IMPERIALISM IS THE DOMINATION
BY ONE NATION OF THE POLITICAL,
ECONOMIC, OR CULTURAL LIFE OF
ANOTHER NATION
-strongly unified governments @ home
-desire to boost national prestige
-competition between nations for bragging
rights& economic resources
-competition leads to military build-up
Exs: rubber,
cotton, gold,
diamonds,
copper, opium,
tea
NEED SOURCE
OF RAW
MATERIALS
-sell surplus goods from factory production
-desire to establish trade monopolies
NEED FOREIGN
MARKETS TO
SELL FINISHED
GOODS
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
-belief in European superiority
-reinforced European racism & ethnocentrism
-excused mistreatment of native people
-“White Man’s Burden” = duty to civilize!
SOCIAL DARWINISM (after 1850)
EUROPEAN NATIONALISM
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Ex: Australia =
originally served as
penal colony for
British
PLACES TO DUMP
UNWANTED/EXCESS
POPULATIONS
WESTERN EUROPEAN
MOTIVES FOR
IMPERIALISM, c1800-1900
SUPERIOR
TECHNOLOGY/SCIENTIFIC
ACHIEMENT
(Enabled movement into interior
& better exploitation of
resources)
The Maxim Gun
could fire 600
rounds per minute
-steam warships
-railroads
-maxim gun (forerunner to machine
gun), invented 1880s
-quinine (anti-malaria medicine)
HUMANITARIAN/PHILANTHROPIC
REASONS
LOCAL ACTIONS IN INTEREST OF
TRADING COMPANIES
(Company officials make decisions that
lead to acquisition of territory,
resources, & native people!)
-Dutch East India Co.
(Java, Indonesia)
-British East India Co.
(India)
-“White Man’s Burden”
-civilize non-Western societies
-bring social & political reform to
“improve” natives’ lives
-Christian missionary efforts
-Protestants more active