History of the Modern World by B.V. Rao

Author:B.V. Rao [Rao, B.V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling Publishers Private Limited
Published: 2015-12-15T18:30:00+00:00

New Imperialism

The term ‘Imperialism’ simply means “the policy and practice of forming and maintaining an empire”. The European powers followed this concept from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. Britain followed by France, Portugal, Spain and Holland established trade connections with American and Asian countries. Merchants and businessmen considered it important to have colonies in order to gain immense profits. Thus, rivalry among the European powers to establish colonies and effectively control them for their own benefits, was not uncommon during those centuries. During the first half of the eighteenth century, several statesmen realised the futility of establishing colonies. It was during this time that old imperialism declined very rapidly. France lost her colonies in North America after the Seven Years War. Britain lost the thirteen American colonies after the latter won independence following a protracted struggle between 1776 and 1783. Spain too lost her colonies in South America during the early nineteenth century. The ‘white man’s burden’ became too heavy for maintaining colonial empires. In the course of time, the “trouble and expense of administering colonial empires outweighed any possible benefits”. In Britain there was the prevailing sentiment that her colonies would eventually become independent. Disraeli, the British Prime Minister, wrote in 1852, “These wretched colonies will all be independent in a few years and are millstones around our necks”. In France, Turgot said, “Colonies are like fruits that drop off when they are ripe”. So, by the first half of the nineteenth century, the European countries seemed to be tired of establishing new colonies. In Germany too, Bismarck did not pay much attention to establishing colonies.

However, during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, there occurred the glorious revival of colonialism on the part of the Western powers. This is called ‘New Imperialism’. Many colonial societies were established in Europe to encourage the establishment of new colonies. Merchants, traders, adventurers, capitalists and industrialists all liked the establishment of colonies in Africa and Asia. In 1872, even Disraeli, who had earlier decried imperialism, began to evince a keen interest in reviving imperialism. In France, two men, Gambetta and Jules Ferry, came forward with some ideas about the likely benefits an imperialist country would derive from establishing new colonies. In the course of time, Bismarck also bowed to the demands of his countrymen for establishing colonies in Africa and Asia. It was realised during the last quarter of the nineteenth century that the world was after all a small place. This idea became apparent after the improvements effected in the means of transport and communication. Steamships began to sail across from one continent to another. Similarly, the railways moved across desert land. New inventions and weapons made it possible for the Western powers to dominate over Afro-Asian countries which had not made much progress in these areas.

The old laissez faire idea became unpopular as time passed. The mercantilist idea became popular once again. The 1870s witnessed the resurgence of imperialism on account of increasing competition among rival powers on one hand, and the imposition of tariffs on important goods on the other.

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