What is Imperialism?
PhD, English Literature (Lancaster University)
Date Published: 27.11.2023,
Last Updated: 16.01.2024
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Defining imperialism
Imperialism refers to the domination of another country through either territorial acquisition, or by gaining economic and political power. The word is often used interchangeably with the term “colonialism,” however the two are not synonymous. Put simply, colonialism refers to the acquisition of another country (usually by force) and the economic exploitation of its resources. Imperialism is often achieved through colonization.
As Satyaki Roy explains, imperialism is a broad term, with “diverse theories” including:
With such an all-encompassing term, it may be useful to look at the ideologies and aims present within imperialist policies. Writing in 1902, when the British Empire was nearing its peak, John A. Hobson argues that
Though Hobson was anti-imperialist, the above statement does reveal that he shared some of its ideology; namely the Eurocentric belief that other countries and their populations were not as advanced or civilized as Britain.
Western imperialism tends to be categorized into two distinct time periods: old imperialism (1450–1650) and new imperialism (1870–1919). This guide will discuss old imperialism briefly, before moving on to the objectives of new imperialism and the white supremacist ideology which attempted to justify colonization. We will primarily deal with European, specifically British, imperialism; though it must be noted that there have been imperialist nations outside of Europe — such as the US and Japan.
Old imperialism
Old imperialism is characterized by European trade agreements and the establishment of colonies in the Americas (known as “the New World”), India, the East Indies, and South Africa. From the 1400s, new trade routes were established with the hopes of discovering new lands as well as resources. The aims of this early form of imperialism can be summed up in three words: gold, glory, God. The desire for economic prosperity, international renown, and the religious conversion of colonized countries is a commonality between old and new imperialism.
It is often said that imperialism and colonialism began with Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas (referred to as the “New World”), and subsequent brutalization and enslavement of its people, in 1492. However, as Stephen M. Caliendo and Charlton D. Mcllwain highlight
Columbus’ “discovery” resulted in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), and thus the expansion of the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The treaty divided the “New World” of the Americas between the two major powers by establishing a new meridian 370 leagues to the west of the Cape Verde islands. Portugal would claim all lands east of the dividing line and Spain, the west. For more information on the Spanish and Portuguese empires, see William Maltby’s The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire (2008) and Nuno Domingos and Elsa Peralta’s edited collection Legacies of the Portuguese Colonial Empire (2023).
There was a period of relative peace from European conquest in the mid-nineteenth century as many European nations felt the costs of expansion were too great. A big exception to this is the colonization of India in 1858 under the British Raj, which lasted until 1947 (see Jill C. Bender, The 1857 Indian Uprising and the British Empire, 2016).
New imperialism
New imperialism refers to the period of colonization from 1880 until the outbreak of World War I. In Imperialism, Harry Magdoff highlights two main distinctions between old imperialism and new imperialism:
The increasing number of colonial powers meant that uncolonized space was limited, and so each colonizing nation raced to secure these territories first.
Magdoff goes on to explain that whilst Great Britain was at an advantage during the first Industrial Revolution, by the time of the second Industrial Revolution, other colonial powers were beginning to catch up:
This new industrialism, notably featuring mass-produced steel, electric power and oil as sources of energy, industrial chemistry, and the internal-combustion engine, spread over Western Europe, the United States, and eventually Japan. (2014)
This economic progress did not only enable imperialist policy, it was also one of the driving forces behind it. Due to major industrial development, the supply, or capacity for supply, was far greater than the demand. As such, new markets needed to be obtained abroad. In The History of Economic Thought, E.K. Hunt and Mark Lautzenheiser write:
The expansion of European capitalism depended upon imperialism and colonization. This meant a complete overturning of indigenous ways of life; their traditions, customs, and religions, as well as their economic and political structures.
Imperialist forces were able to ideologically justify this oppression through a Eurocentric worldview: colonizing nations simply felt they were entitled to claim this land, violently suppress any resistance, and exploit the people and resources, as they viewed themselves to be morally and intellectually superior, evidenced by their industrial and economic feats.
As Michael Wintle states
Europe now had both the resources to dominate poorer nations, and the belief that such nations needed European intervention and reformation.
The Dark Continent and the scramble for Africa
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899), the narrator Charles Marlow states that
This extract reflects nineteenth-century imperialist ideologies surrounding colonized Africa and its people. Africa, and other colonies, were seen in the imperialist imagination as spaces that simply did not exist until they were occupied by white, Western explorers. European colonizers wrote of such “discoveries” as though the land, populations, and resources materialized when they arrived. The thinking behind this was that a place only became significant (and real) once it had been acknowledged by the West. Even when Britain and other countries such as France did establish colonies in Africa, they still failed to acknowledge the reality of what they found, falling back on stereotypes about “the Dark Continent.” Africa was seen as a space shrouded in mystery and darkness, populated by savages who were to be “civilized” through their encounters with their European colonizers. These racist and Eurocentric notions can be seen in literary works such as H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines (1885).
