Episode 27 – The Age of Imperialism

World History Class with Mr. Lutz

So, haven’t we seen imperialism all year long in this class and now we are calling a particular chapter of study “imperialism?” What has changed? Why is this a thing? It is because we are no longer talking purely of domination solely through a military means. Imperialism takes the military form where one country physically dominates another, but it also takes an economic form where business interests from the imperial nation exploit the colonized lands and people without ever having to directly govern the territories from which they draw significant wealth. Colonialism still exists during this time but it doesn’t only involve settling your people in a foreign land. Now it also involves installing your political and economic institutions into this foreign land as well, so whether or not lots of your people are moving there, your colony is operating in a manner heavily influenced by your politicians and businessmen. We’ll tackle the motives to practice imperialism, the spread of imperialism, and the resistance to imperialism.

Complicating the Narrative

The Trouble with Empire by Antoinette Burton
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-trouble-with-empire-9780199936601?cc=us&lang=en&

Document(s) in Focus

“The White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/

“The Black Man’s Burden” by Lulu Baxter Guy
https://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/749

Recommendation

White King, Red Rubber, Black Death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh8B1xbOEIA

“In The Rubber Coils. Scene – The Congo ‘Free’ State” Linley Sambourne depicts King Leopold II of Belgium as a snake entangling a congolese rubber collector.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Punch_congo_rubber_cartoon.jpg

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https://ia801405.us.archive.org/27/items/27Imperialism/27%20Imperialism.mp3