Early Imperialism was motivated by:
Gold (Goods) - getting the raw (and often exotic) materials from the new world colonies to produce wealth for the Empire/nation.
(Think: mercantilism and slave trade)
Glory - discovering new parts of the world and claiming new territory for your
expanding Empire/nation.
(Think: Columbus or Sir Francis Drake)
God - converting as many people to Christianity as possible.
(Think: missionaries.)
The New Imperialism had new motivations shaped by the new realities in the world.
Capitalism and the
Industrial Revolution changed the economic landscape. Now the motivation to get raw materials was driven by European business owners (aristocrats). The methods of turning raw materials into manufactured goods were improving because of new inventions. Factories started to produce more stuff using relatively cheap labour. The bigger the business the better. Making a profit for your company became the most important thing. Colonies started to get upset with having to buy everything from the Mother Country when they could produce the same products themselves usually for cheaper.
The old motivation of
Gold had now shifted to the
Bottom Line
The old idea of
Glory was wearing thin as well. Empires now realized the difficulty of keeping control of distant colonies that were starting to get politically unstable. Great Britain lost the American colonies and other colonies like India were close to gaining independance through force as well. Expanding the empire was no longer the concern. Now it was all about the pride of keeping as many colonies as possible and preserving as much of the empire as possible. Preserving the Empire became a major focus. Even much later on people like
Winston Churchill refused to accept that the British Empire was going to fall apart.
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| Louis Pasteur |
"I have not become the King’s First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire."
Glory and recognition now shifted to individuals. New scientific discoveries in medicine were made by people like
Louis Pasteur (he is responsible for all those vacine shots you got as a kid).
Charles Darwin made trips out to remote islands in the Pacific Ocean and then wrote the Origin of Species where he laid out the basic ideas in the
theory of evolution.
The old motivation of
Glory had now turned into something more like
Bragging Rights
The old motivation to convert as many people for
God had also some of its importance. Missionaries had been motivated to teach savages how to live good moral lives according Christian standards. While the drive to convert people remained, the idea of being superior to the ethnic groups found in the colonies expanded beyond just religion. This eurocentric and ethnocentric perspective was driven by the perception that Europeans were generally more advanced people. European advancement in production, new inventions, scientific discoveries, and sophisticated philosophies reinforced the idea that Europeans were better than other people groups. From that point of view it became the European's responsibility to 'help' the 'backward' people to become more European. A British writer named
Ruyard Kipling captured the idea of European responsibility to the rest of the 'savage world'...
Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
This poem demonstrates how Europeans considered themselves parents to the other races. Any resistance that Europeans faced from the colonies or other racial groups was seen as the burden they had to bear.
This advertizement for soap shows that cleanliness was seen as something that made white people better than other people groups. It seems crazy to think that a soap company could see itself as helping to 'clean' the dirt of the savages in other parts of the world. But in this eurocentric point of view everyone need to bear the white man's burden.
To the old motivation of
God was now added a European or White Man's
Burden.
It is easy to criticize the over inflated sense of superiority that dominated European Imperialism. This written response is intended to help you imagine what it would be like to have such a strong eurocentric perspective.
Imagine you are a British doctor who has recently accepted a position in a remote hospital in interior of India in the late 1800s. You have been taught the eurocentric values throughout your schooling. Everything has prepared you to do your duty to help these 'half-devil and half-child' type of people. You have been living in this remote village for several months. Write a letter to your mother and father about your experiences. Remember to tell them about how conditions in your village are different from life back home in England. Also remember to tell them why your work there is so important.