This mentality of European superiority was put into practice during the period known as the “scramble for Africa.” Between 1870 and 1914, European occupation of Africa rose from 10% to almost 90% (Abyssinia and Liberia remained independent). Magdoff writes,
By the turn of the twentieth century, the map of Africa looked like a huge jigsaw puzzle, with most of the boundary lines having been drawn in a sort of game of give-and-take played in the foreign offices of the leading European powers. The division of Africa, the last continent to be so carved up, was essentially a product of the new imperialism, vividly highlighting its essential features. (2019)
In The Scramble for Africa, first published in 1974, M. E. Chamberlain writes,
Christian “civilizing” missions were a method of justifying colonization in the eyes of the British public. Missionaries would visit colonies in an attempt to enlighten and teach English values to the population, simultaneously eradicating indigenous cultures and languages. These missions were presented to the public at home as a moral duty and were referred to as “the white man’s burden,” a phrase taken from Rudyard Kipling’s 1899 poem of the same name.
Kipling’s poem encourages the colonization of the Philippine Islands by the United States. The first stanza acts as a call to action:
Kipling stresses the difficulty for the white man in attempting to civilize the natives of colonized countries. As Wintle explains,
Kipling is pointing to the moral compulsion to undertake this task of philanthropy, whatever the material and strategic advantages, even if it is not wanted or welcomed by those on whom it is imposed. Imperialism is a moral necessity. (2020)
These missions, however, had a secondary purpose. As well as making Britain seem like benevolent colonizers, the enforcement of Eurocentric values eroded the native citizens’ sense of identity, making them more receptive to colonial rule.
Critics of imperialism
It is worth noting that not all within the British Empire agreed with the imperialist pursuit. The outbreak of the Second Boer War (1899–1902) with British Army officer Herbert Kitchener’s barbaric scorched-earth tactics and the establishing of concentration camps, resulted in inflamed anti-imperialist sentiments which had already been brewing in Britain. As Bernard Porter writes in Critics of Empire, “England was by no means unanimous in her imperialism” as anti-imperialist sentiment was strengthened by the Boer War, which “sicken[ed] many Britons with this particular manifestation of imperialism” (2007).
One of the most damning indictments of imperialism from the time can be found in John. A. Hobson’s Imperialism from 1902, which criticizes it on economic and moral grounds. Here, Hobson argues that imperialist expansion is
Though Hobson conforms to a racist, imperial ideology that views other races as inferior, he argues that imperialism is not the answer, as it could prompt aggression from colonized countries.
Hobson further challenges the idea that colonization is of great economic benefit to the colonizing country. He explains that the cost of preparing the military and protecting territory wastes money needed for “internal reforms and for the cultivation of the arts of material and intellectual progress at home” (1902, [2018]). Criticism of imperialism’s economic impact on Britain had also been articulated by John Bright in a speech as early as 1858:
I am inclined to think that, with the exception of Australia, there is not a single dependency of the Crown which, if we come to reckon what it has cost in war and protection, would not be found to be a positive loss to the people of this country. (Quoted in Porter, 2007)
Lastly, Hobson criticizes imperialism on moral grounds:
the spirit, the policy, and the methods of Imperialism are hostile to the institutions of popular self-government, favouring forms of political tyranny and social authority which are the deadly enemies of effective liberty and equality. (1902, [2018])
As such, imperialism undermines liberalism.
In the Fortnightly Review in 1878, Robert Lowe decried imperialism as “the apotheosis of violence” (“Imperialism,” in Imperialism, 2023). He added that,
The end of the British Empire and the legacy of imperialism
Following the impact of the Second World War, Britain was no longer able to expand or maintain its empire. India regained its independence in 1947, and in subsequent decades British colonies in Africa (and all across the world) followed suit. The British Empire officially ended in 1997 with the return of the final territory, Hong Kong, to China. However, this did not mark the end of global imperialism. Instead, imperialism has continued in an evolved form through global capitalism and the subjugation of once-colonized nations through neocolonialism.
As Porter argues,
Several historians have noted the uncanny superficial resemblances between the [British invasion of Egypt in 1881], especially, and the American–British invasion of Iraq in 2003 (both to remove a tyrant, both intended to be temporary but in fact exacerbating local nationalism and Muslim fundamentalism, so that the invading countries were dragged in further. … The only missing element in the Egyptian case is the chimera of ‘weapons of mass destruction’). (2007)
Porter further argues that “American ‘hegemony’ can be seen as the direct successor to British imperialism,” under the guise of globalization (2007).
Indeed, global capitalism seems to be imperialism’s new form. In Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century, John Smith states that
This is all part of neocolonialism: the continued oppression of developing nations through economic and political dominance.
