Blog #12

Due to the Industrial Revolution, it gave rise to new economic needs and it found solutions abroad. Enormous productivity of industrial technology and Europe's affluence created the need for extensive raw materials and agricultural products. Wheat, meat, bananas, rubber, cocoa, palm oil, tea, gold, and diamonds radically changed the patterns of economic and social life. Industrial capitalism produced more manufactured good than people could afford to buy. European soon found it more profitable to invest money abroad. Between 1910 and 1913, Britain sent half of its savings overseas as foreign investments. Wealthy Europeans saw social benefits to foreign markets. This helped Europe's factories humming and its workers employed. Imperialism promised to solve the class conflicts of an industrializing society while avoiding revolution or the serious redistribution of wealth. Imperialism became popular when the growth of mass nationalism began in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Colonies and spheres of influence abroad became symbols of "Great Power". Imperialism appeared as a strategy in economic and social grounds to the wealthy or ambitious. To them it seemed politically and strategically necessary in the game of international power politics.
The industrial era made overseas expansion more desirable and it provided new means for achieving goals. Steam-driven ships allowed Europeans to reach distant Asian and African ports more quickly and to penetrate interior rivers too. The underwater telegraph made almost instant communication. Also, the discovery of quinine to prevent malaria reduced  the death rates for Europe. Industrialization changed the way Europeans perceived themselves and others. Europeans held onto the sense pf religious superiority, but still adopted many ideas and techniques of more advanced societies. They held Chinese and Indian civilizations in high regard and mixed with Asian and African elites. They often married their women.