Imperialism Essay, Research Paper

Africa and Asia Imperialism

Imperialism is political, social or economical one country that rules an alien country. During the 1800 s, European Countries and the United States started imperialism in Asia and Africa. In 1841, Dr. Livingston started exploring the African Interior, which produced promising information of the land and rivers. Explorations of gold and diamonds in Africa by Rhodes spurred excitement in the Western Countries. Two European nations had already had colonies in East Asia in 1800, which were Spain and the Netherlands. The western nations wanted imperialism in Africa and Asia because of new economic movements such as raw materials and new markets to export their goods, and they wanted to spread their religion in the these new territories.

In the year 1819, Great Britain founded a new colony called Singapore. This colony became a major stopping point for trade between China and Europe. This new colony was similar to the colonies set up by Portugal in the 1400 s in Africa.

After their new Colony Singapore, Great Britain started to expand their East Asia colonies for economic reasons. They received the right to trade with the king of Burma. Later, Great Britain received territorial rights to Burma when the Burma monarchy collapsed. Meanwhile in East Asia, France had set up missionaries in Vietnam and was alarmed by the growing of British Colonies in East Asia. France then established a French protectorate of Vietnam and later Cambodia, Annam, Tonkin, and Laos were also protectorates of France. These colonies helped established new markets for France to trade with. The only major country in East Asia left to colonize was Thailand but Thailand s kings were too strong for Great Britain or France to take over. An opium war was had started in 1842 between Great Britain and China over the sale of Opium by China to Great Britain citizens. Great Britain won the war and Great Britain established Hong Kong, which was a flourishing port with trade of raw materials and goods. Later in China, the spheres of influence occurred with nations such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan. The nations would pay warlords for the opportunity to gain exclusive trading rights and mining privileges. In India, Great Britain took over colonial rule in 1876.

In Africa, imperialism was happening there just as it was doing in Asia. Great Britain had set up ports in Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast as trading centers. In 1869, Great Britain took over the Suez Canal because the Canal would help the country trade faster with their Asian colonies. After Britain s success of having colonies in Africa, many other colonies started to follow. France had most of Northern Africa, Italy had Zanzibar and Libya, Portugal had Angola and Mozambique, Great Britain had Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, South Africa and other Africa areas, and Germany had German East Africa and the Cameroon, Belgium had the Congo, and Spain had the Rio De Oro and Rio Muni. Two African nations Ethiopia and Liberia had political independence.

Imperialism in Africa and Asia had been similar in several ways. In both Continents, Europeans set up colonies for economics, but in Africa, the imperialism was also economic but social and political as well. In Asia and Africa, imperialism brought strong independents such as Liberia and Ethiopia in Africa and Thailand and Japan in Asia. On both continents Missionaries were set up to convert the natives to Christianity. In Vietnam, French missionaries were persecuted by the locals, who feared they were a threat to the Confucian Doctrine. In Africa, missionaries were treated better than the French missionaries had been in Vietnam. Imperialism brought trade with Africa and Asia. In Africa, they traded gold and diamonds to European homelands. In Asia, they traded spices and raw materials to the Europeans. In Africa and Asia, Imperialism brought about rival European nations opposing each other for territories on the continents. In Asia, France had to colonize Vietnam to try to stop Britain s monopoly of lands in Southeast Asia. In 1898, France and Britain met each other in Fashoda, Sudan. The two countries would have probably brought war but France was preoccupied with the Dreyfus affair. Britain then regained control of Sudan. In East Africa, Germany and Britain became chief rivals in this area. In South Africa, a war had started between the Great Britain and the Boers. Great Britain won the war and obtained the Cape Colony. In Asia, there was more seclusion to Europeans than there was in Asia. Japan had mostly blocked off trading with the Western World. China was also like Japan until the European countries started setting up the spheres of influence. The natives of both Asia and Africa hated imperialism, and the natives sometimes tried to revolt from the western nations. The western nations ruled the foreign lands by protectorates, colonies, condominiums or spheres of influence.

Imperialism eventually brought about World War I because of the fighting between Germany and France for Morocco strategic location. The two countries fought two or three times for Morocco. The natives hatred towards the European countries still lingers today because of the Imperialism. Some of the Imperialism colonies names are still used today. Most of the natives of Asia and Africa from imperialism still speak their language left by their former Western country.