The British expanded for numerous reasons. However this resulted in positive and negative effects on the conquered lands. British Imperialism was caused by many reasons. They expanded throughout many lands mainly due to economic reasons. According to Documents 3a and 3b, the British created an empire so they could sell cotton and iron goods.
Since Europeans were experiencing great economic gain, because they had the slaves and native peoples working for them, European countries with established colonies in the Americas began to become increasingly richer. This sparked a social change since an increase in finances led to an increase the power that kings and authority figures in Europe possessed. However, a negative social aspect that occurred due to Europeans immigrating to the Americas was that they brought diseases from their home countries that the native peoples weren’t exposed to before. This caused a devastating decrease in the population of the Native Americans throughout this time
Around 1450-1700 Western Europe expanded their Atlantic trade. They began exploring other parts of the world, and even building colonies in some of these places. They began to explore Africa as well as the Americas. Western Europe gained many things from this new land, which they were able to use in order to enhance their own economy. Western Europe’s expansion of Atlantic trade, through exploration and colonization, not only improved their own economy, but also the economy of America, through sharing new trade products and crops as well as beginning the slave trade.
Before looking at the conditions of the Middle Passage, it is important to understand the economics of the Slave Trade. The Slave Trade must be looked at from an economic standpoint because it is for economic reasons that many countries and people got involved in the Trade. The Slave Trade began in the mid 1440’s. It was…” launched for the specific purposes of providing labor to European colonies in Central and South America and the Caribbean. (McMillan, 9)”.
Many aspects of the African and American economies remained unchanged by maintaining an agrarian based economy. As trade began to increase between Europe, the Americas, and Africa, many social transformations began to take place. The national monarchs that lived within Western Europe wanted to increase their power and began to look for more trade routes to increase their wealth. This rise in trading led to the growth of the middle class in Western Europe. The middle class developed because the increase of trading opened up room for specialized workers Along with the growth of the middle class bankers, capitalists, and other occupations also began to develop.
These inventions (refer to Document C for examples) caused great economic expansion across Europe. Yet at the same time, these exact inventions caused for a need of more raw materials. This is where Imperialism began to take shape, because before Imperialism in Africa had begun, there were still many examples of Europeans who’d enslaved africans on their own land. Which meant that once raw materials for machines that needed simple labor in a factory rather than the fields were needed to maintain their great economic boost; whichever European country had the most property in Africa, got to conquer the most land in its entirety (Scramble for Africa). Meaning these now obsolete slaves were being subject to have to watch European countries take over their lands and began industrializing on african soil because of how rich in materials the African land is.
Aricka Reyes Professor Marshall History 109 28 October 2008 The Life of a Slave During the 1800’s Slavery was a very important effect during the 1800’s. Many slave owners believed that slavery was the main source of obtaining more wealth. Slave owners also had in mind that with the more slaves they posses the further they would be able to plant and grow. Which in fact slave owners were not wrong, the more slaves they had on their plantations the extra they will be able cultivate each year. However, at one point slavery was abolished in one side were as in the other side it was still approve.
“American factories are making more than American people can use… We will establish trading posts throughout the world as points for American products” (excerpt by Senator A. J. Beveridge) once the Americans have a high position in the trading business they try to establish trading posts and become the major importer of goods world wide. In the regions of Africa there was a large amount of a variety of materials, ranging from iron, rubber, and tin. These vital products led to advancements in the industrialization of Europe. Iron was used to make steel which was a stronger and lighter metal; this increasingly helped the improvement of machinery. In New Imperialism the seeking for more raw materials wasn’t their main goal, the Europeans wanted to sell their products Asian foreigners.
Slaves were used to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco. Slavery was practiced throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and African-American slaves helped build the economic foundations of the new nation. This is an important piece of history due to the fact that slavery was created and evolved from this purchase. If slavery had not existed, the Civil War likely would not have been fought. There were other pressing issues between the North and
Cotton was creating an insatiable appetite for slave labor; congress abolished the importation of slaves from Africa. "Now an already vibrant domestic slave-trade would flourish. In the upper South the selling of slaves became more profitable than the growing of tobacco5. By 1840 the value of cotton exports was greater than everything else the nation exported to the world combined! And that made slaves the most valuable thing in the nation beside the land itself.