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Imperialism "The policy,
practice, or advocacy of seeking, or acquiescing in, the extension of the
control, dominion, or empire of a nation, as by the acquirement of new,
esp. distant, territory or dependencies, or by the closer union of parts
more or less independent of each other for operations of war, copyright,
internal commerce, etc." Source
Brainy Dictionary
Definition: Manifest Destiny
the belief common in America in the
early 1800s that it was the destiny or fate of the US to expand west to
the Pacific Ocean. For many Americans, the belief had an almost religious
intensity, and was often considered an obvious part of God’s plan for
America’s future. It was with this feeling that settlers pushed west into
Indian and Mexican controlled lands, confident that they were justified in
doing whatever was necessary to spread the American flag and system of
government. Source:
Fast Track
Teaching
The Imperial Age saw the economic, political, social and
cultural expansion of control by the
British, French,
Belgians, Dutch, Americans and Russians. Their goal was to
dominate and exploit the population and wealth of Asia, Africa, Australia
and the Americas. They commonly held a belief, that it was the “white
man’s burden” to bring western culture to the world. Individuals were sent to “convert” the native populations
to European and American ways. Military and economic pressure was
utilized to influence and change the world into the imperialists way of
thought. The non-European world was changed in ways that today we regret. Politically British, French, Belgians, Dutch, Americans and Russian grew
in strength and power while the Ottoman, Spanish and Portuguese Empires
declined and the Holy Roman and Mughal Empires ended. Much of what we
consider modern has in its foundation this century. |
