Issue question:What economic, social, and political ideas contributed to the rise of imperialism?

As you explore the issue question, you will answer these questions:

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• How did industrialization and capitalism lead to the rise of imperialism?

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• How did the competition for international power and nationalism lead to the rise of imperialism?

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• How did Eurocentrism, ethnocentrism, Christianity, and Social Darwinism lead to the rise of imperialism?

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• What is the difference between globalization and imperialism?

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• Does imperialism still exist today?

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What economic, social, and political ideas contributed to the rise of imperialism?

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Do the strong always want to control the weak? If a strong person and a weak person get together, do you think it’s natural for the stronger person to control the weaker person?

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If a rich person meets a poor person, does the rich person usually try to take the poor person’s money and possessions?

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When one person meets another, is it common for each to try and force the other to take on the same religious, economic, and political views?

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In this lesson we will look at history and investigate why the richer and more powerful nations of the world did all those things when they practised imperialism.

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Canada was a colony of both France and England during the days of imperialism. Imperialism takes place when the government of one country decides to control another through economic, political, and/or military force.

imperialism: when a nation extends political, economic, or military control over another nation or territory

colony: a territory claimed and ruled by another country

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The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and expanded to other countries, including Canada. This growth ofindustrialization is called a revolution because it was a sudden and important change in how people lived

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The Industrial Revolution led to other changes in society. One of the main changes was urbanization, which takes place when people move from rural areas to cities. People moved from their farms and small villages to large cities where there was factory work. In the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, many of these people lived in crowded, unclean, and unhealthy living spaces where there was a lot of disease and crime.

Industrial Revolution: the rapid change from a farming economy to a manufacturing economy

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the 1700s and spread to other countries, including Canada.

industrialization: the shift of a country’s economic system from agriculture to manufacturing

urbanization: the change in a country or region when much of its population moves from the country to cities

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Industrialization and urbanization at first caused many hardships for people.

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• Children began to work in factories and other dangerous jobs for very low pay.

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• Working conditions for all people were unregulated and often unsafe with long hours and little pay.

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• Women started to work outside the home, leaving small children uncared for.

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• Urbanization led to crowded and unhealthy living conditions.

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With time, these working and living conditions improved.

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• People began to earn more money and have a higher standard of living.

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• People began to live longer, fewer babies died, and people were healthier overall.

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• Because people were becoming richer and lived and worked closer together, they started to demand equal treatment under the law. This led to better working conditions.

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• Eventually, industrialization, along with new ideas about human rights and how society should operate, led to democracy in Europe and the New World.

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democracy: the power to govern rests with the people through majority rule and respect for minority rights

Many nations that are industrializing today are experiencing the same changes to their societies that took place during Britain’s Industrial Revolution.

Imperialism and the Industrial Revolution

By controlling the countries, such as India, where cotton could be grown, the factory owners had a ready supply of cotton.

By controlling the economies of countries where people wanted to buy cotton, these companies had a market for their goods.

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The Industrial Revolution also led to huge improvements in the technology of transportation. Railway lines, canals, and ocean-going ships could transport large quantities of natural resources and manufactured goods quickly and inexpensively.

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If a European country had colonies in other countries where raw materials could be found, and there were people to buy their finished goods, they could make more money. The Industrial Revolution encouraged European governments to expand their empires.

Once countries started manufacturing a lot of goods, they produced more than they could sell within their own countries. They needed a market for their goods in other countries.

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They also needed raw materials to create these products. People in European nations tried to increase their wealth by bringing in natural resources from other countries, using those resources to create manufactured goods, and selling the finished goods to people in their own countries and abroad.

Mercantilism was an economic system in Europe during the early days of imperialism in which governments tried to control the economy so they could make as much money as possible for themselves and their people.

protectionist: when a country puts duties or quotas on imported goods in order to protect its own industries from outside competition

tariff: a government tax on imported or exported goods

monopoly: a market dominated by a single seller with no competition

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“The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith

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This freedom to trade without restrictions from the government gradually became the system we know today as capitalism.

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It was very different from mercantilism because it allowed the economies of all countries to operate without the government controls imposed by a mercantile economy

Read “Making a Profit” on pages 132 to 134 of Living in a Globalizing World.