How did the British colonial expansion proceed?

/kloc-After the middle of the 6th century, with the development of capitalism, Britain carried out colonial expansion and colonial plunder with increasing scale and cruel means. By the middle of19th century, Britain had become the colonial empire with the largest number of colonies among the capitalist powers. Here's how I shared the British colonial expansion. Let's have a look.

(The picture shows India during the British colonial period)

The process of British colonial expansion began in16th century, reached its peak in the early 20th century and lasted for four centuries. During these four centuries, Britain absorbed the wealth of the colonies, gradually strengthened its comprehensive national strength, and finally became an immortal empire.

British colonial expansion can be divided into three periods. The first period was the overseas colonial period from16th century to18th century. The main purpose of this period is for the primitive accumulation of capital. The expansion targets are North America and Australia. 1733, Britain first established 13 colonies on the North American continent. From 1689 to 1763, Britain and France waged four wars for the colony, which is known as the Hundred Years' Anglo-French War. In these four battles, each ended in victory for Britain. The number of British colonies has also greatly increased. After the Seven Years' War, Britain acquired all the territories east of Canada and the Mississippi River, and also incorporated Tobago, Dominica and Grenada into its colonial system.

The second stage of British colonial expansion was from18th century to19th century. This stage is the stage for Britain to compete for Eurasia. After the industrial revolution, Britain began to plunder industrial raw materials and commodity sales markets from Eurasia. The Indian peninsula became the main colony of Britain. At the same time, in Africa, Britain also stepped up its colonial control. This stage is the golden age of British capitalism.

The third stage of British colonial expansion was to fight for African colonies. At this stage, the British massacre in Africa brought profound disasters to Africa. By the beginning of the 20th century, the world map was basically divided, with Britain accounting for the largest share. Through these three colonial expansions, Britain became an empire that never declined.

Knowledge expansion: the background of European colonial expansion and plunder

Colonial expansion and plunder in Europe is the most important way to accumulate primitive capital in Europe. It laid the foundation for the development of capitalist economy in Europe. So what is the background of European colonial expansion and plunder?

Dutch colonial expansion and plunder

The background of European colonial expansion and plunder has the following four aspects. The first aspect is the economy. Due to the continuous development of commodity economy in western European countries, the seeds of capitalism are sprouting at this time, and the demand for gold and silver in society is increasing, which makes the capitalist society in western Europe have to find new gold and silver producing areas.

The second aspect is the popularity of Kyle Polo's travel notes in Europe, and the yearning of western Europeans for the wealth of the East. They want to go to Tulane Peanut to provide an economic foundation for their own development. The development of capitalist economy needs a lot of raw materials and markets. However, Europe is a small region, and resources and markets are not enough for its development. Therefore, western Europe needs colonial plunder and expansion to obtain raw materials and commodity sales markets. At this time, the opening of new sea routes and the development of navigation technology provided technical support for the colonial expansion and plunder of Europe.

The third aspect is that the economic conditions in other parts of the European continent are still very backward, and even some areas are still in a primitive state of life, which has improved the conditions for western colonial rule. Cultural differences enabled them to colonize well.

Spain and Portugal bear the brunt of the fourth aspect of European colonial expansion. These two countries actively explored colonies abroad, which brought a lot of wealth to their own countries and also caused European countries to follow suit. Since then, most European countries have embarked on the road of colonial expansion.

The influence of colonial expansion

The influence of European colonial expansion changed the course of the modern world. Under the influence of colonial expansion, originally unrelated areas gradually joined together. As a result, the links between regions in the world are getting closer and closer, the capitalist world market is further expanded, and even global economic relations have emerged.

Of course, this is for the whole world. For colonial countries, colonial expansion made them gain a lot of wealth from the colonies. It also provided a wide overseas market for western Europe and promoted the development of capitalism. Those businessmen in Europe made high profits, which provided conditions for their advanced careers. Due to the primitive accumulation of capital, bourgeois new noble appeared in Britain. Relying on their own economic resources, these nobles gradually controlled the parliament and laid a political foundation for the bourgeois revolution.

For those colonies, the colonial expansion of western Europe brought them great disasters. Colonial countries should not only provide cheap raw materials for capitalist countries, but also accept the consequences of commodity dumping. Cruel plunder caused the long-term backwardness of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The gap between the east and the west is widening. However, one thing is worthy of recognition. In Asia, Africa and Latin America, under the impact of the industrial revolution, the original mode of production has been greatly impacted, and cultural concepts have also been greatly affected. Japan was once a closed-door feudal country, but under the impact of western capitalist culture and the invasion of western capital, it accepted the transformation of capitalist culture and eventually became a first-class power in Asia. This is also an opportunity brought by colonial expansion.

However, Japan is only a special case. More countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America lost their sovereignty and territory in colonial expansion and became the targets of arbitrary slaughter.

