand, it was a colonial economy that depended on its ability to export commodities to the home country of England, the other colonies of the Western Hemisphere, and the eager buyers from foreign empires. Exporting, in turn, fostered deepening networks of credit, ability to import necessary and desirable goods from other sources, and systems of payment throughout the Atlantic world. On the other hand, British Americans developed a thriving internal economy in which they cleared land, grew much
The relationship between Britain and her Americans colonies slowly deteriorated between the 1750s and the beginning of the American Revolution. When the first British immigrants settled in America, the relationship of the colonies and their mother country was somewhat peaceful. In the following generations, however, their relationship became tenser as Britain imposed policies and taxes on unrepresented American colonists. The British believed they were right in doing so because they had large debts to pay from ongoing wars with France. These taxes caused uprisings among colonists which contributed to British occupation in America, leading to more rebellions. Eventually, the rift in the relationship between the colonists and the British led to the Revolutionary War and the formation of a new country.
In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantile relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system of their own. In England, the common view was that the colonies only purpose was to compliment and support the homeland. This resulted in a series of laws and protocols called th...
More than half of American goods produced for export went to Great Britain, and acts were in effect that gave England more control over colonial exports (Navigation Acts and White Pines Acts are two examples). However, the West Indies played a vital role in preserving American credit in Europe, illustrating that Americans had developed economic differences that distinguished them from the British. They were able to trade with other places throughout the world, not just England. Without the source of income from the West Indies, colonists wouldn’t have been able to pay for manufactured items they purchased in the mother country. An expanding coastal and overland trade also brought colonists of different backgrounds into more frequent contact. Ships that sailed between New England and South Carolina, and between Virginia and Pennsylvania, provided dispersed Americans with a means to exchange ideas and experiences on a more regular basis, which represents both a social and economic difference from the British. Thus, the Americans of the eighteenth century tried to create a society that mirrored the English society they had known. In doing so, they were exposed to a world of ideas, leading them to develop some of their own. These ideas allowed for the development of social and economic differences, which distinguished them from the British and allowed them to develop an “American” cultural
In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantile relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system of their own. England's economic system was primarily based on mercantilism, which was directly related to the colonies. This concept of mercantilism said that wealth is power and however much power you have is how much gold and silver one country has in its treasury. For this concept to take place, England had to export more than import. Because the colonies had the raw materials needed England set up laws such as navigation laws to restrict what the colonies coul...
The French and Indian War impacted the trans-Atlantic economic relationship between the motherland and her colonies. Before the war colonists were rushing to buy new British manufactured goods resulting from the early stages of the industrial revolution. To pay for these manufactured goods, colonists increased their export of raw materials for sale to Britain. Although the exports were able to pay for a significant portion of cost of British imports, a significant shortfall was covered by British loans. This economic relationship saturated much of pre-French and Indian War colonial America and became normal. After 1763, Britain was in dreadful need for revenue to pay for the French and Indian War. Britain was clever on finding ways to raise revenue from the colonies. From 1650 to the end of the French and Indian War was a period of "salutary neglect." Britain had very little involvement in the lifestyle of the colonies. After the French and Indian War, mercantilism became strictly enforced. Merc...
During the early settlement of North America persons of varied backgrounds came to the New World. Both families and Individuals from Western Europe or the central coast of Western Africa made the arduous journey across the Atlantic. Some hoped to find easy riches or religious purity. While others were torn from their families to provide slave labor for a blossoming economy. The motives for uprooting and moving over the Atlantic are as broad and diverse as the colonies that took shape upon the arrival of these new settlers. Although there were fundamental and cultural differences between the early colonies it is important to note that these differences were to be put aside when they were faced with a common foe. The role of colonial newspapers and the sharing of information coupled with the role of the Crown’s taxation policies lead to an underlying connection between New England, the Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies. These connections are what allowed the original 13 colonies to overcome their differences and unite to win the American Revolution.
In the years leading up to the American Revolution, important economic changes took place within the colonies as their economies transitioned from the previous subsistence farming and subsistence living type of economies into true consumer economies. (Devore, Lecture #3.) This shift toward a true consumerism society in the colonies, also known as Anglicizing the colonies, began to make the colonies more uniform and began to bring the colonies together into more of a cohesive unit. (Devore, ...
