What motivated the European nations drive for empire in the late 19th century?

A variety of motives and methods led to the intensification of European global control and increased tensions among the Great Powers.

The European imperial outreach of the 19th century was in some ways a continuation of three centuries of colonization, but it also resulted from the economic pressures and necessities of a maturing industrial economy. The new technologies and imperatives of the second industrial revolution (1870–1914) led many European nations to view overseas territories as sources of raw materials and consumer markets. While European colonial empires in the Western Hemisphere diminished in size over this period as former colonies gained independence, the region remained dependent on Europe as a source of capital and technological expertise and was a market for European-made goods. European powers also became increasingly dominant in Eastern and Southern Asia in the early 19th century, and a combination of forces created the conditions for a new wave of imperialism there and in Africa later in the century. Moreover, European national rivalries accelerated the expansion of colonialism as governments recognized that actual control of these societies offered economic and strategic advantages. Notions of global destiny and racial superiority fed the drive for empire, and innovations such as antimalarial drugs, machine guns, and gunboats made it feasible. Non-European societies without these modern advantages could not effectively resist European imperial momentum. 

The “new imperialism” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was promoted in European nations by interest groups that included politicians, military officials and soldiers, missionaries, explorers, journalists, and intellectuals. As an example of a new complex phase of imperial diplomacy, the Berlin Conference in 1884–1885 outlined the procedures that Europeans should use in the partition of the African continent. By 1914, most of Africa and Asia were under the domination of Great Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Notwithstanding the power of colonial administrations, some groups in the colonial societies resisted European imperialism, and by 1914, anticolonial movements had taken root within the non-European world and in Europe itself. 

Imperialism exposed Europeans to foreign societies and introduced “exotic” influences into European art and culture. At the same time, millions of Europeans carried their culture abroad, to the Americas and elsewhere, through emigration, and helped to create a variety of mixed cultures around the world.

3.5.1.A: European national rivalries and strategic concerns fostered imperial expansion and competition for colonies.3.5.1.B: The search for raw materials and markets for manufactured goods, as well as strategic and nationalistic considerations, drove Europeans to colonize Africa and Asia, even as European colonies in the Americas broke free politically, if not economically.​

3.5.1.C: European imperialists justified overseas expansion and rule by claiming cultural and racial superiority.

  • "The White Man's Burden"
  • Mission civilisatrice
  • Social Darwinism

3.5.2.A: The development of advanced weaponry invariably ensured the military superiority of Europeans over colonized areas.

  • Minié ball (bullet)
  • Breech-loading rifle
  • Machine gun
3.5.2.B: Communication and transportation technologies allowed for the creation of European empires.

3.5.2.C: Advances in medicine supported European control of Africa and Asia by preserving European lives.

  • Louis Pasteur’s germ theory of disease
  • Anesthesia and antiseptics
  • Public health projects
  • Quinine

3.5.3.A: Imperialism created diplomatic tensions among European states that strained alliance systems.

  • Berlin Conference (1884–1885)
  • Fashoda crisis (1898)
  • Moroccan crises (1905, 1911)

3.5.3.B: Imperial encounters with non-European peoples influenced the styles and subject matter of artists and writers and provoked debate over the acquisition of colonies.
  • Jules Verne’s literature of exploration
  • Paul Gauguin and Pablo Picasso’s Primitivism
  • Vincent Van Gogh and Japanese prints
  • Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
  • Pan-German League
  • J. A. Hobson’s and Vladimir Lenin’s anti-imperialism
  • E.D. Morel and the Congo Reform Association

3.5.3.C: Especially as non-Europeans became educated in Western values, they challenged European imperialism through nationalist movements and by modernizing local economies and societies.
  • Indian Congress Party
  • Zulu Resistance
  • India’s Sepoy Mutiny
  • China’s Boxer Rebellion
  • Japan’s Meiji Restoration

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Imperialism is the state policy practice or advocacy of extending power and dominion especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other territories and peoples.

What motivated Europeans to establish settlements in the New World what made it possible for them to undertake those settlements?

What motivated Europeans to establish settlements in the New World? What made it possible for them to undertake those settlements? Motivation included sickness and plague overpopulation spread of religion and potential source of wealth from profits. … They also tried to force upon them the religion of Catholicism.

Which motive do you think was the strongest for encouraging European exploration Why?

Which motive do you think was the strongest for encouraging European exploration? Why? To find riches because it would make them more well-known money was associated with all motivations. What key advances in knowledge and technology allowed Europeans to explore these new areas?

What was one major motivation of colonialism and imperialism during the Age of Discovery?

Europe’s period of exploration and colonization was fueled largely by necessity. Europeans had become accustomed to the goods from Asia such as the silk spices and pottery that had for centuries traveled the Silk Road. By the middle of the 16th century however this trade was under threat.

What were three factors of European Imperialism?

The three factors that were a part of the European Imperialism are the following (i) Exploitation of foreign regions for natural resources. (ii) Promotion of idea of white superiority. (iii) The spread of English language in South Asia.

What was the name of the philosophy that caused Europeans to believe it was their duty to help civilize?

Your new-caught sullen peoples Half-devil and half-child. The term “White Mans Burden” refers to: the belief that Europe had a duty to civilize other people.

In what ways did European Imperialism help natives?

First the governments chased Native Americans off their traditional land and persuaded them to live on reservations. Next their children were enrolled in boarding schools and their culture was banned.  Cultural imperialism also took place within Europe.

What point of view does Johnson Express in this poem imperialists?

What point of view does Johnson express? Imperialism seeks to conquer and exploit weaker peoples rather than to help them.

What increased competition for power among European states and led to imperialism?

What increased competition for power among European states and led to imperialism? Nationalism increased competition for power among European nations because the desire for an empire was fueled by materialism.

What is new imperialism quizlet?

A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries poitically socially and economically. new imperialism.

What is the main goal of imperialism?

The purpose of imperialism is to decrease the strategic and political vulnerability of a nation. Imperialism is necessary to preserve the existing social order in the more developed countries.

What were the effects of British imperialism on India?

British imperialism in India had impacted the nation adversely. First of all India’s wealth was drained to a great extent during this period. British rule in India hit the Indian economy so hard that it was never able to recover. Religious conflicts and gaps expanded.

What was a key motivation behind European imperialism in the 18th and 19th century apex?

In the 18th and 19th centuries why did European countries practice imperialism? They were in competition with one another for resources in Africa. Which of these factors motivated European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries? Europeans believed they were superior to other racial ethnic and religious groups.

How did European imperialism in India differ from European imperialism in China during the 18th and 19th centuries?

How did European imperialism in India differ from European imperialism in China during the 18th and 19th centuries? Europeans took almost absolute control over India’s government but focused only on securing trading rights in China.

How did European imperialism change over the course of the 19 century?

How did European imperialism change over the course of the 19th century? A. European empires became less concerned with spreading Christianity and western beliefs. European empires began to implement more tolerant policies towards other racial groups.

What motivated the European nations drive for empire in the late nineteenth century?

In the late 1800’s economic political and religious motives prompted European nations to expand their rule over other regions with the goal to make the empire bigger. The Industrial Revolution of the 1800’s created a need for natural resources to fuel the newly invented machinery and transportation.

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