Why was there a rapid expansion of empire building in the nineteenth century?
New technological advances
Junks
Machine guns
Fast-firing rifles
New explorers and missionaries
Dr Livingstone
Kept detailed records of places that had never been mapped before
Some were juist seeking adventures and others were just looking for opportunities to make themselves very wealthy
Cecil Rhodes
Conquered a huge area of Africa.
Economic reasons
Three key economic motives for building and expanding an empire
New markets
Cheap labour
Raw materials
Population growth
Europe's population increased rapily
Acute land shortages in the countryside and overcrowding in the cities
200 million to 600 million
Nationalism and national rivalries
(Many) Europeans leaders wanted colonies to compete with rival European powers.
Some were colonized even though there wasn't no economic reason to have them
Others were an economic drain on the imperial powers
Strategic reasons
Britain had a huge navy than other Europeans
India was an important colony for them
Recuited Indian soldiers under British officers
Reliable supply of coal to fuel a navy was also important
Needed to be able to take on fuel and food at stations en route to lands far from Europe