Colonial America began in the early 1600’s when the European nations directed their focus toward the “New World,” a place of opportunity. According to Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty, England’s motives for colonization were built upon national glory, profit, and religious mission (41). The purpose of the colonies in the New World was to import manufactured goods, produce marketable resources, and serve the interest of the mother country, England (Foner 74). Because economic circumstances in England were not great, England had a large proportion of men, women, and children willing to migrate to the New World and settle into the colonies. Nevertheless, after the British colonies were established, they were separated into three regions: the New England, Middle, and Chesapeake colonies. Each of these regions faced a series of challenges with economic, political, and cultural development.
The connection between Britain and the English colonies was that of the ruling of the colonies by the king of Britain, King George III and his parliament. The king’s ruling was very unfavorable for the colonists because of his tyrannic dictatorship and unjustly taxations. The mere thought of an island ruling an entire continent thousands of miles away with poor communication and lack of supervision of the colonies by the king, did not work in favor of the colonies nor for Britain. Three contributing factors for the outbreak of the American Revolution were (1) the king’s taxes, (2) neglect of the 13 colonies and (3) England’s mercantilism policy. King George III and his decisions were one of the major causes that had the English colonists fumed with anger towards Britain and this eventually led to the American Revolution.
During the late 1700’s, the United States was no longer a possession of Britain, instead it was a market for industrial goods and the world’s major source for tobacco, cotton, and other agricultural products. A labor revolution started to occur in the United States throughout the early 1800’s. There was a shift from an agricultural economy to an industrial market system. After the War of 1812, the domestic marketplace changed due to the strong pressure of social and economic forces. Major innovations in transportation allowed the movement of information, people, and merchandise.
American had an economy based on manual labour which was replaced by one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery. It began with the expansion of the textile industries and the development of iron-making techniques, and trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways.
The American Revolution marked the divorce of the British Empire and its one of the most valued colonies. Behind the independence that America had fought so hard for, there emerged a diverging society that was eager to embrace new doctrines. The ideals in the revolution that motivated the people to fight for freedom continued to influence American society well beyond the colonial period. For example, the ideas borrowed from John Locke about the natural rights of man was extended in an unsuccessful effort to include women and slaves. The creation of state governments and the search for a national government were the first steps that Americans took to experiment with their own system. Expansion, postwar depression as well as the new distribution of land were all evidence that pointed to the gradual maturing of the economic system. Although America was fast on its way to becoming a strong and powerful nation, the underlying issues brought about by the Revolution remained an important part in the social, political and economical developments that in some instances contradicted revolutionary principles in the period from 1775-1800.
America used its massive reserves of raw materials to produce its way into the world industrial market. Railroads brought American settlers and adventurers across the United States to discover more raw materials as well as spread out the country's population from the crowded East. New technologies and innovations allowed for the manipulating of resources until they produced as much profit as possible. The concentration of power and monopolies required, and received, massive numbers of cheap labor. It was that very wealth the monopolies created that attracted millions of immigrants to this country to find work. A cycle of factors where every one played a part, some more crucial than others, yet equally dependent upon one another. This cycle fueled America’s industrial boom, and propelled it into the world’s industrial market.
European colonization of the Americas started with the accidental discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. After 1600, colonization was made possible in North America because of the population decrease of Native Americans. By 1614, Spain, England, France and the Dutch Republic all established territorial claims in North America. Although Spain, England, and the Dutch established colonies in North America, France was the most successful in the effort of colonizing America prior to 1660, specifically through securing cooperation of native peoples, their establishment of permanent settlements, and their development of a viable economy.
Economic concerns of the British caused the colonization of British North America. Such economic concerns included the opportunity to acquire gold, silver, a North American waterway that would lead directly to China and the Indies, and the prospect of countering Spain's dominance in North America (Boorstin et al. 34). In addition to these economic reasons for colonization, the English were also seeking to obtain the essential "raw materials" in America that they had been previously buying from other European countries for exorbitant amounts of money and gold (Boorstin et al. 34). Great Britain also sought to solve other economic problems through American colonization. For example, England needed to replenish some of its diminishing materials and assets, generate another "market" to export its cargo and merchandise, maintain its powerful navy and "merchant marine" through business with new American colonies, and to provide a new place for the unemployed to settle rather than escalating populace/crime and the economic burden in its own cities (Boorstin et al. 34).