Imperialism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cecil Rhodes and the Cape-Cairo railway project. Rhodes founded the De Beers Mining Company,
owned the British South Africa Company and had his name given to what became the state
ofRhodesia. He liked to "paint the map British red" and declared: "all of these stars ... these vast
worlds that remain out of reach. If I could, I would annex other planets".[1]
Imperialism is a type of advocacy of empire. Its name originated from the Latin word
"imperium", meaning to rule over large territories. Imperialism is "a policy of extending a
country's power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other
means".[2] Imperialism has greatly shaped the contemporary world [3] In academia, the
definition of Imperialism is still widely debated. Imperialism can be seen as a process or
ideology. Lewis Samuel Feuer identifies two major subtypes of imperialism; the first is
the "regressive imperialism" identified with pure conquest, unequivocal exploitation,
extermination or reductions of undesired peoples, and the settlement of desired peoples
into such territories.[4] The second type identified by Feuer is "progressive imperialism"
founded upon a cosmopolitan view of humanity, that promotes the spread
of civilization to allegedly backward societies to elevate living standards and culture in
conquered territories, with the allowance of a colonised people to assimilate into the
imperial society, an example being the Portuguese Empire which claimed to give their
subjects a number of advantages.[5]
The term imperialism has been applied to Western political and economic dominance in
the 19th and 20th centuries, however its precise meaning continues to be debated by
scholars. For example, cartographers of the nineteenth century used cartography to
further fuel imperialism. As scholar Bassett notes, "Maps were used in various ways to
extend European hegemony over foreign and often unknown territory."[6] It is better to
use terms such as cultural or economic imperialism to describe some of these less
formal types of domination.[7] Some writers, such as Edward Said, use the term more
broadly to describe any system of domination and subordination organised with an
imperial center and a periphery.[8] From a Marxist perspective, imperialism is a natural
feature of a developed capitalist nation state as it matures into monopoly capitalism.
In Lenin's work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, he observed that
as capitalism matured in the Western world, economies shifted away from manufacturing
towards banking, finance, and capital markets, as production was outsourced to the
empires' colonies. Lenin concluded that competition between Empire and the unfettered
drive to maximize profit would lead to wars between the empires themselves, such as
the contemporary First World War, as well as continued future military interventions and
occupations in the colonies to establish, expand, and exploit less developed markets for
the monopolist corporations of the empires.
Imperialism is defined as "an unequal human and territorial relationship, usually in the
form of an empire, based on ideas of superiority and practices of dominance, and
involving the extension of authority and control of one state or people over
another." [2] Imperialism is a process and ideology that does not only focus on political
dominance, but rather, conquest over expansion. Imperialism is particularly focused on
the control that one group, often a state power, has on another group of people.[9] There
are "formal" or "informal" imperialism. "Formal imperialism" is, "the physical control or
full-fledged colonial rule".[9]"Informal control" is less direct, however; it is still a powerful
form of dominance.[9] There are three waves of imperialism; Americas (North, South and
the Caribbean), Asia and Africa.[3] From the fifteenth century forward, Spain and Portugal
were responsible for colonizing South America. Both Spain and Portugal were soon
followed by the British, French and Dutch, who gained territory in North
America.[3] Britain, with the support from the East India Company, colonized Asia.
Portugal, Netherlands and France also had Asian colonial possessions.[3] The third
wave, Africa, was described as "New Imperialism".[3] This was structured by the "Berlin
Conference (1884–85), which involved the main European powers and served to divide
Africa between them".[3]