III.

Motives for Colonization

In general, strong countries dominated weaker ones to promote their own national self-interest, out of economic, religious, cultural, or other reasons. It has been said that the three primary motives for establishing colonies were gold, God, and glory, but the main incentives were usually economic.

A.

Economic Motives

The colonizing country could control important markets for its exports (such as cotton products) and deny these markets to its competitors. Colonies were also important as sources of raw materials (such as raw cotton) and as opportunities for investment. A country often also increased its wealth by conquering another civilization and taking its riches or by exploiting the mineral wealth of another land. In the 16th century, for example, Spain became a rich and powerful country largely by plundering the riches of existing civilizations in the Americas and by seizing the area’s mineral wealth through mining.

These practices were promoted by the policy of mercantilism that many European colonial powers adopted. Those who advocated mercantilism believed that exports to foreign countries were preferable both to trade within a country and to imports because exports brought more money into the country. They also believed that the wealth of a nation depended primarily on the possession of gold and silver. Mercantilists assumed that the volume of world wealth and trade was relatively static, so one country’s gain required another’s loss. According to this view, a colonial possession should provide wealth to the country that controlled it. Colonies were not supposed to compete with the mother country’s home industries. Empires were closed systems, designed to keep competitors out.

To implement mercantilist policy, England passed legislation called the Navigation Acts that restricted its colonies to trading solely with the mother country. The acts also stipulated that goods imported or exported by English colonies in Africa, Asia, or America had to be shipped on vessels constructed by English shipbuilders and that at least three-quarters of the ships’ crews had to be English.

Sometimes such regulations backfired. During the French and Indian War (1754-1763) in North America, the British Parliament sought to increase revenues to pay the costs of defending the American colonies. It used the Navigation Acts to levy heavier duties on the American colonies. American colonists felt oppressed by these taxes, which are considered to be one of the causes of the American Revolution (1775-1783).

In the 18th century a reaction to mercantilism began, and the philosophy of free trade started to take root. Economists, particularly Scottish economist Adam Smith, argued against government regulation of the economy. Smith asserted that trade with a colony was no more profitable than with an independent country. He argued that political strategy might justify colonialism, but economics could not. By the 19th century, free-trade policies were prompting European nations to pursue informal empires or spheres of influence.

B.

Religious and Strategic Motives

European countries also wanted to spread their religious beliefs and eliminate other religions. Roman Catholic countries, particularly Spain, set out to convert non-Christian native peoples. Protestant countries also used religion as a motive for expansion. Beginning in the 19th century, Britain’s missionary movements served as a significant reason for that country’s colonial efforts. The impact of the colonizer’s religion on native societies varied. In parts of West Africa and southern Africa, very large proportions of the population converted to Christianity. In most places, the indigenous people combined the new religion with their existing beliefs and culture, as in Central America, where the Maya people merged their native practices with Christianity.

Sometimes colonies were important for strategic reasons—for example, the Cape of Good Hope, on the southern tip of Africa, guarded European sailors’ southern route to Asia. Also, some countries occupied colonies in order to protect previous investments. In Egypt, a nationalist uprising in 1882 threatened the ruling Egyptian powers with whom Britain had an informal agreement regarding the Suez Canal, of which the British government had purchased part ownership. When Britain saw its investments in and its control of the canal in jeopardy, it occupied Egypt to control the situation.

Some European colonizing powers justified their colonial activities on what they called humanitarian motives. In the 19th century, Britain cited the African slave trade as a reason to increase its control over areas in Africa. Of course, the British had been leaders in the slave trade at its height in the previous century.