The world in 1880 was made of both nation-states and empires. As you have already learned, once the idea of sovereignty seemed achievable, it went viral. People around the world were increasingly driven by a nationalistic feeling to have their own countries (nation-states). This meant that some empires were slowly breaking up. At the same time, many great imperial powers still held on to colonies. This was true in South Asia and the Caribbean. Nearly all the industrialized states had hit the pause button on empire expansion by this time, happy to stick with what they already had. But in 1880, that changed faster than you could say “production and distribution.”

Suddenly, vast regions of the world were colonized by empires that were growing. For instance, in 1880, the enormous continent of Africa was still mostly made up of independent states and societies. By 1914, Ethiopia and Liberia were the only two independent states left. The rest of the continent was colonized, divided between Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, and Spain. Meanwhile, mainland southeast Asia was conquered, mostly by France. Many Pacific Islands were occupied by the United States, Japan, Germany, France, and Britain. Korea was subjugated (conquered) by Japan. This rapid expansion of colonization around 1880 is often called “New Imperialism”. What happened in the last decades of the nineteenth century to cause this rapid change?

Was the “New Imperialism” actually new?

To explain what was new about “New Imperialism,” we first have to define the terms imperialism and colonialism. These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are actually different. Both imperialism and colonialism occur in empires.

Empires are states where one community has control over many other communities. Imperialism is a term used to describe the ideas that one group uses to justify its control over the others. Colonialism is the experience of the other groups who are being ruled.

Empires go back thousands of years in world history. They divided people into a community of citizens with rights and communities of subjects with few rights. These empires had one ruler or ruling body controlling different people and regions. They did it then, and they did it again in the late nineteenth century. So, we’re still not seeing the “new” part.

The empires of the “New Imperialism” were partly modeled on earlier empires. For example, British colonies in Africa were modeled after their colony in India. Their model in India was based on strategies the Mughal Empire had used to control India from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. One strategy was “indirect rule,” where the colonizer uses local leaders to manage the colony. The British learned this strategy from the Mughals in India.

Some British policies were influenced by even older policies. This included the way they ruled their North American and Caribbean colonies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries!

Nevertheless, many factors led to this new version of empire expansion after the 1880s. There were new technologies, ideas, and beliefs. These gave Europeans, and the inhabitants of a few other countries, a motive for constructing empires. Many of these were new, and so we call this a “New Imperialism”.

Why did the New Imperialism happen?

There are numerous causes for New Imperialism that play off each other in important ways. The changing elements include technology, industrialization and capitalism, racism, and nationalism, and...something else.

1. Technology: Before the late nineteenth century, European states (and Japan) couldn’t conquer much of the tropical world. They were held back by disease and armed societies. This changed when several new technologies appeared. New medicines made it possible for colonizers to survive malaria and other tropical diseases. New weapons made it easier to conquer the local peoples. Once they did seize new territory, there were new forms of communication that made it possible to govern these areas. Telegraphs, trains, and steamships reinvented communications and travel. This made it much easier to rule bigger empires.
2. Industrialization and capitalism: The growth of factories in industrialized countries meant that their businesses had an increasing demand for raw materials. Korea, the African continent, and Southeast Asia had plenty of raw materials. For the most part, imperialists were also capitalists. So, they needed customers for all this great new stuff they were making. They went for a kind of two-for-one deal by conquering territories that could provide the raw materials they needed, and a population that would buy their finished products.
3. Racism: Many misconceptions about race emerged with the Atlantic slave trade. These ideas were becoming even more solidified in this era. Many imperialists believed it was their right to rule over people they thought were inferior. Within their own societies, there was already some level of racial segregation. For example, in the United States at this time, post-slavery Jim Crow laws tried to reduce the freedoms and rights of African Americans. They then applied these inferior/superior racist ideas to people overseas. Some even justified these missions as if they were doing a favor. They viewed empire expansion as a “civilizing mission.” This mission would improve the lives of the “uncivilized” and “inferior” people they conquered.
4. Nationalism: Nationalism began with the idea that all people (the “nation”) should have the right to rule themselves through their own government (the “state”). This idea was twisted by some imperial nations. They believed their own nation was superior and had the right to rule over other nations (see “racism” above). Nationalism also created a competitive attitude among nations. In this era, in particular, nationalism pushed the governments of Britain, France, Germany, and other European powers to compete. This happened first in Europe, and then around the world. Nationalism motivated them to take new colonies before their competitors could.
5. “Men-on-the-spot”: The first four factors were the result of big trends in the organization of societies. The term “Men-on-the-spot” refers to events that were caused by one person or a few people. In some cases, a man with a small armed group was able to seize new territory. They were often motivated by greed or glory. Additionally, there was no one there to stop them.

Each of these factors played a role in the New Imperialism. The trend depended on the interaction of these factors. For example, a typical “man-on-the-spot” likely used new weapons (technology) to conquer people he thought were inferior (racism). He could expand his business (industrialism/capitalism) and be politically rewarded back home for making his country proud (nationalism).

The situation in those colonies was also influenced by local factors. How much were locals organized to resist colonialism? How did they react? What was the environment like? What did the people choose to do? As we will see soon, these issues also played a role in the New Imperialism.