1 / 16

The Age of New Imperialism

The Age of New Imperialism. 1800-1914. The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters. Imperialism. A policy where stronger nations dominate the political, economic, or cultural life of weaker nations. A new wave began in the 1800s. Original wave started back in the 1400s.

Download Presentation

The Age of New Imperialism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. The Age of New Imperialism 1800-1914

  2. The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters

  3. Imperialism • A policy where stronger nations dominate the political, economic, or cultural life of weaker nations. • A new wave began in the 1800s. Original wave started back in the 1400s. • Born out of the new industrial society of the 1800s. Countries were richer and more powerful.

  4. Map of Colonial Empires in 1914

  5. Causes • Economic Interests ($$$) • Political/Military Interests (Nationalism) • Humanitarian/Religious Goals • Social Darwinism

  6. Economic Interests • The Industrial Revolution • Industrialized countries needed natural resources • Ex: rubber, petroleum, manganese for steel, palm oil for machinery • Also wanted new markets to sell factory goods to • Colonies were valuable outlets for overpopulation in home countries

  7. Political/Military Interests • IN’s needed naval bases around the world • Seized islands and harbors • Competition/maintaining balance of power • Empire = prestige and greatness • Ex: when France got colonies in West Africa, GB and Germany did too to prevent France from becoming too powerful

  8. Humanitarian/Religious Goals • Many Westerners believed they had a moral duty to spread their “superior” way of life • Western technology, law, medicine, education • Also felt they needed to “Christianize” the “barbarians” in other parts of the world. • It was very ethnocentric…but…many well-meaning missionaries and doctors accompanied the imperialists • Two arguments: western advances did benefit natives; natives were denied their culture

  9. Social Darwinism • Imperialism was based on feelings of racial superiority; this theory justified colonies. • Racism: the belief that one race is superior to others • Social Darwinists applied Charles Darwin’s ideas about natural selection and survival of the fittest to human societies. • Imperialism was nature’s way of improving the human race.

  10. What made imperialism possible? • Weakness of conquered areas • Africa weak because of slave trade • Lack of weapons/technology • Western strengths and advantages • Strong economies and governments • Powerful armies and navies • Superior technology • Steam-powered ships, Maxim machine gun (1889), repeating rifles, the telegraph, quinine

  11. Meeting in Berlin • Berlin Conference, 1884 • A gathering of European powers held in Berlin. • This was a means of avoiding war between the powers. • It established ground rules for staking claims in Africa.

  12. Forms of Imperialism • Colony – direct control, most intrusive • Protectorate – local rulers left in place, but still under control of European advisors • Sphere of influence – exclusive investment or trading privileges • Economic Imperialism – most politically independent, but ldc’s indirectly controlled by large businesses

  13. Impacts • Positive: medical advances, hospitals, schools • Life expectancy and literacy rates increased • Negative: Africans lost control of land and their independence • Forced to mine or plant cotton and other cash crops instead of their own food crops • Famine • Loss of traditional culture

More Related