Causes of 19th-Century Imperialism: Economic to Scientific

Economic Reasons

Economic reasons were the result of the expansion of industrial capitalism and were based on:

• The control of areas where established markets ensured a monopoly in the placement of industrial products.
• The exploration and conquest of areas where raw materials and sources of energy could be obtained in abundant and inexpensive form.
• The use of unskilled labor, cheap and docile (sometimes slave), which reduced the costs of extracting raw materials and contributed to the success of plantation agriculture.
• Exploring new territories in which to invest the excess accumulated capital. (Although recent research has shown that this was not a major cause of imperialist economic expansion.)

Demographic Reasons

In the period between 1850 and 1900 the European population increased considerably. The arduous living conditions of the working class in industrialized countries encouraged many to seek a better life in the territories that were seized.

Part of this population was absorbed by the colonies through constant immigration, which both relieved domestic pressures and supplied labor and settlers to colonial holdings.

Political Causes

• States adopted policies of prestige in an attempt to attract support from their respective masses, and they advocated the formation and consolidation of vast colonial domains.
• States also attempted to achieve hegemony in their respective areas of influence through control of commercial and military maritime and land routes.
• While trying to prevent their competitors from succeeding in similar enterprises, tensions and conflicts arose that preluded major international wars.

Ideological Causes

• From nationalist and chauvinist positions emerged racist theories that attempted to justify and promote territorial expansion with or without the consent of indigenous peoples.
• In its more moderate forms, racism was sometimes disguised as paternalism and expressed a perceived need for the "white man" to "remove backwardness" from local populations through training and education.
• This stance emphasized the missionary activity of Christian churches—Anglican, Catholic, and Protestant—which caused great impact on indigenous peoples and on mentalities that were totally alien to the West.
• These positions formed an ideology that exalted ethnocentric Western European culture while disqualifying the rest as barbaric, savage, or primitive.

Scientific Causes

• Throughout the nineteenth century the process of global exploration that began in the fifteenth century continued to advance and was further completed.
• Scientific societies and commercial companies gained huge geographical importance and contributed—through conferences and congresses as well as the organization of anthropological expeditions—to opening pathways for biological, military, and economic endeavors.
• Darwinism, with its assumptions about the evolution of species, was extrapolated to the social order to justify the predominance of the "fittest" (often framed as white) over those considered less fit.
• Technical superiority in the military (firearms) and rapid mass transport, among other innovations, gave decisive advantages to conquerors.