Cecil Rhodes: Cape-Cairo railway project. Founded the De Beers Mining Company and owned the British South Africa Company, which established Rhodesia for itself. He liked to "paint the map British red", and declared: "all of these stars ... these vast worlds that remain out of reach. If I could, I would annex other planets".[1]

For the computer game, see Imperialism (computer game).

Imperialism has two meanings, one describing an action and the other describing an attitude. Most commonly it is understood in relation to Empire building, as the expansion of a nation's authority by territorial conquest establishing economic and political powers in other territories or nations, and when such encompasses non-contiguous "colonies" or "protectorates" then the term also subsumes Colonialism. In that sense, most European seafaring powers were at one time or another Colonialistic and therefore Imperialistic, regardless of their exploitation or benevolence toward their colonial possessions and people.

In its second meaning the term describes the imperialistic attitude of superiority, subordination and dominion over foreign people— a chauvinism and comportment relegating foreign people to a lesser social and or political status. To clarify the distinction, the French colonies in North America treated the native races with great diplomacy, whereas the British and British colonies early on began treating native Americans chauvinistically, as savages and lesser creatures or fit only to be exterminated. In contrast, the abhorrent record of the Spanish made the British behavior look almost tolerant and good, and the Japanese Empire's treatment of conquered people was at best brutal.

Imperialism is often autocratic, e.g. in early 20th century Japan,^[2] and sometimes monolithic ^[3] in character. While the term imperialism often refers to a contigous political or geographical domain such as the Ottoman Empire^[4] the Russian Empire,^[5] or the British Empire,^[6] etcetera, the term can equally be applied to domains of knowledge, beliefs, values and expertise, such as the empires of Christianity (see Christendom)^[7] or Islam (see Caliphate).^[8]

Overview

Imperialism is found in the ancient histories of Roman Empire, Greece, the Persian Empire, the Ottoman Empire (see Ottoman wars in Europe), the Egypt, the Aztec empire, British Empire, Gangis Khan, and other areas. Although the practice has existed for thousands of years, the term "Age of Imperialism" refers to the Scramble for Africa, along with the Scramble for India. The term 'Imperialism' was coined in the sixteenth century,^[9] reflecting the imperial policies of Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, and the Netherlands into Africa, Asia, and the Americas.^{citation needed}

Currently, there is an effort to broaden the definition of "imperialism" so it applies to any instance of a greater power acting or being perceived to act at the expense of a lesser power. Including 'perception' in the definition makes it circular, solipsistic, and subjective. Under this broader definition, 'imperialism' not only describes colonial, territorial policies;but also describes economic dominance and influence.

European dominance of the east through economic exploitation and political rule, (as distinct from the word colonialism, which usually implied establishment of settler colonies often with slavery as the labor system), the word was coined in the mid-nineteenth century.

See also

• John A. Hobson
• Vladimir Lenin
• Colonialism
• Neocolonialism
• New Imperialism
• Theories of New Imperialism
• Ultra-imperialism
• Cultural imperialism
• Islamic imperialism
• Scientific imperialism
• Empire
• List of empires
• The Imperial Presidency
• Feudalism
• Oil imperialism

References

Further reading

• Robert Bickers/Christian Henriot (Hg.): New frontiers : imperialism's new communities in East Asia, 1842-1953, Manchester [u.a.] : Manchester University Press 2000, ISBN 0-7190-5604-7
• Empire, by Michael Hardt and Toni Negri, Harvard University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-674-00671-2
• Guy Ankerl: Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharatai, Chinese, and Western., Geneva, INU PRESS, 2000, ISBN2-88155-004-5.

External links

• J.A Hobson, Imperialism a Study 1902.
• The Paradox of Imperialism by Hans-Hermann Hoppe. November 2006.
• Imperialism Quotations
• State, Imperialism and Capitalism by Joseph Schumpeter
• Economic Imperialism by A.J.P.Taylor
• Imperialism Entry in the Columbia Encyclopedia (Bartleby)
• The Nation-State, Core and Periphery: A Brief sketch of Imperialism in the 20th century.