Imperialism in nigeria and
Imperialism in nigeria andThe original quest for colonies, which began in the 17th century, was economically justified by the dominance of the mercantilist system. One of mercantilism's key assumptions was that a country could only become wealthy through the accumulation of gold stock. The only way to maintain a large gold stock was to block trade with other nations, and extract resources from far off colonies. This was the major justification for early colonization. In the quest for profit, England led the way in the industrial revolution of the 18th century. As the leading economic power of the day, England sought to expand their economic dominion by seizing new lands. Newly rich industrialists were eager to invest their wealth in markets at home and overseas. The overseas investments, in most cases paid a higher return, but were inherently more risky. One role of a huge empire is to eliminate the risk of overseas investment. As the empire grew larger, British capital diffused farther. By the dawn of the 20th century, British capital could be found all over the Earth. A second approach to the profit motive was somewhat similar to the supposedly out of favor mercantilist model. Leaders of industry and commerce wanted imperial possessions to be completely reliant on England for all manufactured goods. They believed that a market in which they had complete authority to block other imports would be a profitable market. These actions taken by the British were the start of Imperialism. Two countries that were immense economic profits for England were Africa and China. Examining these two countries will demonstrate how imperialism in Nigeria compared to imperialism in China.
In Africa, many of the chieftains signed several treaties, which gave control over African land and resources to England. The Royal Niger Company treaty, which was commissioned by Queen Victoria, gave the right to exercise political authority in the regions in Africa. These great numbers of treaties served as the basis for the Niger Districts Protectorate, which in turn became the British colony of Nigeria. These treaties were used throughout the region and one only needed to fill in the blanks. One example of a statement from the treaty is, we understand that the said Royal Niger Company have full power to mine, farm, and build in any portion of our country. This line plainly shows that the motives of the British were only to gain in economic power. The chieftains were giving up their land and eventually their culture to people they thought were trustworthy.
In China, only a half a century after Emperor Qianlong sent King George III of England his rejection of the British appeal for trade concessions, Emperor...
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