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What were the similarities and diferences among the ways imperialists

controlled their colonies?

The nineteenth to early twentieth century is known as the Age of Imperialism

Imperialism is the policy of extending a nations power by gaining political and economic

control over more territory. This is sometimes referred to as colonialism. Nations like

Britain, France, and newly formed Germany divided and conquered whole continents like Asia and

Africa. The U.S. had ust finished settlin! its frontiers and also ended u" esta#lishin! a few territories

in #oth the Atlantic and the $acific %ceans.

Thou!h im"erialism differed all over the world, it can #e stated that the all forms of im"erialism were

#ased on the theory of Social &arwinism. This idea descri#es that humans, like animals and "lants,

com"ete in a stru!!le for e'istence in which natural selection results in (survival of the fittest.( Thu s

each country needed to ruthlessly protect itself, even if it meant occupation of other

countries.

Under imperialism, a general trend was also found in the colonies. )ducation was "rimarily

the res"onsi#ility of wealthy families. *eli!ion was "ro"a!ated throu!h the means of newly set u"

churches such as the An!lican +hurch #y the $uritans. The forei!ner also "rovided a variety of

artisans, sho"kee"ers, and merchants who "rovided services to the !rowin! farmin! "o"ulation.owever, slavery in colonies was a hu!e issue. The enslaved African -known as African slaves

althou!h they were not considered slaves until they were officially "urchased #y a "lanter or

"lantation owner who worked on the indi!o, to#acco, and rice fields in the South came from mainly

western and central Africa. Slavery in +olonial America was very o""ressive as it "assed on from

!eneration to !eneration, and slaves had no le!al ri!hts

A"art from their similarities, )uro"ean im"erialism and U.S. im"erialism differed #y sheer si/e. First,

)uro"ean nations like France and )n!land had #een involved in im"erialism lon! #efore the late

0122s. For them it started durin! the A!e of &iscovery in the 0342s. 5hen im"erialism started u" in

)uro"e, the nation6s sim"ly #uilt u" the em"ires they already had. The U.S. had #een a nation for less

than 722 years. 8t had ust finished e'"andin! from sea to shinin! sea and had no territories or

colonies. A culmination of events cata"ulted the U.S. into im"erialism. The U.S. "eo"le and

"oliticians were unsure what it would look like. These differences led to slower and smaller

im"erialism in the U.S., while )uro"e coloni/ed hu!e chunks of Africa within twenty years.

urthermore, the U.! had "ust started to build up its economy. It wanted new markets for

its goods as well as territories that granted it with a myriad number of raw materials

which could be utili#ed in American industries. $hereas the %uropean Imperialism was

based on same idea the old &ritish %mpire had, of having colonies for power and

resource sake. 'ations like (ermany, %ngland, rance, )ussia, and Austria*+ungry were

in a constant struggle not to let any one nation become more power than the others.'ations having more colonies than the others were seen as a shift in the balance of

power. Thus the importance of imperialism for the U.!. was very much dierent than the

importance of imperialism for %urope.

Secondly, the U.S. im"erialism also "ro"a!ated its economic, social, cultural and "olitical ideolo!y

slowly to a hu!e "o"ulation of this world throu!h local re!imes. %nce tra""ed and followin!, it hardly

had any "ro#lem in mani"ulatin! and channelin! situations to its own favor. 8n the )uro"ean case

the coloni/ers had their "ersonal "resence to modify ideolo!ies and to form a class that would hel" it

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esta#lish and dominate the country. They set u" self9!overnin! committees which hel"ed them e'ert

authority over the locals.

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