[F]or the sake of peace and concord, and for the preservation of the relationship and love of the said King of Portugal for the said King and Queen of Castile, Aragon, etc., it being the pleasure of their Highnesses, they, their said representatives, acting in their name and by virtue of their powers herein described, covenanted and agreed that a boundary or straight line be determined and drawn north and south, from pole to pole, on the said ocean sea, from the Arctic to the Antarctic pole.”1
In 1494, Portugal and Spain divided the world in two between them through the Treaty of Tordesillas. Thus began the European Age of Discovery and Conquest, which brought with it old imperialism. Old imperialism comprised settlements in the New World, missionary work, the extraction of resources, colonial rivalry over trade, and exploration.
Fig. 1 - Saint Francis Xavier is preaching in Goa, India, by André Reinoso, 1610.
Imperialism
Imperialism is the control and domination of a weaker country by a more powerful country using military, political, economic, social, and cultural means. Different countries and cultures worldwide engaged in imperialism at one point or another. Sometimes they formally incorporated colonies into their empires. At other times, they controlled them indirectly through economic and social means.
Some examples include Arab and Ottoman (Turkish) historical imperialism in the Middle East.
However, when we discuss old imperialism in this context, we primarily refer to European colonial expansion in the Early Modern period.
Fig. 2 - Christopher Columbus’s travel routes between 1492 to 1504 (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 1.0)).
Old Imperialism: Definition
Old European imperialism is roughly between the late 15th and 18th centuries, the Age of Discovery and Conquest. At this time, European colonial powers conquered territories and established colonies in the New World by settling them with their people. After this, the European powers used their colonies for:
- controlling important trade routes
- extracting resources
- missionary work to "civilize" the indigenous populations
- scientific discovery and exploration
Some of the European powers in question were:
- Portugal
- Spain
- Britain
- France
- Netherlands
Old Imperialism: Examples
There are many different examples of European imperialism abroad.
Britain and the Thirteen Colonies
Britain was one of the top imperial powers during the Age of Discovery and Conquest. The British monarchy established colonies in North America and the Caribbean. By the mid-19th-century, Britain continued to colonize the world by expanding and occupying such places as India.
Britain relied on different colonizing and administrative methods for its settlements abroad. In the early period, one of the critical ways of colonizing was using joint-stock companies such as the Virginia Company of London.
- The Virginia Company of London was influential in the early days of the North American Thirteen Colonies. Between 1606 and 1624, this joint-stock company had King James I's permission through his charter to settle North America (from latitude 34° to 41°). The company was responsible for founding Jamestown in 1607 and local forms of government, such as a General Assembly in 1619. However, the king revoked the company’s charter and made Virginia, his royal colony in 1624.
Britain was not alone in using joint-stock companies to expand its imperial power.
For example, the Netherlands used the Dutch East India Company (United East India Company) founded in 1602, to colonize Asia. The Dutch government gave the company significant powers ranging from founding colonies and waging war to minting its own money.
Fig. 3 - A View of the Nieuwe Poort at Batavia, present-day Jakarta, Indonesia, 1682.
Spanish Conquistadors
Spanish conquistadors were the military conquerors of parts of Central and South America, such as Peru and Mexico.
- The conquistadors engaged in activities typical of old imperialism, such as looking for gold and looting Peru's burial sites. The conquistadors' conquest led to terrible consequences for the local Chincha people. Between the 1530s and 1580s, the population of male heads of household declined from 30 thousand to 979, according to historic documents. Scholars attribute this decline to diseases and famines as well as political and cultural aspects of the Spanish presence.
Fig. 4 - Smallpox outbreak among the indigenous Nahuas of Mexico after the Europeans’ arrival, Florentine Codex (1540-1585).
This 16th-century text describes some of the terrible effects of smallpox in Mexico:
Large bumps spread on people, some were entirely covered. They spread everywhere, on the face, the head, the chest, etc. (The disease) brought great desolation; a great many died of it. They could no longer walk about, ut lay in their dwellings. […] The pustules that covered people caused great desolation; very many people died of them, and many just starved to death; starvation reigned, and no one took care of others any longer.”2
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church was a powerful religious institution engaging in foreign missionary work. Its goal was not only to convert the local populations to Christianity but also to "civilize" them. In many ways, the Church's views of the native peoples were paternalistic and in line with the racialized attitudes of the European colonialists with secular functions.
The Church went all over the world, including:
- Saint Francis Xavier, a 16th-century Spanish Jesuit priest, preached in India, Japan, and China
- The Catholic Church played a major role in missionary, educational, and administrative work in Central and South America
- France colonized present-day Quebec and Canada, including the involvement of the Récollet Order and the Jesuits.
Some historians consider the French variant of the Catholic Church in Quebec less aggressive than its Spanish counterpart in Latin America. However, in general, both regional branches undermined local culture and promoted assimilation.
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The Protestants also engaged in missionary work among the indigenous people. For example, John Eliot, a Puritan who resided in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, undertook a mission to the Iroquois.
Exploration and Scientific Discovery
Old European imperialism contributed to exploration and scientific discovery. One of the key ways in which the latter occurred was by investigating the New World's geography, flora, and fauna.
