international studies

Think of the numerous differentiations between colonialism and modern imperialism that you learned about in the readings and lectures. In order to demonstrate your understanding of the key differences between these, please respond to the following question with specific examples from our course.

How was the relationship dynamic between the metropoles and colonies changed in the era of modern imperialism?

Our readings and lectures provide many examples of the economic, social, political, and cultural impacts of imperialism that illuminate these changes, but you do not have to address each of these in your response.

These are the links to use to answer the question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLQw7KTnzkpXe8YkEXE-SlMXGHiILs2l1L&v=UwTvrfGvT3w&feature=youtu.be

ANSWER

Colonialism and Modern Imperialism

Historically, Europe has possessed various types of colonies and defined their access as the spread of civilisation than any other continent worldwide. The process began in 1494 with the Treaty of Tordesillas with a claim to hegemony. However, the process ended in colonisation rather than colonial development. In 1870, a set of frameworks were put in place towards European occupation in other regions including Africa to what is referred to as imperial expansion. What is now referred to as globalisation has a background in European colonisation and modern imperialism.

Imperialism can be differentiated from colonialism by the fact that it applies indirect forms of domination and geared towards economic exploitation while colonialism is direct in governance and occupation of a foreign nation. A period of decolonisation had almost all of Europe give back governance to local leaders but their exploitation of resources still continued, particularly in the Congo and many other nations in Africa. The end of colonialism was the beginning of modern imperialism. The factories in Europe still required raw materials for processing and therefore they kept close ties with former colonies in an attempt to keep their economies running a process that continues to date.

The relationship dynamic between the metropoles and the colonies was not very different in colonisation and later in the new imperialism. The direct governance was removed but the draining of resources for the purpose of profit continued indirectly. Raw materials that would have developed the colonies was shipped to the metropoles for processing and then resold to the colonies as finished products. Europe expanded its economy in this way.