Colonial Empires: Rise, Clash, and Consequences of Imperialism
The Great Colonial Empires (1870-1914)
Between 1870 and 1914, the great colonial empires were formed. The British Empire was the largest, followed by the French Empire. This process of expansion provoked fights and friction between the powers.
The Colonial Process
In the early nineteenth century, the colonial idea seemed abandoned, but it returned from 1830 onwards. The process accelerated after 1870, when the powers divided continents. At the 1885 Berlin Conference, African territory was taken over by the major European states. By the early twentieth century, imperialist expansion had ended. A special case was that of Latin America, which had achieved its political independence but remained economically dependent on countries in Europe and then America.
The Major Empires
The British Empire was the largest, encompassing 33 million km2 and 450 million inhabitants. It had colonies on every continent and dominated strategic points to control sea lanes. India was the most important colony.
The French Empire was the second largest power, with 10 million km2 and 48 million inhabitants, primarily in North Africa and the Indochina peninsula.
Belgium controlled the Congo. Germany occupied Southern Africa. Italy occupied Tripoli, Eritrea, and Somalia. Russia expanded through Siberia and stretched its boundaries south into Asia.
The Clash of Imperialism
The colonial race increased tensions between European powers.
For example, Germany thought its empire was not consistent with its country’s importance and posed constant demands to control new territories.
Consequences of Imperialism
The profound consequences of imperialism extend to the present day. Westerners created forms of administration and economic exploitation that profoundly altered life in the colonized regions.
Administration of the Colonies
European states established three forms of domain in the colonized territories: colonies, protectorates, and concessions.
Colonies were subject to the sovereignty of the colonial power and were administered by it.
In protectorates, colonial powers controlled foreign policy and exploited the riches of the country, whereas the native authorities were in charge of internal politics.
Concessions were territories that belonged to an independent country, but in which the Western powers succeeded in gaining marketing advantages.
Economic Exploitation
The settlers appropriated land and turned it into large plantations on which they grew products not grown in Europe or tapped into mineral wealth. The native population provided cheap labor. The authorities did not encourage the industrialization of their colonies because they viewed them as a source of cheap raw materials and a place to sell their products. This is the source of underdevelopment that many areas of the world are currently experiencing.
A Racist Society
The indigenous people were dispossessed of their land and became a marginalized minority as the white population grew dramatically. In the most dramatic cases, the indigenous population was subjected to a policy of extermination.