New Imperialism

       

New Imperialism refers to the colonial expansion adopted by Europe's powers and, later, Japan and the United States, during the 19th and early 20th centuries; expansion took place from the French conquest of Algeria to World War I: approximately 1830 - 1914. The period is distinguished by an unprecedented pursuit of overseas territorial acquisitions.

Rise of New Imperialism

        The American Revolution and the collapse of the Spanish Empire in the early 1810–20s, following the revolutions in the viceroyalties of New Spain, New Granada, Peru, and the Rio de la Plata ended the first era of European imperialism.

Especially in the United Kingdom (UK), these revolutions helped show

The deficiencies of mercantilism,

The doctrine of economic competition for finite wealth which had supported earlier imperial expansion.

        In 1846, The Corn Laws, which were the regulations governing the import and export of grain, were repealed after a great deal of protesting from the middle class. Because of the repeal, manufacturers were faced with a tremendous benefit, seeing that the regulations enforced by the Corn Laws had slowed their businesses.

        With the repeal in place, the manufacturers were then able to trade more freely.

Thus, the UK began to adopt the concept of free trade.

The Congress of Vienna by Jean-Baptiste Isabey, (1819).

The congress was actually a series of face-to-face meetings between colonial powers.

It served to divide and reappropriate imperial holdings.

        During this period, between the 1815 Congress of Vienna (after the defeat of Napoleonic France) and the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Britain reaped the benefits of being the world's sole modern, industrial power.

        As the "workshop of the world", the United Kingdom could produce finished goods so efficiently that they could usually undersell comparable, locally manufactured goods in foreign markets, even supplying a large share of the manufactured goods consumed by such nations as Germany, France, Belgium, and the United States.

        Economically, adding to the commercial competition of old rivals like France were now the newly industrializing powers, such as Germany and the United States. Needing external markets for their manufactured goods, all sought ways to challenge Britain's dominance in world trade – the consequence of its early industrialization.

        This competition was sharpened by the Long Depression of 1873-1896, a prolonged period of price deflation punctuated by severe business downturns, which put pressure on governments to promote home industry, leading to the widespread abandonment of free trade among Europe's powers.

        New overseas colonies would provide export markets free of foreign competition, while supplying cheap raw materials for their mother country to use as they saw fit.

        The revival of working-class militancy and emergence of socialist parties during the Depression decades led conservative governments to view colonialism as a force for national cohesion in support of the domestic status quo.

Also, in Italy, and to a lesser extent in Germany and Britain, tropical empires in India and Burma were seen as outlets for what was deemed a surplus home population.

        The main dominating powers of the conference were France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal.

        They remapped Africa without considering the cultural and linguistic borders that were already established. At the end of the conference, Africa was divided into 50 different countries.

        The attendants established who was in control of each of these newly divided countries.

        They also planned, noncommittally, to end the slave trade in Africa.

Britain during the era of New Imperialism

British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and Queen Victoria

        In Britain, the latter half of the 19th century has been seen as the period of displacement of industrial capitalism by finance capitalism.

        Britain's entry into the old imperial age is often dated to 1875, when the government of Benjamin Disraeli bought the indebted Egyptian ruler Ismail's shareholding in the Suez Canal to secure control of this waterway, deemed a strategic holding since its opening six years earlier as a shipping lane between Britain and India. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882.

"Take up the White Man's burden"

"civilizing mission"

 

New Imperialism in Africa

        Between 1885 and 1914, Britain brought nearly 30% of Africa's population under its control, to 15% for France, 9% for Germany, 7% for Belgium and 1% for Italy: Nigeria alone contributed 15 million subjects to Britain, more than in the whole of French West Africa, or the entire German colonial empire. The only regions not under European control in 1914 were Liberia and Ethiopia.

 Motivations

        The British government gave many excuses to the public for the New Imperialism strategy. However, there were often underlying motivations behind what the government said.

Humanitarianism

One of the biggest motivations behind New Imperialism was the idea of humanitarianism and "civilizing" the "lower" class people in Africa and in other undeveloped places. This was a religious motive for many Christian missionaries, in attempt to save the souls of the "uncivilized" people, and of the idea that Christians and the people of the United Kingdom were morally superior.

        Most of the missionaries that supported imperialism did so because they felt the only true religion was their own.

        Similarly, the Roman Catholic missionaries opposed the British missionaries because the British missionaries were Protestant.

        At times, however, imperialism did help the people of the countries being invaded due to the fact that the missionaries ended up stopping some of the slavery in some areas. Therefore, Europeans claimed that they were only there because they wanted to protect the weaker tribal groups they conquered.

        The missionaries and other leaders suggested that they should stop such practices as cannibalism, child marriage, and other "savage" things.

This humanitarian ideal was described in poems such as the "White Man's Burden" and other literature.

Theories

        The accumulation theory adopted by Karl Kautsky, John A. Hobson and popularized by Lenin centered on the accumulation of surplus capital during and after the Industrial Revolution:

        restricted opportunities at home, the argument goes, drove financial interests to seek more profitable investments in less-developed lands with lower labor costs, unexploited raw materials and little competition.

The World-Systems theory approach of Immanuel Wallerstein sees imperialism as part of a general, gradual extension of capital investment from the "core" of the industrial countries to a less developed "periphery." Protectionism and formal empire were the major tools of "semi-peripheral," newly industrialized states, such as Germany, seeking to usurp Britain's position at the "core" of the global capitalist system.