(Note: Upto Africa was already covered in previous [World History] Articles, you may start from Americas directly.)
THE term `imperialism’meansthe practice ofextending the power,controlorrule by acountry overthe politicaland economic life ofareasoutside itsown borders.This may be done through military orothermeans,and particularly through ‘colonialism’or the practice ofacquiring coloniesby conquestorothermeansand making them
dependentItmay be remembered thatoccupation ofordirectrule overacountry or people by anothercountry isnotalwaysan essentialfeature ofimperialism The essentialfeature ofthe relationsbetween an imperialistcountry and the country over which ithasestablished itscontrolorthe colony which ithasacquired,isexploitation, with orwithoutdirectpoliticalcontrol.Thismeansthatthe imperialistcountry,or metropolis(literalmeaning ‘mothercountry’),asitissometimescalled,subordinates the colony orthe country which the metropolisindirectly controlsto serve itsown economic and politicalinterests.
were untilrecentyearsunderthe controlofone imperialistcountry oranother.These included countrieswhich were notdirectly/ruled by the imperialistcountriesbutwere exploited by them more orlessin the same way ascountriesoverwhich direct
imperialistrule had been established In the present-day World,when almostall countriesofthe world are politically independent,imperialistcontroloverother countrieshasnotcome to an end The practice ofexploitation,particularly economic exploitation and domination ofindependentbuteconomically lessdeveloped
countries,isoften called ‘neocolonialism’.
The firstphase ofthe imperialistcontroland colonization ofAsia,Africaand the Americasbegan in the sixteenth century.During the period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century,asyou have read in Chapter6 (Vol.1),the voyagesofdiscovery were followed by the founding ofvastcolonialempiresby Portugal,Spain,Holland, England and France In the Americas,Spain occupied mostofSouth America
(excluding Brazilwhich wasoccupied by Portugal),CentralAmerica,Mexico,West Indiesand partsofwhatisnow the United StatesofAmerica.England and France occupied partsofNorth AmericaMany people from these countriesofEurope wentto settle in these coloniespermanently During thisperiod,the European controlin Africa extended only to aboutone fifth ofthe continent,mainly in the coastalareas.Thiswas the period ofslave trade The European slave tradersenslaved and transported about 5000 Africansto the Americasevery month during the seventeenth century In Asia,the Europeanscame mainly with the purpose oftrade The tradersfrom Portugal,Holland, England,France and othercountries,with the backing oftheirrespective governments, setup theirtrading postsand tried to establish theirmonopoly oftrade with the
countriesofAsia,and each tried to exclude the othersthrough warand by extending theirpoliticalinfluence and control.The Portuguese who controlled the trade with Asiawere ousted from thatposition by the Dutch and the English who extended their controloverIndonesiaand India,respectively.Generally speaking,the firstphase of imperialism and colonization came to an end by the close ofthe eighteenth century. The British conquestofIndiawhich had started in the middle ofthe eighteenth century, wascompleted by aboutthe middle ofthe nineteenth century.In the meantime,the imperialistpenetration ofChinahad begun.
The period between the sixteenth to the eighteenth century wasaperiod ofnaked
plunderby European colonialpowersIn Chapter7 (Vol.1),you have already read about the role which thisplunderplayed in the growth ofthe capitalistsystem and in the IndustrialRevolution
During the initialperiod ofthe IndustrialRevolution,the pursuitforcolonieshad slowed down The pursuitforcoloniesand colonialrivalriesreemerged in the last quarterofthe nineteenth century Thisnew phase ofimperialism,which began in about 1875 and continued till1914,isoften described asNew Imperialism Itwasthe result ofthe economic system thathad developed asaresultofthe IndustrialRevolution During thisphase,afew industrialized capitalistcountriesestablished theirpolitical and economic controland domination overalmostthe restofthe world The formsof controland domination including directcolonialrule,spheresofinfluence and various
typesofeconomic and commercialagreementsThe powerofsome ofthe imperialist countriessuch asSpain and Portugaldeclined during thisperiod,and new countries emerged which played an increasingly importantrole during thisphase ofimperialist expansion and rivalries.Besidesthe old imperialistcountries—Britain and France — which continued to be powerfuland expand,the new imperialistcountrieswhich emerged during thisperiod were Germany,Italy,13e1 glum,U S A and,later,Japan.