Examples Of European Imperialism
mohammed alqarni
Europe
European imperialism began with the discovery of the New World and the Cape of Good Hope passage to Asia at the end of the 15th century. However, while the Europeans were able to easily wipe out and subjugate the prehistoric hunter-gatherer inhabitants of Africa and the Americas, they encountered wealthy and well-developed societies with powerful armies in Asia and the Middle East who could not be militarily conquered outright. Here the Europeans used trade concessions and trading outposts as their instrument of cover subversion of the host nations. A prime example of this is China in the mid-19th century, where the British came bearing tributes in exchange for constant grants of ports and trade privileges, whereby a representative of the Chinese emperor showed his perplexity at the apparently insatiable greed of the British: …show more content…
He thereby causes the whole world to participate in his favor, and to enjoy his protection, for the promotion of civilization – and the full enjoyment of lasting benefits. But the English foreigners have now for two years … on account of the investigation in the opium traffic, discarded their obedience and been incessantly fighting … what can possibly be their intention and the drift of their actions?” (Mishra, 2012, p. 41).
From this step on, they tricked local monarchs into giving key commanding posts in their governments and armies from where they controlled state policies (Ansary, 2009, pp. 217-246). In this the European powers also often jostled with each other in the race to grab colonies as Britain squabbled with France and Russia for control over the Middle East, Persia, Afghanistan and India (Withers,
Europe
European imperialism began with the discovery of the New World and the Cape of Good Hope passage to Asia at the end of the 15th century. However, while the Europeans were able to easily wipe out and subjugate the prehistoric hunter-gatherer inhabitants of Africa and the Americas, they encountered wealthy and well-developed societies with powerful armies in Asia and the Middle East who could not be militarily conquered outright. Here the Europeans used trade concessions and trading outposts as their instrument of cover subversion of the host nations. A prime example of this is China in the mid-19th century, where the British came bearing tributes in exchange for constant grants of ports and trade privileges, whereby a representative of the Chinese emperor showed his perplexity at the apparently insatiable greed of the British: …show more content…
He thereby causes the whole world to participate in his favor, and to enjoy his protection, for the promotion of civilization – and the full enjoyment of lasting benefits. But the English foreigners have now for two years … on account of the investigation in the opium traffic, discarded their obedience and been incessantly fighting … what can possibly be their intention and the drift of their actions?” (Mishra, 2012, p. 41).
From this step on, they tricked local monarchs into giving key commanding posts in their governments and armies from where they controlled state policies (Ansary, 2009, pp. 217-246). In this the European powers also often jostled with each other in the race to grab colonies as Britain squabbled with France and Russia for control over the Middle East, Persia, Afghanistan and India (Withers,