Essential Question: What ideologies contributed to the development of imperialism between 1750 and 1900?

Art/Technology:

-Based on technological superiority, colonial powers felt justified in superimposing aspects of their own cultures on their colonies.

Social:

-Proponents justified European colonization using a variety of explanations, from a belief in nationalism, a desire for economic wealth, a sense of religious duty, and a belief they were biologically superior.

-Using the ideas that Darwin developed about evolution and natural selection, they applied that to society, creating Social Darwinism. Advocated used the “survival of the fittest” theory to argue that the spread of European and U.S. power proved biological superiority.

Political:

-Overseas empires were a policy called imperialism and would lead to conflicts in Asia and a scramble to colonize Africa.

-Building an empire in Asia or Africa was one way for a country to assert its national identity in the global arena.

-In 1788 the first British settlers arrived in the colony of New South Wales on the east coast of the island continent of New Holland- today’s Australia. They were also expanding into South Asia through the control of India through the East India Company. Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma (Myanmar), the Malay States (which included Singapore), and parts of Borneo in Southeast Asia were also under British control.

-France compensated for its defeat in the Fraco-Prussian war by expanding its over seas territories, already occupying Algeria in North Africa, New Caledonia and other Islans in the South Pacific, Senegal in Western Africa, and Indochina in Southeast Asia.

-Italy and Germany were newly unified states in the late 19th century, and both wanted colonies for economic, strategic, and prestige reasons but neither began acquiring an empire until mid-1880s.

-Spain led the pack in the first wave of Imperialism, but its power had greatly diminished by the 19th century.

-Japan asserted its nationalist pride through incursions into Korea. This irritated china and led to the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), which gave Japan control over Korea. Japan also seized Taiwan, known as Formosa.

Intellectual:

-Referring to colonized peoples as children reflected how colonizer’s saw themselves as benevolent protectors on a “civilizing mission” rather than invaders.

-Pseudoscientists, people who present theories as science that are actually incompatible with the scientific method strengthened the additudes of white supremecy among colonizers. They claimed to have proof, with Phrenologists, people who studied skull sizes and shapes, believing that a smaller skull size proved mental feebleness of Africans, Indigenous Americans, and Asians, which has been proven false.

Religious:

-Like the Spanish and Portuguese Catholic missionaries who combined conquest and evangelism during the Age of Discovery, British Protestant missionaires of the 18th and 19th centuries also participated in colonization.

-Missionaries would combine religious and humanitarian efforts:

• Missionaries often set up schools for religious teachings that also taught secular subjects, preparing students to become professionals.

• Many missionaries provided improved medicines and medical care.

• Some missionaries, most famously David Livingstone from Scotland, worked in Sub-Saharan Africa to end the illegal slave trade.

Economic:

-As the Industrial Revolution transformed European economies, the desire for the sources for raw mateirals and markets for manufactured goods provided by colonies enticed imperial powers to increase their expansion.

-A lot of colonization started by companies who wanted to control the spice trade.

-The East India Company managed British rule over India, engaged in things like the slave trade and the illegal exportation of opium.

-After the Industrial Revolution and the Napleonic Wars, Britain was the leading economic power throughout the first half of the 19th century and already had a sizeable colonial empire.