Imperialism

6 Pages 1582 Words

In the late 19th century, imperialism was a major issue in many nations of the world. Imperialism is the extension of a nation's power due to the acquiring of territory or economic conditions through military force or political means. Countries revived the imperialistic movement because of political, economic, and cultural motives. This paper will serve to generally answer a few points regarding imperialism in the 19th century. It will cover certain aspects pertaining to the reasoning and outcomes of imperialism in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
All the key players who partook in imperialism had the same motives to pursue the actions they performed that we now read in history books. Europeans and Americans wanted balance in power. Well in actuality, a country would be afraid that the other countries would become too powerful and thus felt the need to acquire more political power. With this came the theory and mindset that everyone should become more like western civilizations. If countries spread to other lands and territories, it meant many opportunities from businesses and business-minded individuals. In addition, the imperialized territories would theoretically prosper from economic growth. Valuable resources of cotton, rubber, palm oil, copper, tin, gold, diamonds, tea, tobacco, sugar, and other resources were available to those who could seize them and raise the economy. The last main motive to pursue imperialistic policies was from a cultural revivalism. Apparently it was “the white man’s burden”, or duty to civilize people and teach them the ways of the western world. These three motives (political, economical, and cultural) all stemmed from a basic theory; a theory of “natural selection” and the need to be the best and the strongest, Social Darwinism.
The land grab of the New Age Imperialism came about at an unprecedented speed. This would not have been the case if it weren’t for the vast economic technological ...