Imperialism And Colonialism

Answer : Imperialism and Colonialism were inalienable themes of the post commercial revolution world. The New Imperialism refers to the Imperialism practiced after the second half of the nineteenth century of the several forces that failed imperialism, the most important was extreme nationalism.

The later past of the 19^th century was a period of intense Nationalism. Nationalism came to be also crated with Chauvinism. Many nations developed myths of their superiority over other people. Each one felt that it too, must have colonies to add to its prestige and power. Imperialism became the fashion of the age. Writers and speakers in England, France and Germany opened institutions to promote the idea of imperialism, and took great pride in calling their territories empires. Imperialist countries took over some places in Asia and Africa because of their military or strategic importance. The imperialist nations established naval bases and coaling stations to strengthen her overseas empire. Rival nations got similar base elsewhere.

Acquiring a colony also had a chain reaction. If a country needed a colony, it needed another to protect it and so on. Overseas possessions were also useful because they added to an imperialist country’s manpower. Some of the people of the colonized countries were taken into the enemy, for use in wars and conquests.

The New Imperialism from the above account occurs to be a nationalistic phenomena and not economic one.

However, in reality, the New Imperialism was as economic as it was nationalistic. The imperial countries acquired colonies because the colonies served their economic referents. The industrial Revolution resulted in a very great increase in the production of goods. It also created the capitates system of production. The production of goods was far in excess of the demand at hoe. So capitalist countries had to find new markets and buyers for the goods their industries were producing. The possibilities of one industrialized country were also limited.

European countries could find markets for their surplus goods in Asia and Africa. In addition to the markets, the imperial powers needed new sources of raw-materials to feed over growing number of industries. For attaining this objective, the imperial powers established their colonial stronghold over parts of Asia and Africa and patrolled the areas among themselves.

The New Imperialism thus was fed on as much as nationalism as on economic forces. It was not either Nationalism or economic considerations alone but the two acting in tandem that drove the sinews of New Imperialism.

Answer : Colonialism and imperialism were important features of world history since the advent of geographical voyages. The whole of Asia, Africa, Americas and Australia were converted into colonies of important European powers.

The colonization of such vast continents and many countries of the world were facilitated by economic and socio-cultural backwardness of the colonies. The European powers by dint of their new spirit of adventure established their sway over them. Technological and ideological superiority also aided them in their task.

The colonial powers moreover hided their naked economic interests by advancing the slogan that they were on a civilizing mission.

However, the colonial powers despite their technological and military superiority could not prevent forces of modernization from creeping into colonies. The chief agency of modernization became the flow of ideas. Once modern education was introduced in the colonies, the people there got imbued with the ideas of liberty, equality, nationalism and democracy. This enabled them to closely scrutinizing the economic and administrative policies of colonial powers. Further, they began to understand the true essence of colonial rule. Further, the socio-economic reform movements instilled a new spirit of self confidence and self assurance among the people of colonies. This led to rise of nationalism which gradually took organized form.

Once the national movements for liberation took the organised form in the colonies, it was just a matter of time before the colonial rule was uprooted from its roots. The rise of organized national movement under the influence of modern ideas of the west constitutes the ripening of colonies politically after which they won their independence from the mother colonial country.

Answer : The colonial powers who brought the pre-capitalist societies and nations under their net acted as clever conquerors. They did not impose all their demands at one go. This was because they acted as per the requirements of their country. This can be exemplified by examining it in context of the three stages of colonialism. In the initial stage of colonialism referred to as the mercantilist phase, the requirement of the colonial power was in having a favourable balance of trade and in prevenenting the outflow of bullion from their country. So, they wanted to gain control with acquiring monopoly over the trade of the colony and in direct appropriation of the revenue of the colony.

Thus, the British ousted all the rival companies and established their monopoly.

Also they got the control of the power of Bengal by acquiring Diwani rights.

Then in the subsequent free trade phase, when the needs of the mother country changed, the conquerors imposed another set of regulations on the colonies. The colonies were to be suppliers of raw materials and were to act as market for manufactured products from the mother country.

Thus, India was converted into supplier of raw-material and receiver of finished goods from Britain. Moreover, the colonial powers also introduced some halting steps to modernize colonies again to serve their interests.

Finally, when sufficient capital got generated in the mother country, another set of demands were imposed on the colonies in the Finance Colonialism stage. The colonial powers invested the unused surplus capital in colonies and received guaranteed interest on the invested capital.

Once the colonies attained sufficient level of awareness and organization, they felt the cleverness of conquerors and uprooted them through national movements.

