Imperialism

Imperialism is the extension of one state's power over other peoples and territories, whether by conquest, settlement, treaty, economic pressure or cultural influence. In this SACE Stage 1 topic your class will usually focus on one empire or imperial power from 1750 onwards, such as Britain, France, Japan or the United States. The subject outline lists these only as examples, so schools choose their own case. Historians separate several forms.

Formal empire means direct political control, for example British India after the Crown took over from the East India Company in 1858. Informal empire means dominance through trade, loans, gunboats and unequal treaties without annexation, as in Britain's relationship with Qing China after the Treaty of Nanking (1842). Settler colonies, such as the Australian colonies and New Zealand, were built around large-scale migration and the taking of land, while protectorates left local rulers in place under imperial supervision.

Imperialism also changed over time. Eighteenth-century expansion was often driven by chartered companies; the late nineteenth century saw the so-called New Imperialism, when European powers partitioned most of Africa within about thirty years and agreed rules for claiming territory at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85. Imperial powers justified expansion with stated ideals: bringing commerce, Christianity, law, order and 'civilisation'.

A central question for this topic is the gap between those ideals and the realities experienced by colonised peoples, which varied with place, time and individual circumstance. Tracing that gap requires the historical concepts of continuity and change, cause and effect, and perspective.