Economic motives

The dominant set of motives, growing directly from industrialization.

• Raw materials: Industrial economies consumed enormous quantities of raw materials many of which were not available in Europe. Rubber for tires (the automobile and bicycle made rubber strategic), cotton for textiles, palm oil for soap and lubricants, copper and tin for electrical industry, diamonds and gold for finance, tea, coffee, sugar, and spices for consumer markets.

• Markets: Industrial overproduction created surplus goods that needed markets beyond saturated domestic ones. Colonies could be required to buy from the mother country and could be protected from competitors by tariffs.

• Investment outlets: The wealth generated by industrialization sought higher returns than could be obtained in mature European economies. Railroads, mines, plantations, and infrastructure projects in colonies offered attractive returns. By 1914 British investments abroad equaled about 1.5 times British GDP.

• Cheap labor: Colonial populations could be compelled (through taxation, forced labor laws, land confiscation) to work for low wages on plantations, in mines, and in infrastructure projects.