Essay Example on The new imperialism age

New Imperialism Furthermore the Industrial Revolution created many desires for the makers of cotton and iron shipowners telegraph and railway producers and bankers Document 1 Another force that spurred expansion was the need for precious resources which manufacturers needed the access for Such resources were petroleum manganese for steel oil for machinery and rubber Industrial economies required these natural resources to progress and develop The only way for industrial economies to have a steady supply of these resources was by having direct control over the region that supplies these raw materials which meant setting up colonies Another very important economic force that spurred overseas expansion was the expansion of markets that can make profits Manufactures wanted to expand their markets to other regions in order to sell products and goods which the manufacturers were not able to sell in their own country Document 2 All these economic forces played a huge role in spurring global expansion Many political forces were responsible for the age of new imperialism in the late 19th and 20th century One of the most important political motives was linked to nationalism which played an extremely important role European nations felt that ruling a global empire was necessary for and country to maintain its national pride and prestige and therefore this notion became a fervent desire for imperialistic countries Document 3 

This caused a growing competition between European Imperial countries for supremacy and predominance European empires sought superbly strategic regions to provide an access for their steam powered merchant ships and naval bases to take on coal and supplies Furthermore many European leaders claimed that the reason for colonies was for their nations national security Nationalism was clearly a very important driving force behind new imperialism because every European nation had nationalistic feelings that derived them to expand Multiple social factors were directly responsible for the new imperialism that began in the late 19th and 20th century The idea of social darwinism was used to justify many social and economic policies and more importantly it was used to justify imperialism One of the most important Darwinian ideas was the idea of survival of the fittest which discussed how natural forces selected individuals with specific physical traits that helped them become best adapted to their environment Many europeans began to apply Darwinian ideas such as survival of the fittest to actual human societies The idea of survival of the fittest promoted imperialistic expansion by suggesting that some groups were more developed and advanced then others Document 5 This growing notion of racial superiority caused many westerners to believe that they were the finest race giving them the right to dominate weaker races to improve the human species Document 4 

As a direct result many of the non western places such as Africa had their traditions and cultures stripped away from them because they were deemed primitive and undeveloped Document 9 This idea was further strengthened by the poem The white man s burden by Rudyard Kipling because Kipling Urges the US to carry the burden of an empire so they can spread their perfect race and civilize primitive and undeveloped people Document 6 All these social forces were directly responsible for the new imperialism that took place during the 19th and 20th century Overall it is evident that there were numerous economic political and social driving forces behind new imperialism Economic forces such as markets technological advancements and the desire for access to natural resources were all economic forces that were very influential in spurring global expansion Nationalism was an extremely important political force that was linked to imperialistic motives Additionally Social Darwinism was an extremely influential idea that was considered to justify many of the imperialistic actions taken by European nations in the late 19th and early 20th century All these factors sparked an interest for having colonies in European nations