Dbq Imperialism

Imperialism, or the takeover of a weaker nation by a stronger one, of the 19th century left a scar across Africa as European imperialists destroyed the traditional African way of life. This imperialism transformed into its milder form, intervention - the involvement of foreign powers in another nation which results in stronger powers - when foreign powers established economic spheres of influence in 19th century China, and still exists today in the form of U.S. foreign policy on international trade. This lighter form of imperialism was actually beneficial to the countries as it brought economic expansion and improvements. This is why Imperialism in the 19th century was not justified because of its detrimental effects on a country’s culture

During the late 1800’s, Europe was looking for a way to improve themselves as a whole. With growing population and a steady decline in available work, something new had to be done. Countries looked towards Africa to serve as new colonies for the Europeans in order to better their own countries. During the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914 Europe’s attitude towards Africa was that Africa was the inferior race in comparison to the Europeans. With the help of a strong feeling of nationalism, Europeans were motivated to acquire new lands in order to improve their motherland’s

Between the period from 1880 to 1914, European powers went after overseas empires in Africa. The governments and political leaders of the European powers believed that this colonization of the African empires was necessary to maintain their global influence. A second group of people supposed that African colonization was the result of the greedy Capitalists who \only cared for new resources and markets. The third group of people claimed it to be their job to enlighten and educate the uncivilized people of Africa. Although the political leaders of European powers encouraged colonization of African empires to advance their nation’s global influence, others argued that it was only for the profiteering of the Capitalists who sought new

The economy, social/cultural standings, and politics were three major factors that affect imperialism in the 19th century. Imperialism is a government system where rulers attempt to conquer other countries for an increase of power.

European Imperialism and Colonization of Africa created many social and economic changes including superiority over different people, technological advances, and new territories for European countries.

On the road to becoming one of the strongest and powerful countries in the world, we knew we needed to do something soon. An era where imperialism was a European act the United States realized it would be important to economic success.

Did you know the word imperialism is derived from the Latin verb "imperare", which means 'to command' and from the Roman concept of "imperium" (expansion). Imperialism was introduced in 1870 for the purpose of arranging footholds and trading posts on the coasts of Africa and China, exploring the New World, and settling down colonies in North and South America, before ending in 1914. The few leading nations were: United States of America, Great Britain, Japan, and Germany; and the prime developing nations were: Africa and China. With the background of imperialism, we still have this burning question: Was imperialism beneficial to developing nations? The answer is no, because it is important to realize, developing nations were stripped of their

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

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries European imperialism caused its countries to divide up the rest of the world, each country claiming bits as its own. Due to its large amounts of resources, Africa was one of the main areas European nations invaded in the cause if imperialism. In Africa, there were positive and negative effects towards the Africans and the invaders. Some positive effects on Africans were that they were provided with security by their rulers and new technology was introduced to them. Some of the negative effects were that the Africans lost their natural rights such as freedom, the beginning of slavery, and the loss of their land and

During the 1880’s, an idea known as “new imperialism” caused most of Europe to enter a period of colonial expansion that placed parts of both Africa and Asia under European control. Before 1880, Europe had little influence in Africa. They had relations with the governments and nations that were present, trading slaves and goods between continents. However, in a period known as the “Scramble for Africa”, Africa was divvied up among the giants: Great Britain took South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya; France, North and West Africa; and Germany, East and Southwest Africa. Three main factors motivated this new imperialism. The first was a combination of racism and Social Darwinism -- the latter being the belief that, in the struggle between nations, only the strong will prevail. The second stemmed from religion, and was known as “The White Man’s Burden”-- the idea that Europeans were obligated to bring technology and order to lands that until then had not tasted the amenities of their so-called “civilization”. The third was economics, for the untapped stores of Africa would bring the nation who could take advantage of them great wealth. Were one to say, “Late 19th century European imperialism was primarily an economic undertaking”, then they would be partially correct; all these factors influenced the actions of the European nations uniquely. Late 19th century European imperialism was primarily an economic undertaking to a near-full extent because, although supporters of White Man’s

In the late 1800s, European influence started to snake its way into almost every part of the world (Spielvogel and McTighe 226). The African continent was no exception to this new wave of imperialism. For years prior, Europeans only ruled over small parts of the continent, working with African merchants and rulers to meet their interests. However, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Europeans would scramble to exert their influence over as much of Africa as possible. By 1914, there would only be 2 independent African nations left (Spielvogel and McTighe 231). As this imperialist invasion swept across Africa, centuries old institutions and nations would be crushed under the weight of European gun and cannon. Europeans then realized

In the late 1800’s the Europeans decided to conquer other countries, and they started with Africa. They needed more resources to run factories, missionary’s wanted to spread religions, and some people just wanted more power. Africa was greatly impacted by imperialism in three main ways. Their political systems were often taken over, social impacts included racism and slavery, however economic systems grew because of their natural resources.

During the 19th century, King Leopold II of Belgium compared Africa to a cake. At the Berlin Conference in 1885, seven European nations took slices of Africa for themselves without discussing any details with Africans. From a 21st century perspective, this seems like a selfish thing to have done, so why did Europeans engage in imperialism? Certainly, political factors, cultural causes, and technological advancements were important. But the primary cause was economic. European nations competed to exploit the rich resources of Africa for financial and commercial gain.

Natural resources were highly valued during the era of imperialism. Natural market trade was a popular source of income, and with this, natural resources were necessities. If a country did not have enough natural resources on their own soil to make a decent share, they had to expand their territory by taking over other lands. Being the holder of large territories of land was also highly valued during this time. The more land a country had, the stronger and more powerful they viewed as. With expansion and power came a need for a smart political system. In the period of 1880 to 1914, Europeans acquistized African colonies because they were politically smart so they had justification for this, they needed more natural resources, and they needed to expand of their territories.

In Africa, European trade with slaves, gold, ivory, and other goods had been present for centuries from 1500 to late 1700. However, at the start of the nineteenth century, European imperialism rose within Africa’s countries as Europeans began to dig deeper within Africa’s borders. As a matter of fact, one could say that it exploded, and by 1880, full takeover of Africa was being fought over between European countries; of course, without the consult of Africa itself. Many reasons led up to why there was so much desire to control Africa, and all of the European countries had shared reasons on why they wanted African land. The reasons European imperialism began to take over Africa and expanded so quickly are due to political competition with rival countries, desperately wanting to spread nationalism, and both greed as well as need for materials within the continent.