Religion, race, and profit all played a pivotal part in western nations (the USA alongside Europe) increasing role as the dominant imperialist powers of the world. Profit, however, was the leading factor in these western nations’ mission of dominating the world. Religion and race were factors that were used to justify the imperialization of foreign territories no doubt, but the ultimate driving force behind imperialization was profit and power. Profit ultimately compelled the western armies into marching through Cairo, Manila, and Hong Kong. Western elites undoubtedly maintained views of racial and religious supremacy over non-whites, denoting them as savages, uncivilized, and unfit to rule themselves. These same western elites dictated the …show more content…
These western nations needed access to vital natural resources and control of strategic trade zones to promote further industrialization within their empires. This industrialization came with it profound wealth of the nation and its expansion of power abroad. Numerous natural resources, important to industrialization, were located in these conquered regions. Cotton for example, necessary for textile production, was found in India and Egypt, both British territories. [11] Further natural resources like rubber in Congo, oil in Iran, and gold in South Africa encouraged imperialists to expand their spheres of influence past their natural border. [11] Access to these regions also provided western states a market for their finished goods, textiles primarily. Senator Beveridge explains the need of foreign markets by stating “Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer.”[12] French imperialist Jules Ferry also highlights the need for a foreign consumer “...felt more and more urgently by industrialized population of Europe and especially the people of our rich and hardworking country of France: the need for outlets [for exports].”[13] In cases where westerners were buying rather than selling to foreign markets, military intervention was utilized. A classic example are the Opium Wars in which Great Britain invaded China thus forcing the Qing Dynasty into buying British exports of opium.[14] Through this integrated system of extracting resources out of the colonies, using those resources to produce a final good, and selling it back to the colonies, the western states establish a trade surplus. The trade surplus brings in wealth back to homeland thus allowing the nations to expand industrialization, which in turn expands the wealth and power of the nation.
Imperialism is when a mother nation takes over another nation and become its colony for political, social, and economical reasons. Imperialism is a progressive force for both the oppressors (mother country) and the oppressed (colony), majorly occurring during the late 19th and early 20th century. It had more negative effects than positive effects due to its domination to other nations.
Imperialism is defined as a policy to dominant other countries and rule them. Then, these new colonies surrender their markets, industries, and resources to their invaders. “US imperialism, supported by US politicians, was intended to bring profits to US manufacturers (capitalists)…” (lecture4-p13). Although the period of 1890-1910 is usually known as “the age of the US imperialism”, the US imperialism is not limited to that era. Overseas imperialism began during 1890-1910 with the invasion of Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, which was an attempt to expand the American’s territory to reach natural resources such as minerals, timber, oil, and land. These new territories could also provide corporations with cheap workers and military bases. There have been numerous other examples of the US imperialism. Starting from North America, the US government took over the Pacific Ocean and found its way into Asia. “A State Department list... shows 103 interventions in the affairs of other countries between 1798 and 1895” (Zinn-12), including Argentina, Uruguay, China, Angola, Nicaragua, and Japan to protect American’s interests in those countries. The same motivation was pursued in attacking Vietnam. According to Zinn, the main reason of the US intervention in WWII was to follow its imperial interests. “For those interests, in the thirties, an anti-Soviet
The first Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. It led to a dramatic increase in factories, therefore a vast amount of manufactured goods. The demand for goods created by the Industrial Revolution helped clear the way for the Age of Imperialism because Great Britain and eventually all of Europe sought after more natural resources and raw materials. Imperialism is the policy in which a stronger country seeks to dominate a less developed country both politically and economically. Although the European imperialism of Africa was exploitive and self seeking, it was justified because it ultimately enhanced the growth and development of the African nations through new laws, government, well ordered finance and freedom form oppression.
At the end of the eighteenth century, China’s goods were much desired by Britain. However, the Chinese saw Europeans as savages and did not want to trade with them. During trade, there was an imbalance in China’s favor, because the Europeans were forced to buy Chinese goods using silver. The Western Imperialists began to grow opium poppies from in India, and then smuggle them into China. China soon became addicted to the drug and spent most of it’s money on the purchase of it from the Europeans and Americans. This shifted the balance of power to be in Europe’s favor.
