Page 137 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

956 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

In this cartoon by Thomas Nast from
1880, France is shown to object to
American and British imperialist ambi-
tions for control of the Panama Canal.

missionary and explorer, and his accounts of Africa and
the search for him conducted by another explorer, Henry
Morton Stanley of England, captured the public imagi-
nation. Lurid accounts of the slave trade and living con-
ditions in Africa increased calls for intervention.
Although European powers had previously established
colonies in north and south Africa, the late nineteenth
century brought a remarkably swift conquest of the rest
of Africa.The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 divided
Africa among European powers, with no input from the
natives, creating arbitrary divisions with no account for
tribal and ethnic groupings. Europeans justified their rule
on the basis of the civilizing mission, ending the slave
trade and bringing Europe’s superior way of life to Africa.
The reality was much different because the conquest was
marked by significant brutality and exploitation. Natural
resources were a major factor as gold, diamonds, ivory,
and rubber were extracted, frequently with forced native
labor. Resistance was largely futile, although the Italians
failed to conquer Ethiopia at the turn of the century (al-
though they would conquer Ethiopia under Fascist leader
Benito Mussolini in 1936), and Britain suffered early set-
backs in South Africa against the Zulu and the Boers and
in the Sudan against the Mahdists.

for their benefit. The economic benefits of imperialism
Ideologies of Imperialism were mixed, with some colonies that had extensive nat-
The Enlightenment (a philosophic movement of the ural resources yielding vast profits but others being finan-
eighteenth century marked by a rejection of traditional cial drains on the home country. Critics of imperialism,
social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on such as the English economist John Hobson, saw col-
rationalism) had given the minds of Europe a drive to onies as an unnecessary financial burden that hindered
order things by the use of reason and deduction. Scien- free trade, whereas Russian Communist leader Vladimir
tific advancement and orderly societies were the meas- Ilich Lenin saw colonies as the last stage of capitalism
uring posts by which the Europeans ordered the world. before the inevitable worldwide proletarian revolution
Other peoples were encountered and measured by these that the German political philosopher Karl Marx had
measuring posts, and imperialism was justified when peo- predicted. Imperialism was therefore to some extent irra-
ples came up wanting. Bringing the benefits of progress, tional because informal empires of economic dominance
science, and reason to the benighted people of the Earth were more logical from a business standpoint than the
was the positive drive of imperialism. In reality, this drive expense of direct military and political control.
became more of a drive for “God, gold, and glory” at the However, business and scientific curiosity blended
expense of the people who were told that all was done with a romantic sense of adventure, and the general pub-