For example, the 17th-18th-century French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye searched for the Northwest Passage. He documented his travels through the prairies, such as the present-day Canadian province of Manitoba. The Frenchman made a map of traveling by canoe in Lakes Superior and Winnipeg.
Old Imperialism: Time Period
Some of the key events during the period of old European imperialism include:
| Date | Event |
| 1492 | - Columbus's journey to the New World across the Atlantic.
|
| 1494 | - The Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal effectively splits the world between them for exploration and conquest.
|
| 1519–1521 | - The Spanish conquer Aztec lands in Mexico.
|
| 1529 | - Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano terms “New France” for King Francis I of France.
|
| 1543 | - The Portuguese become the first Europeans to make contact with Japan.
|
| 1602 | - The Dutch East India Company is established to explore and conquer parts of Asia such as Indonesia.
|
| 1606-1607 | - The Virginia Company of London is founded and given the British crown's charter to explore North America.
|
| 1608 | - Samuel de Champlain establishes Quebec (New France) in North America.
|
| 1620s | - Britain founds its first colonial settlements in the Caribbean (British West Indies).
|
| 1628 | - France establishes colonies in the Caribbean (French West Indies).
|
Old Imperialism and the Indigenous Peoples
The relationship between the colonial settlers and the indigenous peoples was complicated and depended on many factors. However, it was usually unequal and hierarchic since the Europeans imposed their own political, social, and cultural order onto the local population.
Sometimes, Europeans got involved in local conflicts. In 1609, Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec, participated in battles with the Algonquin and the Huron against the Iroquois. Other times, indigenous people got pulled into military conflicts between the European colonial powers. Such was the case during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), primarily between Britain and France. For example, the British fought alongside the Iroquois and the Cherokee.
As mentioned, the Catholic Church sometimes perceived the local populations as savage and uncivilized. European priests combined religious teaching and education with racialized views.
There were also cases when the relationship between the locals and the settler colonists began in an amicable manner but deteriorated.
Such was the case of the Jamestown settlers initially aided by the Powhatan people. As the settlers encroached onto their ancestral lands, the relationship worsened, culminating in the 1622 Massacre of the colonists.
Another important factor was Trans-Atlantic slavery which imported slave labor primarily from Africa. Many European countries engaged in human trafficking, including:
- Britain
- France
- Netherlands
- Spain
- Portugal
- Denmark
At the top of the social hierarchy in the colonies were landowning men of European descent, followed by European women and lower-class settlers, with the indigenous people and the slaves at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Fig. 5 - Enslaved people are working in 17th-century Virginia, by an unknown artist, 1670.
Old Imperialism vs. New Imperialism
Typically, historians differentiate between old imperialism and new imperialism.
| Type | Summary |
| Old imperialism | - Old European imperialism was prevalent roughly from the late 15th century until the 18th century.
- This form of imperialism focused on establishing colonies abroad by using European settlers, controlling trade routes, extracting resources, and missionary "civilizing" initiatives among the native populations.
- The geographic regions involved were North and South America and Asia. Africa was used as the primary source of slave labor.
|
| New imperialism | - New imperialism was prevalent between the late 19th century and World War I.
- The colonized countries were primarily in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
- There are many similarities with the old variant of imperialism, such as the use of resources. However, in the late 19th-early 20th century, colonial powers often extracted the resources to manufacture products and sell them elsewhere.
|
In some places, formal imperialism ended with World War I.
The First World War led to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, which controlled parts of the Middle East. Some countries, like Iraq and Saudi Arabia, gained complete independence. Others, like Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine, remained under French and British mandates. The Europeans treated them paternalistically and did not believe that the local population could govern itself.
However, many European countries like France, Britain, and Portugal maintained formal colonies abroad until the mid-20th century when broad decolonization began. As a result, some historians extend the period of new imperialism to this postwar era.
Decolonization is gaining political, economic, social, and cultural independence from an imperialist colonial power.
Also, scholars consider neocolonialism a newer form of imperialism in the 20th century and into the present.
Neocolonialism is an indirect form of colonialism. In a neocolonial framework, a powerful country, such as a former imperial power, controls a weaker country by using economic, social, and cultural methods without making it a formal colony.
Old Imperialism - Key Takeaways
- Old European imperialism lasted between the late 15th and 18th centuries. At this time, European colonial powers established and settled colonies in the New World using the resources, trying to assimilate the native populations, controlling the trade routes, and pursuing exploration and science.
- Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands were some of the period's key imperialist powers.
- While the European settlers enriched their respective countries, the local populations, at times, suffered from disease, famine, political suppression, and the destruction of their culture and way of life.
References
- “Treaty between Spain and Portugal concluded at Tordesillas; June 7, 1494,” Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/15th_century/mod001.asp accessed 11 November 2022.
- Diel, Lori Boornazian. Aztec Codices: What They Tell Us About Daily Life, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2020, p. 344.
- Fig. 2 - Christopher Columbus’s travel routes between 1492 to 1504 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Viajes_de_colon_en.svg), by Phirosiberia (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Phirosiberia), digitized by Wikipedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 1.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 1.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/deed.en).
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