What were the similarities and differences among the ways imperialists

controlled their colonies?

The nineteenth to early twentieth century is known as the Age of Imperialism.
Imperialism is the policy of extending a nations power by gaining political and economic
control over more territory. This is sometimes referred to as colonialism. Nations like
Britain, France, and newly formed Germany divided and conquered whole continents like Asia and
Africa. The U.S. had just finished settling its frontiers and also ended up establishing a few territories
in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
Though imperialism differed all over the world, it can be stated that the all forms of imperialism were
based on the theory of Social Darwinism. This idea describes that humans, like animals and plants,
compete in a struggle for existence in which natural selection results in "survival of the fittest." Thus
each country needed to ruthlessly protect itself, even if it meant occupation of other
countries.
Under imperialism, a general trend was also found in the colonies. Education was primarily
the responsibility of wealthy families. Religion was propagated through the means of newly set up
churches such as the Anglican Church by the Puritans. The foreigner also provided a variety of
artisans, shopkeepers, and merchants who provided services to the growing farming population.
However, slavery in colonies was a huge issue. The enslaved African (known as African slaves,
although they were not considered slaves until they were officially purchased by a planter or
plantation owner) who worked on the indigo, tobacco, and rice fields in the South came from mainly
western and central Africa. Slavery in Colonial America was very oppressive as it passed on from
generation to generation, and slaves had no legal rights
Apart from their similarities, European imperialism and U.S. imperialism differed by sheer size. First,
European nations like France and England had been involved in imperialism long before the late
1800s. For them it started during the Age of Discovery in the 1450s. When imperialism started up in
Europe, the nations simply built up the empires they already had. The U.S. had been a nation for less
than 200 years. It had just finished expanding from sea to shining sea and had no territories or
colonies. A culmination of events catapulted the U.S. into imperialism. The U.S. people and
politicians were unsure what it would look like. These differences led to slower and smaller
imperialism in the U.S., while Europe colonized huge chunks of Africa within twenty years.
Furthermore, the U.S had just started to build up its economy. It wanted new markets for
its goods as well as territories that granted it with a myriad number of raw materials
which could be utilized in American industries. Whereas the European Imperialism was
based on same idea the old British Empire had, of having colonies for power and
resource sake. Nations like Germany, England, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungry were
in a constant struggle not to let any one nation become more power than the others.
Nations having more colonies than the others were seen as a shift in the balance of
power. Thus the importance of imperialism for the U.S. was very much different than the
importance of imperialism for Europe.
Secondly, the U.S. imperialism also propagated its economic, social, cultural and political ideology
slowly to a huge population of this world through local regimes. Once trapped and following, it hardly
had any problem in manipulating and channeling situations to its own favor. In the European case,
the colonizers had their personal presence to modify ideologies and to form a class that would help it

establish and dominate the country. They set up self-governing committees which helped them exert
authority over the locals.
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