Step 59 of 95
Effects on colonizing societies
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- Economic enrichment: Imperial economies grew wealthy through colonial extraction, though benefits were unequally distributed within the metropole
- National identity: Imperial possessions reinforced national pride and identity, and provided shared symbols (Queen Empress of India, the French civilizing mission)
- Racial ideologies hardened: The administrative experience of governing non-white peoples reinforced and elaborated racial ideologies that would have catastrophic effects in the twentieth century
- Cultural enrichment: Imperial societies absorbed cultural influences from their colonies (foods, words, fashion, religious ideas)
- International tensions: Imperial competition contributed directly to the alliance systems and rivalries that produced WWI
- Critical movements: Some Europeans criticized imperialism on humanitarian or economic grounds. J.A. Hobson and later V.I. Lenin developed influential theories of imperialism. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness critiqued European brutality.
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