Imperialism
Making of the Modern World
Introduction: Defining Imperialism?
 ‘Imperialism’ often used interchangeably with other terms, such as ‘Empire’ and
‘Colonialism’.
 Imperialism related to spread of empires. The practice, theory and attitudes of a
dominating metropolitan centre ruling over a distant territory.
 “To write the history of empire would be to write the history of the world”
Dominic Lieven, Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals (London, 2000), p.xvi
 Imperialism usually conceptualised and used in modern, Western context: political and
economic domination of the world by Western empires (predominantly European) in
modern period, especially 19th and 20th centuries.
 This lecture introduces and outlines the history of modern Western imperialism, with specific
focus on the 19th century onwards, and how this fundamentally shaped the modern world.
It will:
 Offer potential historical explanations for spread of imperialism
(economic, political, nationalism, ideological)
 Discuss impact of Western imperialism on non-Western world
 Conclude by discussing to what extent imperialism ceased with formal end of empire in the
20th century
Lecture Structure
 Historical overview of European/Western Imperialism
 Economics
 Political & Strategic
 Nationalism & Modernity
 Ideology & Culture
 Skills: Photography & Empire
 Impact of Imperialism on non-Western World
 Conclusion: The End of Imperialism?
Economics
 Industrialisation and technical development in the West produced an insatiable
demand for raw materials: Oil, Rubber, Timber, Cotton, Minerals, Metals, etc.
 Mass consumption at home produced expanding market for foodstuffs
produced across the globe: Sugar, Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, Fruits, Grain, Meat, etc.
 Transformation of non-Western world into complex of colonial and semi-colonial
territories
 Rise of more globalised economy - dense web of transactions, communications,
movements, activity
 Competition between imperial powers: resources, markets, power.
 ‘I have yet to find a plausible explanation of modern imperialism (1880 to
c.1960s) which convinces me that economics was not the prime motive’.
Barbara Bush, Imperialism & Postcolonialism (Harlow, 2006), p.21.
Map of British Empire, 1903: British colonies coloured red
Political & Strategic motives
 Should not separate economic motives from politics and strategic
considerations.
 Strategic element to spread of imperialism: Britain, India, Suez Canal
 Political importance of owning colonies - great power status
 Symbolic value of imperialism
Modernity & Nationalism
 Imperial expansion exported concepts of modernity globally, with
ambiguous results
 Imperialism closely related to rise of nationalism in 19th century. Linked with
industrialisation, urbanisation, growing power of state to project power
overseas.
 Nationalism reinforced competition between imperial powers, e.g.
Scramble for Africa.
 Social Imperialism
 Imperialism also response to growing nationalism in colonies
Ideology & Culture
 Civilising Mission: ideological justification for imperialism. Colonial subjects depicted as
childlike, uncivilised, backwards, weak. Perceived material and moral superiority of
European/Western civilisation
 ‘Racism is the psychology of imperialism, the spirit of empire, because racism supplies the
element that makes for the righteousness of empire. Hence racism is not simply a byproduct of empire but... part of the intestines of empire.’
Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Empire and Emancipation; Power and Liberation on a World Scale
(London, 1990), p.223.
 Imperial racial theory elaborated over 19th century - connected to new ideas about
scientific racism and Social Darwinism.
 Cultural logic of imperialism: view of non-Western world as genetically inferior. System of
categorisation in which certain races, societies, cultures perceived as inferior.
 Imperialism as much cultural/ideological as political/economic.
Petrus Campus, Dutch anatomist, created this illustration of ‘facial angles’ in the late
18th century.
Photography & Empire
 Advent of photography coincided with rapid expansion of imperialism in 19th
century
 Photography played very important role in colonial expansion: complemented
and reinforced colonial ideas about native subjects and racial classifications.
 Gazing upon the colonised ‘Other’
 Photography a demonstration of white, Western power over the non-white.
 Photography crucial in mediating between coloniser and colonised.
A group of Zulu people and a monk form the German Trappist Mission, Mariannhall, Natal, South
Africa. c.1896. Photographer: Fr Müller. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1998.210.38.1.
Photograph taken by German colonial officer Max Weiß, during a tour of the Great Lakes Region of
Africa, c.1908.
Mary Deane, daughter of British Census officer, on government steamer with a group
of Onges, Little Andaman (Andaman Islands), 1911. Photograph: H.W Seton Kerr, Royal
Anthropological Institute.
Impact of Imperialism
 Profound and deep-rooted impact, unprecedented and irreversible
 Western impact very complex, e.g. China in 19th century
 Was imperialism good or bad?
 Infrastructure, medicine, steamships, railways, telegraphs, technology,
economic development.
 disease, death, poverty, hunger, famines, genocide, massive negative impact
on the environment.
 Colonised as active agents?
Conclusion: The End of Imperialism?
 World Wars and Great Depression shook structures of world imperialism in
first half of twentieth century
 Age of formal empire over by end of 1960s. But was this the end of
imperialism?
 Rise of ‘Third World’ - ambivalent independence
 Neo-imperialism: global capitalist system, widening inequality, global
media, rise of MNCs
 Continuing echoes of empire
 Is contemporary globalisation a euphemism for imperialism?