Practice what you preach! The Unites States preaches democracy, freedom, liberty and justice by all. Our ancestors fled England to gain these basic rights and establish a land of liberty and justice for all. As I study history, I have come to question whether we, as a country, really live by these principles. By the late 1800s the United States had become a world power with the ability to influence other countries and expand to new lands by using it military and economic powers; America was divided on how to use this power and influence. Expansion or isolation seemed to be the most argued political themes of the early 1900s. Europeans had drawn satisfaction from fulfilling a self-imposed “civilizing” mission to spread Western culture and
One of the most important aspects of imperialism is the take over of government. The English accomplished this in several ways. Some of the “Unfair Treaties” forced the Chinese to allow the English ships into their ports and to allow them to have a major role in the trade market. The English wanted tea, porcelain, and silk from china. The Chinese however didn’t want to gods the English offered in return. The English began trading opium in return for the goods. Although it was illegal, many of the money hungry merchants excepted the opium in return for the things that were valuable to the English. Because of this, the first Anglo-Chinese war erupted. China underestimated the power of England and was defeated. At the end of the war, they were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing (1842). The treaty was one of the first treaties known as the “Unfair Treaties.” Under this treaty, china gave up the island of Hong Kong, abolished the licensed monopoly system of trade, granted English nationals exemption from Chinese laws, and agreed to give England whatever trading concessions that were granted to other countries then and later.
The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and Social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans were aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on. Britain was endowed with geographic and political advantages that allowed the country to become the first to unwittingly stumble onto industrialization. Britain was an island, therefore had developed a unique naval strength which subsequently gave Britain leverage when globalization blossomed from expanding maritime trade. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe, including Belgium, trailed behind. Presently, colonized regions still bear the traits and scars from the subjugators of their past.
Western imperialism in the 1800s and early 1900s had positive, negative, and long-lasting effects in countries like India, regions of South East Asia, and Africa. There were many social, economic, and political changes. For example, in Hawaii there was an abundance of sugar cane crops and the U.S sought out to make money by occupying Hawaii. This was beneficial for the businessmen because they were receiving large quantities of money. However, the local peoples deeply opposed the selling of their crops. Throughout the course of imperialism in the 1800s and early 1900s, many other countries and regions such as India, regions of South East Asia, and Africa were faced with hardships while the imperialists raced to gain the most control.
Imperialism can also be encouraged by patriotism, religion, and a sense of cultural and racial superiority. During the late 1800’s, a strong feeling of nationalism swept most European countries.
During the French Revolution of 1789 imperialism took a smaller scale, individual companies began to monopolize their profession and expanding to crush their competitors. France expanded internally as well as externally. Jules Ferry believed he could sway people to expand using facts, he said “In the area of economics, I am placing before you, with the support of some statistics, the considerations that justify the policy of colonial expansion…” (Robinquet 167) expressing the many ways people tried to convince others to expand. France and Great Britain split the majority of the world through their settlements and territories. Great Britain’s most valuable and profitable territory was India, which had multiple trade outpost for Cotton, Silk, Opium, Indigo Dye, and most importantly Tea. Great Britain controlled the markets trying to expand more. This fast expansion caused all other European countries to try to compete with Britain’s ever growing empire. In his writing Rise of our East African Empire document Lugard stated that “To allow other nations develop fields, and to refuse to do so ourselves, is to go backward”
The Europeans were facing overproduction and under consumption. This led to a need for new markets and need for new consumers. They were also in need for raw materials. Materials such as tin, rubber, gold, oil, copper, and cotton. Some nations had these resources easily available. This interested the strong and powerful nations who were lacking these materials.
There were two different time periods where Imperialism occurred. The first wave of imperialism, called the 'Old' Imperialism, lasted from around 1500 - 1800. The 'New' Imperialism lasted from around 1870 - 1914. The three main differences that we will discuss today are the differences in economics, politics, and the motive behind all of this.
As many people know, Imperialism has shaped the culture and customs all over the world. Imperialism is the dominance of one country over another politically, economically or socially. Western culture can be seen in all parts of the world; from Asia to Africa, to the Indies and the Americans. The downside of having the bits of western culture all over the world, is how it got there. Western influence was forced upon places in Asia, specifically India, Indonesia with a hellacious price; lives and poverty.
Throughout the years Britain had always tried to use the Chinese markets to their advantage. This is what was seen as the biggest and only cause towards starting the First Opium War. Although the British were gaining a profit from selling their own goods to Chinese consumers, they were not making enough to counter the massive amount of spending they were doing on Chines...
The concept of imperialism is one that has pervaded nearly every major society or empire throughout human history. It seems to be a natural consequence of societies growing in size, power, and knowledge. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries vast changes occurred in Western Europe (and soon spread elsewhere) that spurred a new round of imperialism the likes of which had not been seen before. The changes were the industrial revolution that was taking place. Countries were rapidly advancing to industrial societies producing much greater quantities of goods at much lower costs. The goods produced ranged everywhere from cotton textiles to military machinery, all of which would play important roles in rounds of imperialistic expansion that would follow. The imperialistic displays by Western European nations also brought about several other industrial revolutions in other regions including the Ottoman Empire, Russia, and Japan. I will take a look at how the industrial revolution encouraged imperialistic expansion, as well as some of the results of that expansion in other regions.