Old Imperialism vs. New Imperialism

Imperialism is the spread of control over territories across the globe. The Industrial Revolution and interests in nationalism created a new period of imperialism around 1750. Old imperialism lasted from 1450- 1750, but imperialism alone remained until 1914.Old imperialism and new imperialism shared the same basic concept of controlling and utilizing foreign countries. Old imperialism focused mainly on systems of trade while new imperialism took bolder steps to overtaking nations. Old Imperialism was the period from 1450-1750, in which powers were motivated by “gold, glory, and God”. Political power was controlled by central governments while leaders were busy trying to increase their power. National wealth was widely viewed as holder of power. In old Imperialism, Europeans focused on a cash and carry system, where they purchased goods from native merchants who brought the goods they produced. This led to a focus on a trading system because Europeans didn’t want to take on territorial responsibilities. During the Old imperialism era, Europeans set up trading posts, ports, and docks. These trading centers benefited the places the mother country was supplying too. They had objectives to protect their trading centers in native places and none to obtain territories in them. Europe’s trade within and between native lands led to cultural diversity which may have caused a small breach in unity. However, the old Imperialism era ended due to high costs in taking over territories and too much time to supply the mother country. There was no time to build up a superior, organized, skilled army for anyone. Also, due to the Industrial Revolution there was now a faster more efficient way to create and manufacture products. New Imperialism took place from 1750-1914 in which, Europeans encouraged the acquiring of new native territories in order to invest capital in them to expand their profits. Many others started following European actions such as France, Italy, the