Summary of New Imperialism

In studying European history, I have become aware of its cyclic nature through the centuries. Similar themes and players reemerge over and over again. One of these reoccurrences is imperialism. Although the two imperialist movements were both influenced by  the environments of their centuries, the two movements also share common motivations.The first imperialism was set in an era where governments in Europe were predominantly autocracies and where navigation and exploration were gaining importance on the European stage. Religion played an important role in the daily lives of Europeans.  The first imperialist movement, characterized by the motto "Gold, God, and Cathay" relied on religious and economic aims. The discovery of the New World attracted major European powers to the new land, using missionaries and brutal wars to suppress and christianize natives. The colonies established worked many times as a source of income for the mainland, using native labor to harvest and excavate natural resources to then import to the European mother countries. 

The 15th and 16th century European society undoubtedly influenced the ways in which imperialism was handled, but we see similar motives for the new imperialism in the 19th century even though the political, economic, and social climates of Europe had significantly shifted. 19th century European society was set in an ever industrializing environment, far different from the atmosphere of the 15th and 16th centuries. Politics had gained more complexities and the notion of capitalism united both government and industrialism in the drive for state and industry income. Expansionism and imperialism were key instrumentations in acquiring this money and power in the intensifying relations between Europe's main powers. New technologies allowed for different approaches and strategies for imperialism and allotted a greater sense of superiority to the imperialists, who, equipped with armed armies, could seize control over a native population more swiftly than before. The railroad helped define these colonies as purely moneymakers for the mother countries, withdrawing natural resources from the colonies to deliver them to the "superior" nations. In an age dominated by science, religion played a lesser role in the new imperialism, and rather beliefs in Europeans' natural ascension to lands 

populated with "savages" provided reason to suppress and civilize these populations. 

Although the two imperialist movements emerged from drastically different environments, the underlining political, economic, and social motivations are shared in both. The only stark difference I see that differentiates new imperialism from its former is the interesting role the populace played. Nationalism was definitely a tool employed by governments to reason the nations' imperialist actions, but not all people were swayed by the generalized concepts nationalism preached. The development of journals, newspapers, and photography allowed individuals to witness the realities of imperialism and the treatment in the colonies. Such developments allowed people to take a more forceful role in their countries' partaking in imperialism, something they would not have assumed in the earlier imperialism, where Europeans were mainly left obscured to the realities of the colonies.