Answer : The process of colonisation of Africa started in the nineteenth century. It was close to Europe but Europeans were not familiar with its geography. Except the coastal countries like Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, people had very little knowledge about the rest of Africa. On the northern coast, France took Algeria under her protection in 1830. England occupied Cape colony and then Natal in 1843. On the Western Coast Gambia, Gold coast, Sierra. Leone and Legas were under the dominance of England and Senegal, Ivory Coast and Gabum were under France. Portugal had occupied Angola and Mozambique and Spain, Spanish Guinea. Thus, only 10 percent of Africa was under the European control and they were still unfamiliar with 90 per cent area of Africa.

The work of discovering the dark areas of Africa was undertaken by adventurous explorer and religious missionaries. These missionaries were anxious to show the right path to the African who deviated from it. It was only in the wake of explorations by Morton Stanley and David Livingston that the world came to learn about the riches of this continent and started taking keen interest in its colonialisation. The lead in this direction was taken by king leopold II of Belgium who financed the voyages of Morton Stanely who exposed the rich Congo Basin. King Leopold II erected the Congo Free State with the consent of other powers. Initially, this state behaved as a neutral and independent state and was open to traders of all nations, but in 1907 it was annexed by Belgium.

Germany, which for long was discouraged by Bismarck from embarking on colonial ventures also took keen interest in Africa. In fact, when Germany achieved her unity and embarked on colonial career, nearly all available countries were already occupied. The only place where some tracts of land were available was Africa. These lands were considered as unfit for white settlers. Germany tried to capture as much land as possible without embroiling herself with the neighbours. Thus, she annexed Togoland and Cameroons in 1884. Germany Captured East Africa and South-West Africa.

The division of Africa is an important event in the history of Europe. First of all, Leopold II, the ruler of Belguim showed interest in Africa. He planned to establish the Belgium empire in Africa. In 1876, he convened an International conference in his capital city Brussels for promoting exploration of Africa and spreading the light of civilization there. There was another conference held in Berlin between November 1884 and February 1885. Its aim was to consider the freedom of trade and navigation on the Congo and the Niger rivers and other colonial problems. It was attended by all European nations except Switzerland as well as the representatives of the U.S.A. It was signed by the representatives of all the nations. This code of conduct was known as the Berlin Act which legalised the exploitation of Africa.

The French imperialism was started in the mid-seventeenth century. In the mid-nineteenth century, they conquered Algeria after an arduous and hideous struggle. In 1871, 11000 persons from Alsaece Lorraine shifted to Algeria. More French settlers followed them and soon Algeria began to be regarded as an extension of provincial France. France seized Tunis in 1881. In 1889 France established her protectorate over madagascar. France conqured Ivory Coast and Dahomey in 1891 and 1897 respectively. She further moved northwards and reached Lake Chad in 1897. France also established her control over the desert Sahara and thus succeeded in providing a common link to all her colonies. France also captured Senegal and Morocco. France established control over Egypt but gave up her claims in favour of Great Britain.

As compared to the other colonial powers the Portuguese, the Italians and the Spaniards were less successful in their colonial ventures. Portugal established control over the province Angola in the south of the Belgium Congo. She also set up the colony of mozambique. Italy captured Eritrea and Italian Somaliland in the east. She also made a bid to bring the state of Abyssinia under her control but did not succeed. In the north, Italy occupied Libya and Tripoli. Spain secured the Canary Islands and some other islands on the Guinea Coast. The Spaniards also made effort to extend the bridge head in Morocco which they had secured in 1860, but did not meet with any success.

But it was Britain which grabbed the maximum portions of Africa. She carved out colonies in all parts of Africa-East, West, North and South. The person who was responsible for Britain gaining lion’s share of Africa was Cecil Rhodes. He set up British colonies in South Africa and helped Britain to occupy Rhodesia and Nyasaland from the natives and Cape colony from the Dutch. In 1885, Britain declared Bechuanaland as a British Protectorate. Gold Coast and Seirra Leone were captured in 1886 and 1889 respectively. In 1890, Britain hastily organized Northern and Southern Rhodesea. In the East and West Africa, the British trading companies afforded protection to Uganda, to Kenya and to Nigeria. Britain also acquired Somaliland and reconquered Sudan in 1898. In 1899-1900, as a result of their victory in the Boer War, the British annexed the Orange free states and Transval. In 1909, these two states merged with two other states and the union of South Africa came into existence. Thus, by the end of the nineteenth century Britain had under control over five thousand million square miles of Africa.