In Imperialism and the Development Myth, Sam King further explores imperialism’s presence in the modern world under capitalism, writing that
As King goes on to illustrate, the ideology of nineteenth-century imperialism still underpins exploitation in poorer nations today, which are denigrated as “failed states inhabited by inferior or threatening peoples and regimes” (2021). The belief is perpetuated by the First World, typified in the American dream and neoliberal politics, that the only way for low-income nations to compete is to “catch up” with First World economic and industrial progress, but as King highlights “There is no possibility of Third World catch-up under capitalism” (2021). King argues that there is, however, some hope that imperialist oppression around the globe can be stopped, not through working within the capitalist system, but through a worker’s revolt. King writes that:
Though there is every possibility that imperialist oppression and exploitation of the great mass of humanity living in the Third World – and also in the First World – may be capitalism’s undoing. Imperialism in the twenty-first century is expanding the army of its own gravediggers – the world working class – far beyond any it could have previously imagined. (2021)
Further reading on Perlego
Arendt, H. (1968) Imperialism: Part Two of The Origins of Totalitarianism. Mariner Books. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2450155/imperialism-part-two-of-the-origins-of-totalitarianism-pdf
Brantlinger, P. (2013) Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830–1914. Cornell University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/534758/rule-of-darkness-british-literature-and-imperialism-18301914-pdf
Duignan, P., and Gann, L. H. (2013) Burden of Empire: An Appraisal of Western Colonialism in Africa South of the Sahara. Hoover Institution Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/971312/burden-of-empire-an-appraisal-of-western-colonialism-in-africa-south-of-the-sahara-pdf
Trafford, J. (2020) The Empire at Home: Internal Colonies and the End of Britain. Pluto Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2059054/the-empire-at-home-internal-colonies-and-the-end-of-britain-pdf
Bibliography
Bender, J. C. (2016) The 1857 Indian Uprising and the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/4226881/the-1857-indian-uprising-and-the-british-empire-pdf
Caliendo, S. M. and Mcllwain, C. D. (eds.) (2010) “Identity,” in The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1514897/the-routledge-companion-to-race-and-ethnicity-pdf
Chamberlain, M. E. (2014) The Scramble for Africa. 3rd edn. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1323625/the-scramble-for-africa-pdf
Conrad, J. (2010) Heart of Darkness. William Collins. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/670071/heart-of-darkness-pdf
Domingos, N., and Peralta, E. (eds.) (2023) Legacies of the Portuguese Colonial Empire: Nationalism, Popular Culture and Citizenship. Bloomsbury Academic. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/4179171/legacies-of-the-portuguese-colonial-empire-nationalism-popular-culture-and-citizenship-pdf
Haggard, H. R. (2010) King Solomon’s Mines. William Collins. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/669638/king-solomons-mines-pdf
Hobson, J. A. (2018) Imperialism: A Study. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1485798/imperialism-a-study-pdf
Hunt, E. K. and Lautzenheiser, M. (2015) The History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1561212/history-of-economic-thought-a-critical-perspective-pdf
Lowe, R. (2023) “Imperialism,” in Cain, P. J., and Harrison, M. (eds.) Imperialism: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies, Volume I. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3812697/imperialism-critical-concepts-in-historical-studies-volume-i-pdf
Magdoff, H. (2019) Imperialism: From the Colonial Age to the Present. Monthly Review Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/978640/imperialism-from-the-colonial-age-to-the-present-pdf
Maltby, W. (2008) The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Empire. Bloomsbury Academic. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2997124/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-spanish-empire-pdf
Porter, B. (2007) Critics of Empire: British Radicals and the Imperial Challenge. I. B. Tauris. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/918728/critics-of-empire-british-radicals-and-the-imperial-challenge-pdf
Roy, S. (2018) “Imperialism, the ‘old’ and the ‘new’,” in Sen, S., and Marcuzzo, M. C. (eds.)
Colonialism to Contemporary Capitalism: The Changing Face of Imperialism. Routledge India. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1380482/the-changing-face-of-imperialism-colonialism-to-contemporary-capitalism-pdf
Smith, J. (2016) Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism's Final Crisis. Monthly Review Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/721110/imperialism-in-the-twentyfirst-century-globalization-superexploitation-and-capitalisms-final-crisis-pdf
Wintle, M. (2020) Eurocentrism: History, Identity, White Man's Burden. Routledge. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1693096/eurocentrism-history-identity-white-mans-burden-pdf
King, S. (2021) Imperialism and the development myth: How rich countries dominate in the twenty-first century. Manchester University Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/2801707/imperialism-and-the-development-myth-how-rich-countries-dominate-in-the-twentyfirst-century-pdf
PhD, English Literature (Lancaster University)
Sophie Raine has a PhD from Lancaster University. Her work focuses on penny dreadfuls and urban spaces. Her previous publications have been featured in VPFA (2019; 2022) and the Palgrave Handbook for Steam Age Gothic (2021) and her co-edited collection Penny Dreadfuls and the Gothic was released in 2023 with University of Wales Press.
