New Form Of Imperialism As Industrial Nations example essay topic

Imperialism was reborn in the West with the emergence of the modern nation-state and the age of exploration and discovery. It is to this modern type of empire building that the term imperialism is quite often restricted. Colonies were established not only in more or less sparsely inhabited places where there were few or no highly integrated native states (e. g., North America and Africa) but also in lands where ancient civilizations and states existed (e. g., India, Malaya, Indonesia, and the Inca lands of South America). The emigration of European settlers to people the Western Hemisphere and Africa, known as colonization, was marked by the same attitude of assumed superiority on the part of the newcomers toward the native populations that prevailed where the Europeans merely took over control without large-scale settlements. For centuries, numerous European powers have plundered & terrorized the non-European world treating with contempt the people of different skin colour, cultures, philosophies, religions, languages, way of life. The conquered nations had to give up their own culture, their religions, even their languages, and convert to our set of beliefs and values that we defined as "civilized".

Where they didn't settle, the imperialists carved out colonies across the globe and plundered their natural resources using cheap native labour. Resource rich or strategically located areas were singled out for special attention. Along with this, strict segregation was enforced between the races by living conditions, wages and public services. No country or remotest island was left to develop to its own accord.

The Colonial powers of Europe ruled with an iron fist as they slowly consumed the nations of the world. From the 15th to the 17th century, the Portuguese and the Dutch built "trading empires" in Africa and the East for the exploitation of the resources and commerce with lands already developed. The Spanish and Portuguese established important colonies in the New World in the 16th and 17th cents., hoping to exploit the mineral wealth of the lands they conquered. The British and French imperialists became the foremost exemplars of colonial settlement in Africa and the East. Acting on mercantilist principles (see mercantilism), the European nations in the 18th cent. attempted to regulate the trade of their colonies in the interests of the mother country.

Later, the increase of manufactures in the Industrial Revolution introduced a new form of imperialism, as industrial nations scrambled both for markets and for raw materials. The eastward spread of Russia after the 16th cent. and the westward spread of the United States may also be termed imperialistic, although the United States did not actually acquire colonial possessions until the Spanish-American War. In the late 19th cent. Italy, Germany, and Japan also developed imperial ambitions; these nations, like the older colonial powers, were moved by a variety of aims, including commercial penetration, military glory, and diplomatic advantage. Imperial nations built their empirical fortunes by plundering the world of it's vast resources. Silver from the mines of South America, spices from Indonesian islands, Jade from ancient China, and even the trade of human beings from across Africa helped pay for the gigantic palaces, museums, theatres, cathedrals, municipal buildings, and for almost everything else that was considered "western civilization".

For centuries, European greed enriched one small continent at the expense of the rest of the planet. Throughout history, The West convinced itself that its cause was the only just one, its religions the only one that lead to God, and its economic institutions of greed, called 'capitalism' or a 'free market economy,' the only true expression of human nature. At its best, European imperialism brought economic expansion and new standards of official administration and public health to subject countries; at its worst, it meant brutal exploitation and dehumanization. In every instance, however, the pressure of an alien culture, with its different values and religious beliefs, and the imposition of new forms of social organization meant the breakdown of traditional forms of life and the disruption of native civilization. Over the centuries, the West has related to the rest only in terms of domination and conquest.

European encounters with indigenous peoples have never been a meeting of equals, never seen as an opportunity for cultural exchange or mutual enrichment. The Europeans did not arrive in foreign lands by invitation. They came unasked with a sense of racial and religious superiority. They also came armed with advanced weapons and simply gunned or hunted down the natives as they grabbed huge amounts of territory for European settlement.

A string of states, built on the blood and land of natives, were set up in the Americas, Australasia and South Africa that were founded on violence, genocide and the oppression of indigenous peoples. The mass killings of these people in their own lands could have been considered sport to the Europeans. Ever since Columbus landed in the Caribbean in 1492. The crimes against humanity in the name of capitalist civilization have been immense.

Europe found itself immensely enriched but its prosperity has been built largely on the blood, sweat, tears and plunder of the non-European world. At the end of the 19th cent. there was a strong reaction against the most inhumane forms of imperialist exploitation. Efforts were made to improve the standards of colonial administration; and a new justification of the rule of non-Europeans by the European powers was found in the idea of "the white man's burden", which advanced the notion that the developed nations of Europe had a duty to rule Asians and Africans in order to lead them to a higher level of civilization and culture. Among the leading critics of imperialism at that time were the Marxists, who saw imperialism as the ultimate stage of capitalism and made much of the connection between imperialist rivalries and war. After World War I, anti-imperialist feeling grew rapidly throughout the world, sparked by the development of movements for national liberation within subject countries. Nevertheless the major colonialist powers, Great Britain, France, and others, held on to their colonies, while Fascist governments in Italy and Germany, as well as militarist opinion in Japan, fostered even more extreme imperialist aims.

In the years since World War II, most of the countries once subject to Western control have achieved independence. Much of the contemporary debate centers on the issue of neo-imperialism. Many of the less developed countries contend that their economic development is largely controlled and seriously retarded by the developed countries, both through unfair trading practices and by a lack of controls over international business corporations. So to this day there is still a struggle of power between the strong and the weak.