Class Notes:

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Class Notes
Intro to IMPERIALISM
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What is Imperialism?

• Domination by one country of the political,
  economic, or cultural (social) life of another
  country or region.
• In other words, you have a stronger nation that
  will take control of a weaker nation, usually to
  benefit the stronger nation at the expense of the
  weaker one

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Old vs. New Imperialism
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Old Imperialism (1492-1750)

• AKA The Age of Exploration
• Motives were The 3 Gs - Gold, Glory and God

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New Imperialism (1870-1914)

• With the Industrial Revolution, Western nations
  gained extraordinary power and they began to
  carve out empires around the globe and by 1914
  they dominated other peoples and brought distant
  lands under their control.

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Motives for New Imperialism

• Economic
• ? the desire to make money, acquire raw
  materials and labor expand and control foreign
  trade new markets for goods
• Exploratory
• ? explore the unknown conduct scientific and
  medical research go on an adventure
• Political
• ? nations desired to gain power compete with
  other nations expand territory strengthen
  military boost national pride (nationalism)
• Religious
• ? spread Christianity educate people of other
  cultures
• Ideological
• ? the belief that the white culture was superior
  and other cultures were primitive Europeans duty
  to civilize other people (White Mans Burden)

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The Scramble for Territory in Africa

• European colonial powers got caught up in a
  competitive race to claim as much territory in
  Africa as they could
• Britain, followed by France had a head start in
  this race as they had been traditional imperial
  powers and had more of the means needed to
  colonize other countries such as strong armed
  forces, economies, well-organized governments,
  superior forms of technology and medicine
• Other European powers like, Spain, Portugal,
  Italy, Germany, Belgium had to try to catch up.
• By 1900, all of Africa, except for Ethiopia and
  Liberia would be claimed by a European power.

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Reasons why Western Imperialism Succeeded

• Western European nations were growing stronger in
  the 1800s whereas older civilizations were in
  decline
• European nations had strong economies,
  well-organized governments, powerful armies and
  navies
• European nations had more advanced technology and
  better medicine / scientific methods

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What is this picture? What do you see being
depicted in the image? Look back at the motives
for new imperialism. Which of those are being
represented here?