To understand why the world is the way it is now, there’s a question we have to ask: What is imperialism? The history of imperialism helps explain everything from contemporary foreign policy to why modern maps look the way they do.
It is vital, especially during a time of censorship and restrictions on what we learn in school, to study the full truth of our collective past. As it turns out, most world powers, the United States very much included, rose to where they are by violently thieving from other nations. A primary essential characteristic of imperialism is inequality. The definition, according to historian Harrison Wright, can be a little tricky to define by historians and social research.
What is imperialism?
In Imperialism: The Word and Its Meaning, an imperialistic unit is an independent political body that is able to impose inequality. This unit can be a political state or nation.
One of the many definitions of imperialism is the acquisition of territory and subjugation of its inhabitants. Imperialism relies on the infringement of a people’s political self-determination and independence. These people usually have no political means to stop the nation or state. The state’s deliberate direct or indirect political control involves treating the inhabitants inequitably in comparison with the norm of its own citizens over an extended period of time.
Imperialism can be understood as “a doctrine, political strategy, practice, state policy, or advocacy” that extends a nation’s power via “territorial acquisition or by extending political and economic control outward over other areas.” In this system, motivation such as claiming raw materials, power, or advantage occur often. The main goal is to obtain power and/or wealth and deny the validity of the inhabitants' claim to the land.
It is an ancient practice that has been present throughout human history for millennia; Alexander the Great’s rule and the Roman Empire are early examples of imperialist power.
Britannica demarcates three key imperial periods in the modern era. The first, between the 15th to mid-18th centuries, saw England, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain construct colonial empires in the Americas, India, and the East Indies. The second, between the mid-19th century and World War I, saw these powers again engage in aggressive empire-building in Africa, Asia (especially India), and the Americas. (Russia, Italy, the United States, Germany, and Japan also began to build empires of their own during this period.) Per Britannica, the final major wave of imperialism came in the 1930s and ‘40s, as Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union began invading countries and expanding their spheres of influence.
Notably, it is important to remember that while imperialism is almost always synonymous in most people's minds with Europe, European rulers aren’t the only perpetrators.
In Asia, Japan also had a large imperialistic influence on some of its neighboring countries, including Korea, which was heavily exploited for their land and labor. China, while being subject to the imperialism of Japan in the last century, also had a role in imperialism, dating back to ancient times, with the Qin Dynasty. More recently, the Qing Dynasty, meanwhile, was one of the largest imperialistic empires of its time until it was overthrown in 1911. The present-day People’s Republic of China still stands as a large power that has profited as an imperialist state.
Imperialism has had far-reaching effects leading to cultural suppression, political domination, and the exploitation of resources and workers. So, what’s the difference between the dynamics of imperialism and colonialism?
Imperialism vs. colonialism
The distinction between imperialism and colonialism is not entirely consistent in literature, according to a definition from scholars Margaret Kohn and Kavita Reddy. “Some scholars distinguish between colonies for settlement and colonies for economic exploitation. Others use the term colonialism to describe dependencies that are directly governed by a foreign nation and contrast this with imperialism, which involves indirect forms of domination.”
There are similarities, too: “Like colonialism, imperialism also involves the political and economic control over a dependent territory.” With colonialism, a new population typically moves to a new territory with the intention of remaining as permanent settlers, Kohn and Reddy explain.
Imperialism, on the other hand, “draws attention to the way that one country exercises power over the other through settlement, sovereignty, or indirect mechanisms of control” such as advocacy.
Types of imperialism
- Cultural imperialism refers to when a large and powerful country, organization, etc., has great influence on another, less-powerful country. According to professor John Tomlinson, an expert on “the cultural aspects of the globalization process,” the term is most commonly used to criticize the still-pervading Western cultural power.
- Economic imperialism is the control of one country's economy by another. The East India Company, formed by an English royal charter in order to profit off the spice trade, was an example of economic imperialism in action.
- Coined by historian Alfred Crosby, ecological imperialism defines colonization as a kind of ecological terrorism in which subjugated countries experience pollution, the destruction of ecosystems, and health hazards to local populations.
- New imperialism refers to the period of imperial control of countries in Africa and Asia by emerging European powers as well as newly powerful countries like the United States and Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
What is imperialism in U.S. history?
Imperialism is a very big part of US history. Between the 19th and 20th centuries, the country expanded its territory with the annexation of places like Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and even the Philippines (which wasn’t granted independence until 1946). During that time, the U.S. also established a strong political and economic influence over the developing countries of Central and South America that remains to this day.
Effects of imperialism
Economic exploitation is one of the greatest effects of imperialism. For example, the British established tea, indigo, and coffee plantations in India, harvesting local natural resources to accumulate great wealth. The imperial power also exploited local coal mines to run its imported locomotives. The railroad system accelerated “the pace of raw-material extraction from India” and the “destruction of India’s indigenous handicraft industries,” according to Britannica. The British held a monopoly over the growing opium trade as well as salt production and distribution. The local population was prohibited from making or selling salt and “were required to buy expensive, heavily taxed salt that often was imported.”
Another significant effect was cultural domination, in which Western culture and values were spread at the expense of Indigenous cultures and traditions. In previous centuries, this often involved forcibly imposing language, religion, and other customs on colonized peoples, leading to the loss of their cultural identity and autonomy.
Imperialism also involved grave acts of political oppression with the implementation of puppet governments or the outright ruling of colonized territories (as seen in the history of the British Empire or in the case of Puerto Rico), thereby denying the people their right to self-determination. This kind of intervention has been widely condemned and often led to outright resistance and rebellion, such as the Indian Independence movement to end British rule.
Reasons for imperialism
While economic gain has always been one of the primary motivations of imperialism, there have certainly been other reasons, including strategic interests. This includes establishing naval bases, military outposts, and trading posts in key locations around the world, such as the Suez Canal and the Straits of Malacca.
The spread of cultural and religious values was also a huge motivating factor for imperialism. Missionaries often accompanied imperial expeditions, seeking to spread Christianity and Western values to colonized peoples.
Imperialism, industrialization, and World War I
Industrialization played a significant role in the expansion of imperialism. Starting in the late 1800s, the increasing demand for raw materials and markets for manufactured goods drove imperial powers to expand their territories, leading to the exploitation of colonies in Africa and Asia.
This, in turn, later played a significant role in the outbreak of World War I. The growing competition between imperial powers led to a number of political tensions and conflicts. The assassination of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the last drop in an already overflowing cup, sparking a chain reaction that culminated in the war.
How is imperialism viewed?
There is no denying that imperialism has a deservedly negative reputation. In previous centuries, many Europeans justified imperialistic practices through the concept of social Darwinism, arguing that European civilization was superior to other cultures — something those cultures have taken offense to, and rightly so.
Contemporary defenders of colonialism argue that it spread modernization, infrastructure, and education around the globe, also pointing to the economic benefits consequently enjoyed by imperial powers. But critics and colonized nations throughout the world argue that it was a form of violent exploitation and oppression that denied colonized people their rights and autonomy.
What are some examples of anti-imperialism movements today?
In the mid-20th century, a lot of anti-imperialism and anti-colonial movements began cropping up as a response to the exploitation and suffering caused by centuries of living under imperialistic practices. These movements advocated for the independence and self-determination of affected countries and have played a huge role in the decolonization of Africa and Asia since.
There are still places today grappling with the effects of imperialism, from Puerto Rico, which remains a US territory, to Okinawa, a Japanese island used as a strategic base by the US military.
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