What cultural, political and economic forces encouraged the nations of Essay

What cultural, political and economic forces encouraged the nations of Europe to create overseas empires in the late 19th century - Essay Example During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the European civilization experienced a marvelous imperial expansion and, there have been plenty of efforts made by the European navigators to cross the sea to different other regions of the world for various reasons. European powers like England, France, Portugal, and Spain supported the search for new colonies and their objectives were economic exploitation, the spread of Christianity and the strengthening of their empires and England succeeded in establishing its power over the colonies even from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Europeans were focusing on the shores of Africa, Asia and Latin America and various social, political and cultural factors have motivated them in this widening of imperialism. Cultural factors: The desire to preserve the cultural values, identity and improvement of the society as a whole was an important driving force behind colonization. For instance, it was the British who introduced secondary ed ucation system in India which helped Indians to advance to the frontline of administration. These statements explain the impact of imperialism in carrying out modifications in the social and cultural set up of European colonies (Baker 184). The role of missionaries in the process of colonization is another important factor to be discussed. Their mission was to popularize the teachings of Bible and propagate Christ’s preaching; however, Christianity was employed by the missionaries as an ideology used to convince people to accept the domination of the white. Missionaries provided information regarding social political and economic structure of particular regions to the imperialists so that they could plan appropriate strategies for colonization. Political factors: One can never undermine the political motivations behind colonization during the nineteenth century. During the war of Sedan in1870, the political situation was disturbing and conflicts were there among European nati on. The French nationalism became deep rooted after the war and colonial imperialism turned to be a means of revenge for France. Other European nations used colonialism as an instrument to divert the attention from their internal issues. National prestige was another key factor which compelled the Europeans to concentrate more on the division of existing colonies and occupying power over new colonies (Mathias & Todorov 68). Modern systems of communication and transportation have been introduced as a result of the technological development. These innovations eventually restructured European colonies. Economic factors: The nineteenth century industrialization could be connected with the colonization. As a result of the industrial expansion, Europeans went in search of raw materials and new markets for their products. According to Lenin’s theory, an enlargement of scale of production would result in a decline of profit in capitalist economies and as a result of the accumulation of capital the production will increase and the excessive production would result in the accumulation of unsold products (Mathias & Todorov 68). Industrial revolution resulted in the generation of such a situation. Imperialist policy and an overseas expansion became necessary to overcome this difficulty. It became an important objective of the statesmen to improve on the participation and share in the world trade so as to increase the national wealth and thereby national power (Mathias & Todorov 68). Impact on the international relationship: Most of the Asian and African countries were European colonies and their influence played a major role in shaping the social and educational institutions and the economic structur

George Berkeley Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

George Berkeley - Essay Example This paper briefly analyses why he oppose the concept of matter and support the role of God in human life. Berkeley argued that whatever the material bodies at our sight are not material objects but light and colors only. He has pointed out that human senses has limitations in identifying the exact nature of objects because of the inferior powers of our senses. He has questioned the Newtonian concepts like space, time, motion etc. Newton was successful in defining material objects with respect to space, time, motion etc. Newton argued that every object in this universe is made up with a three dimensional space (Length, breadth and thickness).Moreover he has also argued that every object in this universe is either in a state of motion or in a state of rest with respect to another object. Berkeley questioned these Newtonian arguments and pointed out that our senses do not have the ability to recognize the actual shape and size of material objects in this world. Berkeley’s argume nts were summarized as a theory called "esse is percipi" which means all the things surrounding us are nothing but our ideas or shadows. These ideas were formed with the help of imperfect sensory inputs. Berkeley believed that human senses are not matured or perfect enough to recognize the actual shape and size of matters in this world. ... In other words, animals and human have different sensory abilities. The above example clearly shows that in this universe, different living things have different sensing abilities. Moreover it is quite possible that living things with superior sensing abilities than humans exist in this universe. Berkeley also argued that sensory inputs have no other existence which is different from our perceptions. For example, two blind people who try to recognize the shape of an elephant may perceive the shape of elephant differently if they touch different parts of elephant body. The one who touches the ear of the elephant may perceive the shape of elephant as flat whereas the one who touches the legs of an elephant may perceive the shape of elephant as cylindrical. In other words, we are quite similar to these blind people. Our senses are incapable of assessing the proper shape of an object. It is quite possible that the shape of an object may have other dimensions which we are incapable to per ceive using our senses. Berkeley believed only in spirits and ideas. He argued that the mental substance is a combination of mind, spirit and soul. Moreover, ideas rest in this mental substance. He also argued that spirit is the only active being whereas ideas are passive beings. In other words, ideas can be perceived differently by different people whereas spirit cannot be altered. Thus, Berkeley succeeded in classifying human knowledge into two broad categories; knowledge with respect to ideas and knowledge with respect to spirit. Spiritual knowledge cannot be perceived whereas knowledge based on ideas can be perceived by human senses. Thus, Berkeley argued that spiritual knowledge is beyond our control or beyond our grasping abilities. In short,