Colonialism is the act of a “powerful country directly controlling less powerful countries” (Collins,[no date] ) the historical act of colonialism was performed by the European colonial empires which involved countries such as Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, Belgium, and many more European countries. Before the end of the 19th-century, colonialism wasn’t ‘popular’ or important due to the historical context of the Napoleonic wars, industrialization, and “struggle of nationalism and democracy” (Age of imperialism, [no date], p.145.) European nations were not in the place to expand their empire. However, towards the end of the 19th century, there was an age of new imperialism as “Great Britain and France began to be economic rivals” (Age of imperialism, [no date],p.145. The desire to become great powers was growing this gave European nations the confidence to expand their empires. There are many reasons for the European colonial expansion and in this essay, I will be outlining the main motives which include political (within this I will be discussing military and strategic motives), economic, religious, and racial reasons.
One of the causes or motivations for colonial expansion in the 19th century was due to economic reasons. European countries such as Britain in the 1800s had just been through vast urbanization through the Industrial Revolution this meant they were scouting for new markets due to the pressures of financiers who were seeking new areas to invest. J.A. Hobson argued that European capitalist economies had expanded due to there being not enough profitability in investments in their home nations this meant they had to discover new areas to invest in to gain more profit so this caused European countries such as Britain to colonize areas around the world. As well as pressures from financiers there were also pressures from traders to seek new and raw materials (e.g. cocoa beans, rubber, copper, diamonds) and cheap labor, as imperialist power wherein rising competition for the best material goods and resources meant imperialist governments sorted for countries that possessed these materials this is seen in the example of when many European countries colonized countries in Africa to get its natural resources of cocoa beans, copper, diamonds, iron, etc. “Imperial merchants often established trading posts and warehouses, created transportation infrastructure, and sought control over strategic chokepoints, such as the Suez Canal in Egypt; which allows boats to cut thousands of miles of travel time between Asia and Europe” which made trading easier (Modern World History, [no date]).
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Political motivations were also part of the reason for colonial expansion, during the 19th century there was a rise in nationalism this can be seen in the events of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution where nation-states were developing, and national identity was established among many. With this came the need for imperialist powers to want to become the best, thus creating more competition between countries they wanted to be the most powerful and prestigious so for them to have those qualities they needed to expand. For example, in Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm’s policy of Weltpolitik stated that colonial expansion was a way of raising Germany’s status, due to the late development of its industry expansion compared to other European powers Germany lacked the same advancement and they wanted to match their imperialist components. Leon Gambetta reiterates this when he stated, “To remain or to become a great state you must colonize” (James Joll, London Penguin,1990, p.81) this shows how territorial dominance was politically significant. A great example of political territorial power as a motive for colonial expansion was the colonization of Africa named ‘The scramble for Africa’ where European superpowers came together at the Berlin conference and negotiated who was going to occupy which countries and how the continent was going to be divided. France and Britain were the two European superpowers who conquered the most land which provided their status and power through this they were great powers. Aside from territorial power leading European nations felt that to be a great power they needed a strong navy military force this meant naval vessels needed military bases around the world to take on coal supplies (The Age of Imperialism, no date, p.146.)
Furthermore, aside from economic and political motivations for imperial expansion, there was also a sense of humanitarian and religious duty European countries felt they needed to fulfill, by spreading Christianity to Asia and Africa. For example, Christian missionaries from Europe established churches in conquered territories, they used this as a tool to encourage imperialism through educating the natives on Western culture and Christian values as they felt what they believed was “wrong” or “evil” and Christianity was the superior faith this is illustrated in a quote from the papal bull Inter Caetera on May 3, 1493 “The Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls is cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself.” (Motives for imperialism, no date).
The idea of Western religion being superior leads me to the next motivation for the colonial expansion at the end 19th century; Ethnocentric motives. European imperial nations believed that their cultural beliefs were superior and more civilized than other groups, this was due to the prevailing concept of social Darwinism that was evident at the time. Social Darwinism is the belief that only the strong will survive in society, this is derived from Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory but was applied to societal concepts by Herbert Spencer in 1820-1902. For example, social Darwinism states that only the rich will survive because they’re naturally superior and fit to survive whereas the poor are naturally unfit to survive. After all, they’re the weaker group in society. During imperialism this same notion existed but in terms of race. The European colonizers were superior to the African and Asian colonized where inferior this is because European nations regarded their race, norms, values, and culture as superior to the Africans and Asians so they believed through colonization they were able to transmit their culture to the inferior people and help ‘civilize’ them. European humanitarians argued that colonialism was their humanitarian duty and that they were “aiding” the “barbaric” This is illustrated in a speech made by the French prime minister Jules Ferry in 1883 stated “I repeat, that the superior races have a right because they have a duty. They must civilize the inferior races...In the history of earlier centuries these duties, gentlemen, have often been misunderstood…But, in our time, I maintain that European nations acquit themselves with generosity, with grandeur, and with sincerity of this superior civilizing duty”. Furthermore, Europeans adopted social Darwinism as a motive for their imperialistic expansion by reasoning that some people were more advanced than others and as the white race they were inherently dominant therefore it was only natural for them to conquer the “inferior” as it’s a way of bettering mankind thus, the conquest of inferior people and the destruction of the weaker races was just nature’s natural law. ( The Age of Imperialism, [no date],p.146)
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