6.1 Rationales for Imperialism from 1750 to 1900

The nineteenth century was an age of extraordinary industrial and technological advancement, but it was also an age of empire. As Europe, the United States, and Japan industrialized, they expanded their political and economic control over vast regions of Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. This new wave of imperialism differed from earlier centuries of conquest. It was fueled by industrial capitalism and a global search for markets, raw materials, and labor. Imperialism became both a cause and a consequence of industrial growth, justified by ideologies that claimed moral and scientific legitimacy.