New Imperialism Dbq

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New Imperialism Between the years 1870 and 1920, European imperialism accelerated due to political, economic, and social forces. Imperialism is the domination over undeveloped countries using these forces. The Industrial Revolution helped advance the European nations through technology. Other nations were able to control over many other less-developed areas around the world. Imperialism began in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s affecting many countries, for example, China, India, Africa, and South America were all affected by imperialism. Although the New Imperialism resulted from industrialized nations seeking control of foreign territories, the conditions that motivated and fueled the great expansion for industrialized nations were mostly based on economic motives. As Europe gained significant power strongly centered nation states emerged. Several factors contributed to the Europeans conquest of Africa. One staggering advantage was Europeans technological superiority. The Maxim gun, for example, was invented in 1884 being the world’s first automatic machine gun. European countries quickly acquired this gun while fighting Africans who were forced to rely on spears and shields which were very outdated weapons. Document eight shows an excerpt from a letter sent by Phan Thanh Gian, governor of Vietnamese state, to his administration in 1867. This Vietnamese man explains that the French imperialism in Indochina in 1867 is very powerful with immense warships that cannot be resisted by anyone. They take control of whoever they want and cannot be defeated. On the other hand, Europeans also had means to control their empire. The inventions of railroads, cables and steamships allowed close communications within a colony and between the colony and its controlling nation. By using the production of the steam engine, steam powered merchant ships and naval

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