The New Imperialism

Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date The New Imperialism
The new imperialism began during the late 19thcentury to the early 20th century. Hence, it was classified as the period from 1800 to 1900. The hegemony occurred after the European powers decided to politically and economically influence other parts of the colonized worlds (Blang 27). The influence which came as an expansion of the European agenda targeted to imperialize Africa and Asia. The ideology of imperialism came after Charles Darwin’s theory of social Darwinism was widely accepted in Europe among other factors such as the spread of religion, humanitarian response, and technology. The Europeans had specific economic or political reasons why they targeted each of the countries to be colonized. Imperialism had both positive and adverse effects. The effects influenced both long and short term results. The positive results were because the colonizers established economic benevolence from the trade of technology, finance and goods from the abundant natural resources from the colonies. The natural resources were also cheap due to the availability of forced cheap labor in the corresponding colonies.
The imperialism had adverse economic effects on the colonies. According to Rodney (205), under colonization, the then previously thriving industries and culture were destroyed. The foreign and imported good led to the destruction of the local industries of craft. The European colonizers, on the other hand, used the colonies as sources of precious natural resources while making the locals the primary market for the manufactured goods.

Since the locals did not have income, they were forced to work under low wages in the European firms. Later, they would have to spend the revenue on purchasing essential products, due to this, most remained poor as the western countries continued to enrich themselves. Furthermore, the European used their colonies as sources of raw materials which in some cases would be transported to Europe or other countries for processing. In doing this, the imperialists did not invest in the colonies either by technology or the economy. Therefore, even after the end of the imperialism period most of the colonies remained poor since they were used as raw material producers only. In some cases, however, the imperialists invested in commercial agriculture that has economically empowered local communities for many decades.
Neo-imperialism also had numerous political effects. One of the significant influences is that it disrupted the native systems that had been set by the locals. The colonizers imposed their unified rule that intended to place all the previous institutions under their jurisdiction. However, in some cases, they disrupted the united front posed by the local to gain political advantage. It is evident that they imposed imperialist policies that did not fare well with both the local and the western nations. For instance, during the scramble for Africa, various countries fought over who controlled the most prosperous and abundant regions. One such conflict was the rivalry between Germany and Britain over territories. In South Africa, the political battle between the British and the Boers laid the foundation to the racial segregation unrest that was witnessed for decades (Chamberlain 132). On the other hand, the colonizers weaponized collaborators making them a stronger force over other local systems. The invasion of the imperialists led to the uprising that led to the attainment of political independence for the colony states. Therefore, imperialism can be termed as one of the leading influence on the political advancement in their respective colonies.

Works cited
Blang, Eugenie M. Allies at Odds. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011.
Chamberlain, M. E. The Scramble for Africa. Hoboken, Taylor and Francis, 2014.
Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Cape Town, Pambazuka Press, 2012.