The relationship between colonial expansion and colonial plunder

Colonial expansion and colonial plunder have the same connection, but there are also different differences. To study the relationship between colonial expansion and colonial plunder, we must first make clear the meaning of colonial expansion and colonial plunder.

Colonial expansion and plunder are not only the original accumulation stage of capitalism and the way to the imperialist stage, but also the inevitable process of early primitive accumulation of capital and industrial development. Colonial expansion is the means and mode of primitive accumulation of capital, and colonial plunder is the purpose of colonial expansion. During the period of 18 and 19 century, the capitalist industries in western Europe developed rapidly, and the narrow domestic market could no longer consume the products brought about by the industrial revolution. The periodic expansion of domestic sales, investment and production has become a bottleneck restricting the development of capitalism. Therefore, it is urgent to dump products overseas and obtain raw materials. This is colonial expansion, and it is also the expansion of capital in essence. This expansion includes the invasion of capital and the division of spheres of influence.

Colonial expansion laid the foundation for colonial plunder. Colonial plunder includes seizing colonial labor and means of production. The ways of early colonial plunder included overseas migration, slave trade and opium trafficking. Later colonial plunder changed from commodity export to capital export. The economic structure of the colony was further controlled by the colonists, and the development model of capitalism also changed. By the end of19th century, all western European countries had entered the stage of imperialism, and the way of colonial expansion and plunder had become a little milder. But this can't change the trend of colonization of the ruled countries.

This is the relationship between capitalist colonial expansion and colonial plunder. Although there are differences between the two, they are both the accumulation of capital and the harm to colonial countries and people.

The Influence of Colonial Expansion on China

The colonial expansion of Europe had a far-reaching impact on China. At that time, no country could escape the influence of capitalist culture.

The influence of colonial expansion on China mainly includes two stages. The first stage is after the forties of 19. During this period, the western powers, mainly Britain, launched two wars against China, which brought about great changes in China society. Politically, China was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties, which gradually reduced China to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. Major changes have taken place in China's domestic contradictions, revolutionary tasks and revolutionary nature; Economically, China was forced to be involved in the world capitalist market, becoming the raw material producing area and commodity selling market of the great powers, and the economic structure of China changed. A new wave of learning from the West emerged ideologically, which objectively disintegrated the incarnation of feudal education and the imperial examination system. In diplomacy, the closed-door policy of the Qing Dynasty was completely broken, and China was integrated into the world.

The second stage of colonial expansion's influence on China was at the end of 19. At the beginning of the 20th century, the national crisis in China was even deeper. Politically, the Qing dynasty has completely become? A court for foreigners? Internal contradictions are becoming more and more fierce, and democratic movements are breaking out one after another; Economically, China's national capitalist economy was destroyed by the west, and China further became an economic vassal of the great powers; In terms of ideology and culture, the Revolution of 1911 made China emancipate his mind for the second time, and his democratic thoughts were deeply rooted in people's hearts.

The influence of colonial expansion on China has both advantages and disadvantages, but generally speaking, the modernization of the country is also the trend of the world trend. If you can't keep up with the world trend, you will eventually be abandoned by history.

Introduction to Portuguese colonial expansion

Portugal's colonial expansion activities opened the door to foreign aggression in Europe. The development of modern western history also began with the colonial expansion of Portugal.

14 15, the Portuguese began to occupy the Ceuta region of Morocco. Since then, the Portuguese expedition has been exploring the south, hoping to open up a new route to the east. Because at this time, the Silk Road leading to the East had been blocked by the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Economic exchanges between China and the West are completely paralyzed. In order to get more porcelain and silk from the east, the west had to open up a new route.

1487, Portuguese Diaz began to sail south along the west coast of Africa. He led his fleet to the southernmost tip of Africa and named the southernmost land in Africa the Cape of Good Hope. This is a major breakthrough for the Portuguese to explore new routes.

To 1497, Portuguese explorers arrived? Gamma led a huge fleet, bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and arrived in Kalikut, India. This is the first time in human history to bypass the Cape of Good Hope, and the Portuguese have opened up a new route to the East.

With the opening of new air routes, Portugal began its colonial expansion. Its expansion is concentrated in Asia and Africa. 1500, Portuguese colonists incorporated Brazil into his colonial system. From 65438 to 0557, China and Macau were occupied by Portugal.

However, Portugal's colonial expansion did not bring Portugal a strong national strength. Although they plundered a lot of wealth, the Portuguese nobles bought all the plundered gold into luxury goods in Britain and France, which led to the capital flowing into other countries. Portugal, addicted to luxury dreams, finally lost its status as a colonial power.

Guess you are interested in:

1. "Colonial expansion and plunder in western countries" exercise and answer

2. The independence process of British colonies

3. British thoughts on the rise of great powers 1000 words

4. Why is it called Britain? Empire when the sun never sets?

5. What was the background of the British-Burmese war?

6. The history of British tea culture