19th Century American Imperialism

1048 Words5 Pages
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, European Imperialism stretched all across the globe. The colonization of countries throughout Asia and Africa greatly aided European economics, but had devastating effects on the conditions of the colonies in India, Africa and China, including loss of culture and responsibility and the death of thousands. In the 19th century, Britain used the industrial revolution to their advantage to gain more territories through imperialism, starting with India. Britain’s presence in India led to greater profits for themselves, but loss of independence and loss of culture for the natives. When the British East India Company obtained power over India, regulations and leaders were set in place to incorporate Britain…show more content…
China in the 19th century was a strong and self sufficient nation with a mindset that everyone around them was inferior. China followed policies such as isolationism because they had no interest in what the west was offering. The western nations, frustrated, had the solution to smuggle opium- a highly addictive drug, into China. The British were successful in addicting 12 million Chinese citizens, who would now pay any price to the British for their drugs. The harmful nature of the drug took its toll on the Chinese economy as well, as production rates were down and crime rates were up. China, infuriated that Britain would deliberately harm the people solely for economic gain, declared war. Unfortunately, due to China's isolationist policies, they were lacking the new and improved technology that the industrial revolution provided. Britain easily defeated China in the Opium war, which resulted in the Treaty of Nanjing, allowing Britain to open up new trading ports with China, and allowing foreigners to not be subjected to Chinese law while on their soil. This ultimately gave Britain the upper hand in dictating the trade. Britain and Europe's presence in China destroyed the infrastructure of the country, and widespread hunger due to rapid population growth set in. Many Chinese realized that they needed to do something to change the course of their country, resulting in the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions. Both rebellions were shut down rather quickly, due to the aid, from European nations, of suppressing them. These fights resulted in many casualties and deaths. Imperialism in China resulted in the deaths of many, and the downfall of the strength of the Chinese empire. Many lives were destroyed, from the opium addictions to the disruption of the foreigners in everyday
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