Throughout history, countries have extended their territories through imperialism. In the period between fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Europeans, Dutch and the Spanish expanded their territories by colonizing the Americans. Between the nineteenth and twentieth century however, tables turned and the America’s started extending their territories by colonizing countries in Asia, Australia, and Africa. The Western imperialism has been said to be the new form of colonization (Whitman, n.p.). A major motive of imperialism has a lot to do with military or political reasons. In this motive, the western regimes believe that they would be much more respected and feared if they have many colonies. Some regimes have use imperialism as an avenue of increasing their military troops and thus promoting their dominance across the world.
The second motive of western imperialism is promoting the western culture. Because of the increased civilization at the West, Western regimes tend to see other regions and people as primitive and uncivilized. In such a case, the western regimes believe they can create an impact lives by convincing primitive people to adapt to the western culture and teachings (Whitman, n.p.). Perhaps this explains why the missionaries were so determined to promoting Christianity. The third motive of western imperialism is purely exploratory. Because of the increased desire to stay at the top, western regimes have engaged in exploratory effort in other regimes across the world (Whitman, n.p.). The main objective of such efforts is to learn how different people in different regions go on their daily activities. With this information, the western regimes will be able to identify new opportunities for expanding their territories even further. Through increased explorations and inventions, the western regimes believe that they will be able to gain increased popularity as the world’s “problem solvers.”
- Whitman, James Q. “Western Legal Imperialism: Thinking About the Deep Historical Roots”. Theoretical Inquiries in Law 10.2 (2009): n. pag. Web.
