Economic motives were caused by companies trying to maximize profits. By expanding, countries could increase their amount of cheap labor, access to markets to sell or buy products, and natural resources that can be sold or used. With the Industrial Revolution, society revolved around raw material and supply and demand, so the more raw materials a country had the more money they could make. Therefore, during Imperialism, countries rich in materials, like India, were exploited.Exploratory motives were caused by a natural tendency to explore and want more land. Countries naturally wanted more land to increase their territory, so many countries explored new areas of the globe in hopes of finding undiscovered land. Also, some other causes of exploratory imperialism were medical or scientific research, national and personal glory, and the sense of adventuring into the unknown.
Ethnocentric motives centered around the idea that nations believed they were superior to other nations, so, therefore, they should conquer the lesser countries. A good example of this was in Africa where European countries believed they had a "white man's burden" to show the Africans how to live and be civil.Political motives arose from the feeling of patriotism and a national pride. Each empire wanted to be more superior than the others so they would imperialize as a defensive strategy against other nations trying to expand or attack.
Religious motives were all about spreading ideas and looking for new members to join the church. Many religious felt they had conquered the area they were already in and needed to expand to convert as many people as possible.
1 comment:
I like how you included religious motives. Too often people forget that Religion is one the most important things in history, and arguably one of the strongest forces of movement. During the time, the US and many European countries were highly religious and ready to spread their word.
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