LAIR Active Reading: Colonialism, Imperialism, and Expansionism (November 9)

1. "Colonialism/Imperialism" by Amardeep Singh

Colonialism/Imperialism: The simple way to distinguish these two is to think of colonialism as practice and imperialism as the idea driving the practice. Colonialism is the implanting of settlements on a distant territory.

Colonialism in its modern form first began to take shape about 400 years ago, and it changed the economic landscape of the world forever. For one thing, it enabled Europe to get fabulously rich on the trade it produced. The foundations of what we now think of as free-market capitalism were invented during the colonial era, partly to handle trade.

It’s an undecided question in academic circles (amongst historians for instance) as to whether colonialism is important purely for its economic consequences, or whether cultural factors (such as missionary Christianity or a sense of racial superiority) also plays a part.

Imperialism is a word with a long history. It was first associated with ancient Rome (a fact that is borne out quite emphatically in the first pages of Heart of Darkness, where the presence of the Romans gives a sense of history). It didn’t begin to be used much in the English-speaking world until the late 1800s. Imperialism has a specifically expansionist connotation.

2. "Expansionism" by Historyplex

The industrial revolution caused extensive expansion policies of the European countries over the Asian and African continents to gain new territories for raw materialistic gains. The need for a constantly expanding market for products caused expansionism over the entire surface of the globe; thus, the means to gain economically can be termed as 'Capitalist Expansionism'. ◆An economic expansion is marked by increased production with labor gains and exploitation of resources from the weaker nations. The associations between mercantile capital, empire building, and colonial ventures had already been secured by the late eighteenth century. Capital inducted in the triangular trade between England, Africa, and the Caribbean region had a heavy impact on New World Iberian colonies. The African slave trade, for example, provided labor force for Brazilian and Caribbean sugar plantations that produced sugar for the western Europe and North America markets. Colonial capitalism was indeed a sign of global finance capitalism.