Imperialism Analysis

Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. It is a type of advocacy of empire. Imperialism can also be gaining power and influence through colonization. It has allowed for the rapid spread of technologies and ideas, leading it to be one of the main influences of a globalised world. Many people argue what the exact definition of the word is, whether it be describing any system of domination or subordination organised with an imperial center and a periphery or other ideas. There are five basic features of imperialism, according to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in his informational story, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. These are, “1) Concentration of production and capital has

Economic motives may also include access to cheap labor and natural resources such as land or precious metals. Exploratory motives occur when imperial nations or the citizens that reside within that nation want to explore a territory that was previously unknown to them. This could be a good thing, as it lead to the discover of different medicinal herbs and plants and furthered many scientific researches. Other times it was done purely for the sake of adventuring in the great unknown. Most common, however, was that imperial explorers sought to discover, claim, and map territory before imperial rivals did. This is also very closely linked to political, because to expand the amount of uncharted territory leads to having more people to rule and more area to claim, giving people a patriotism seldom seen otherwise. People often sought after national pride, prestige, and security. Many times the approach of imperialism was ethnocentric, which is when certain imperial nations believed that their cultural values or beliefs were superior to other nations or groups. Many nations believed that imperial conquest would bring a successful culture to an inferior race or people. The last type of reason for imperialism is religious expansion. This usually occurs after one of the other four reasons has taken place, and is when people, missionaries, go to the imperialised

The British Empire had an economic motive, because their country was a mercantile one. The Empire searched to spread the markets for goods that had already been made, as well as forcing those under their rule, (the colonies set up due to imperialism), to work as cheap labor forces. In the case of the Zulu tribes in Africa, they were thought of as a lesser race, ethnocentric motives, and were far beneath the white man. Religious motives also came into play as the imperial powers got more nations under their control, like Mr. Witt from the movie Zulu as well as his daughter Miss Witt, they would travel to countries under British rule and convert the lesser people to follow their religion and learn to speak their