World History Narrative Essay
Was Western imperialism an inevitable result of the advance of the Industrial Revolution? Why or why not? Yes, it was an inevitable result because even though imperialism was sort of being used, there was now a reason to go after it. With the Industrial Revolution now making it easier to produce goods, countries were able to grow at a faster rate. With all the products being made, more countries wanted the profit that it would bring. With the quality of goods being produced, changes had to be made. Even if imperialism had not been a ‘solution’ at the time, it would eventually come along in the future.
On balance, did nineteenth-century imperialism aid or harm the societies involved? Why, and how? Did some groups gain or lose significantly more or less than others? Which groups, in each or either case? How, and why? Imperialism had some positive effects such as helping small colonies develop by having transportation built, schools develop, etc. But in the long run, imperialism did more harm than it did good. When a dominate country took over a smaller country, they would gain more power and profit, as well as the smaller country being able to grow.
But further down in the process it didn’t do anything to help the smaller country. In some situations the people in the colonies were used as slaves. In places like Africa, economic concerns were limited, except for several gold and copper mines, so interest was declined. Therefore, they brought no profit and interest was declined. In other cases, the countries brought major profit and the colony was successful. Compare and contrast eighteenth century colonialism with late nineteenth century imperialism. What are the differences, if any, and why? There are few differences between colonialism and imperialism.
Colonialism is used for settlement of places. Yet imperialism is where a government controls a colony from another country. Also in colonialism, settlers who came were usually permanent, and where another country rules another colony. Imperialism was used as a show of power and expanding into more areas. An example would be Nigeria, where Britain controlled central administration but local authority was assigned to local chiefs. To avoid conflict, customs were not disturbed. They are slightly similar in the way that both of them are ways of showing power and ruling.
