New?

Old Imperialism is defined by "God, gold, and glory." European powers first colonized the Americas in order to find natural resources, the most coveted of which was gold. Since early colonization Europe has practiced the economic theory of mercantilism, they exploited as much of the natural resources as possible, to solely benefit the home country. Once the Europeans saw the large populations of "uncivilized" heathen peoples they felt compelled to Christianize the savages. Both of these goals served one purpose, to heighten the reputation, wealth, and therefore power of an Empire. Arguably, New Imperialism is a new form of imperialism, but in reality it has the same motivations and many of the same techniques as old imperialism did. The idea that Cecil Rhodes had to make Britain self-sufficient was simply a formal version of mercantilism. The Europeans are now interested in much more than gold, but the idea is the same. The difference is that because of the industrial revolution European technology boomed quickly, making ground shattering advancements in weapons and transportation, and therefore making exploitation easier, and more profitable than it had ever been. As it was in old imperialism local populations had to be dealt with. Slavery and forced labor, which had been widely used until this point became very controversial for New Imperialism. There was still the lasting ambition of old imperialism to civilize local populations, and as it was done before, missionaries flooded Africa just as they had done the Americas over a century ago.