Causes of Imperialism: Geographic and Economic

The Causes of Imperialism:

Geographic, Economic, Political and

Social

1. What is imperialism?2. Why did European nations imperialize other

places?

What is Imperialism?

• The domination by one country of the

political, economic or cultural life of

another country

• Let’s break this down…

• Political control would be control of

• Economic control would be control of

• Cultural control would be control of

Reasons for Imperialism:

Geographic Reasons

• Countries experiencing the Industrial

Revolution saw a growing population and a

need for more natural resources

• What type of resources might nations be

looking for?

What is the cartoonist saying

about Starbucks?

Economic Reasons

• During the Industrial Revolution businesses

were looking for new markets to sell their

goods

• Businesses needed new places to start new

businesses and try new business ventures

A very famous cartoon…

Political Reasons

For a nation to be seen as powerful you needed to have land throughout the world

With lots of land throughout the world countries could have many military bases throughout the world

People felt pride for their country when it took more land

NATIONALISM developed

“The sun never sets on the British

Empire.”

Social Reasons

Survival of the fittest-the strongest

would survive

Social Darwinism developed and

nations began to feel they were better then

other nations and had a RIGHT to take

them over

Rudyard Kipling wrote “White Man’s

Burden” saying imperialism was

right because white Europeans had an obligation to teach

those less “civilized”