Heather DeLancett HIST 445 European Imperialism Prof.

Michael Bitter 3rd Short Paper

New Imperialism

During the nineteenth century, there appears to have been a shift of attitudes and a rapid acceleration of European imperialistic activity, especially on the continents of Africa and Asia. European and westernized nations especially Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, United States and Japan invested huge amounts of capital into railroads, mining, plantations and the industrialization of previously independent regions where these nations had assumed direct government control and annexation or an informal economic sphere of influence. This shift of attitudes included a rise in the promotion of colonization and nationalistic propaganda prompting imperialist control as a benefit for the mother countries. This period shows imperialist agendas in a central focus within governments and economies directly dependent on colonial resources and indigenous labor forces. It is theorized by scholars such as Headrick, Conklin and Cook that these above-named nations, from the mid 1800s until about 1914 1930, were in an environment of global tension caused by competition with each other and this drive pushed what is called the New Imperialism, or alternatively, Classical Imperialism or High Imperialism. A reason to cite this period as different is in relation to the total area covered/conquered by Europeans in a short period of time. Headrick, Conklin and Cook all cite this as the most evident indication of a new phase immediately in their introductions. Cook notes:

2 In little more than a generation, Europeans added 10 percent of the worlds population and 20 percent of its land surface to their overseas empires. This imperial wave crested between 1880 and 1900 when virtually the whole continent of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific were brought under the sway of Union Jacks, Stars and Stripes, and Tricolores.1 These resources echo that in 1800, Europeans controlled 35 percent of the worlds land surface, rising to 67 percent by 1878, and skyrocketing to 84 percent by 1914.2 I find the term High Imperialism works best to describe this period, because of what Headrick notes next- its legacy, which has brought Western industrial technology with its benefits and its costs, but also has also set the stage of the global economy its surpluses and deficiencies. Headrick seems to me the most valuable commentary in discussing this period. The technological advances due to the industrial revolution gave the European/Western nations a distinct advantage again, (previously during early exploration and conquest the initial advantages were both more pronounced and haphazard through disease transmission, guns, and horses), over the native populations that now had some immunity and some guns and some knowledge of these white men. They now had more power to enforce their rule of the conquered territories, formally or informally. Quinine, steamboats, greatly increased speed of communication and transport, machine guns these made conquest easy and cheap with much reduced loss of life/risk of harm.3 Though initially costly to construct, investing capital into railroads -especially in India, where railroad construction became the

Scott B. Cook. Colonial Encounters in the Age of High Imperialism. (New York: Longman, 1996) p 1.

Daniel R. Headrick. The Tools of the Empire - Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century. (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1981) p 3. Alice Conklin, & Ian Fletcher, ed. European Imperialism, 1830-1930 - Climax and Contradiction. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999) p 1.
3

Headrick, pgs 205-206.

3 monumental project of the colonial era4 - and plantations gave governments and private investors nearly unlimited access to pillage the resources while using cheap native labor with few social/ethical constraints. Though Headrick returns to his focus on technology, he considers the goal and result of imperialismwas the creation of colonies politically submissive and economically profitable to their European metropoles.5 I find the idea that Imperialism ended after this New Imperialism era to be totally nave. We may use this delimitation of time period to signal the beginning of the next phase of imperialistic activities those that are not openly called Imperialism. After Nazi Germany, no nation can be expected to condone (much less actively pursue) similar behavior for what was fought against with such massive loss of civilian life for all of these nations, and a hush of secrecy now cloaks each nations actions from its citizens and from other nations. Imperialism today is now called war on terrorism wars, economic development, or multinational corporation interests. By the end of the New Imperialism the wealth of nations was being transferred to private corporations like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Federal Reserve System. Instead of nations competing, corporations now do so, with very similar propaganda campaigns, though less direct and often filtering its goals through nationalism, progress/development and morality.

4 5

Ibid. p 181. Ibid. p 11.

Works Cited
Conklin, Alice & Fletcher, Ian, ed. European Imperialism, 1830-1930 - Climax and Contradiction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Cook, Scott B. Colonial Encounters in the Age of High Imperialism. New York: Longman, 1996. Headrick, Daniel R. The Tools of the Empire - Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1981.