Motivations Behind Imperialism essays

Motivations Behind Imperialism essays The motivations behind imperialism imposed by the growing superpowers include strategic and cultural imperialism, nationalism, economic considerations, and the idea of survival of the fittest. Strategic imperialism is the concern of a nation for the control of key waterways, ports, and military outposts. In other words, this means anything that may benefit a nation during times of war or strife. Cultural imperialism combines both religion and race. Some Westerners felt that it was the responsibility of the white race to rule over others. Religious reasons are another motivation. Christian missionaries wanted to spread Christianity out to Asia and Africa, as they had done earlier in Latin America. Nationalism is a citizens love of his country and the willingness to sacrifice for it. This creates the urge to compete with other nations to become the most powerful. Economic considerations also come into play. A growing country may find the need for new markets, cheap labor, industrial raw materials, agricultural products, and places for investment in areas around the world. Finally, survival of the fittest, in the respect of imperialism, is the ideology that the stronger and superior cultures will control or even eliminate the weaker, inferior cultures. Great Britain was motivated primarily by strategic, economic, and cultural purposes. First of all, they were contained on a small island with a growing population, but limited resources. With the growing need of these resources, the British sought to expand outwards, moving out to Africa (particularly Egypt and South Africa) and Asia (India). They used these areas primarily for textile manufacturing. Cheap labor cultivated and harvested cotton, which in turn was transported back to England, where it was then processed into cloth. Strategically, the British sought these and other territories in order to compete with their enemies. This expansion made it s...