Imperialism Dbq

Imperialism was viewed many different ways all throughout the world. It was mainly from two separate sides, the view of the imperialist power and the view of the colonized power. The imperialist powers usually wanted both natural and human resources from the colonized areas, and the colonized areas usually didn't have much say in the matter. No matter what though, the views of these opposing sides was almost always different.

The imperialist powers usually viewed their colonized areas as a good resource for both gaining goods and then exporting goods made in their own nations to the colonized areas. They would use goods like foods, animals, and people. They also gained other natural resources like gold, gems and coal to fuel their own economies. In the case of the British and the Indians, the British forced the Indians to make cotton and similar goods for the British to than turn into clothes and fabrics. Then the British would take those clothes and fabrics and sell them back to the Indians (Doc.5) Many European nations such France, Great Britain and Portugal attended the Munich Conference, which was used to decide which African nations would be split up and put under the control of European nations. In 1850, the majority of Africa was free and was made up of independent tribes and nations. In 1914, all African nations except Ethiopia and Liberia were in possession of European nations (Doc. 6) The British improved the life of African nations by making railways and roads, and by reclaiming swamps and irrigating deserts. They also set up systems of fair trade and competition. (Doc. 3) European nations benefited greatly from this by gaining human resources like slaves, but also in agricultural resources by being able to grow and export different goods form Africa. Joseph Chamberlain agreed with the idea that colonies were valuable to Great Britain. Not only were new markets that sold British goods were created but they were able to use the resources from the colonized nations to their own benefit. (Doc. 1)

Not everyone viewed the colonization of areas as a good thing, mainly the areas that were actually being colonized. The Great Britain take over of India was a difficult change for the Indian people. They were forced to buy Great Britain goods and the markets in India were not allowed to sell Indian made goods. (Doc.5) When the scramble for control over African nations occurred, the Munich Conference was held. European nations went to this conference to decide what African nations would go to what European countries. The only problems was that not one African nations were invited to the conference to defend themselves. (Doc. 7) This means that they didn't get a chance of being able to keep their nations independent. The Koreans were also forced to change against their will. Korean people were forced to change their last names and religions to ones that were similar to the Japanese