Historical Perspectives: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES: HOW DID COLONIZATION PROMOTE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC GROWTH?

In the 19th century, the European powers believed that building a modern economy required establishing colonies. They focused on the economic and political benefits of imperialism.

Problems with Imperialism By the early 20th century, as the struggles of the workers and the burden of imperialist wars began to take a toll, some historians focused on the costs of imperialism. British writer J. A. Hobson argued in his book Imperialism: A Study (1904) imperialist competition for new resources and markets was a flaw in capitalism. The accumulation of capital in the hands of a few profit-seeking capitalists pressured governments to take over underdeveloped nations and to protect access to them. Hobson then explained how this was justified, based on the needs of a growing population or hopes for quick profits, but that those supporting this greed for territorial acquisition did not consider the associated political and economic costs.

Hobson believed that the system could be improved through greater global cooperation and planning. In contrast, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin wrote in Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capital Development (1917) that imperialist conflicts would cause capitalist states to destroy each other and usher in the era of communism.

Benefits to Some In the late 20th century, historians living in an age of increasing globalization re-studied the roots of the world economy. Immanuel Wallerstein, an American social scientist, popularized world- systems theory. He described a dynamic system of two main regions:

• The core included highly developed nations that accumulated capital and demanded resources and markets from under- or less- developed regions

• The periphery consisted of regions that provided resources and markets as well as labor needed by the core Wallerstein traced the roots of this world-system to the mid-16th century. Colonialism became the means by which peripheral states became incorporated into the world economy. However, Wallerstein noted that politics and culture vary within the world economy, so nations could be semi-peripheral at some point and possibly move to the core—or the other way around. He cited Spain as an example. Although this world- system caused inequalities, its dynamic nature insured its durability.

Develop an Argument: Evaluate the extent to which historical evidence supports the role of colonization as a factor in European economic growth.