THE COLONIAL EMPIRES IN 1914

1- Identification and presentation

• This political map  represents the colonial empires in 1914 
• It dates 1914 and it represents the imperial expansion of the Industrialised European countries.
• The map represents the whole world.
• The different colours appearing in the key depict the countries and their colonies, while the arrows tell us the direction of each empire grouth.

2- Analysis

• The major colonial empires were: Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy. 
• Great Britain: Canadá, Nigeria, Egypt 
• France:
• Italy:
• Germany
• The countries outside Europe which took part in the colonial expansion were:
• USA: Alaska, Cuba Philippines.
• The Russian Empire: expanded to the south.
• Japan: expanded to the north and to the west.
• The largest colonial empire was Great Britain, and Africa the most affected continent.

   

3-Historical context

• The European colonial expansion took place between 1850 and 1914, Britain brought nearly 30% of Africa's population under its control, to 15% for France, 9% for Germany, 7% for Belgium and 1% for Italy. The only regions not under European control in 1914 were Liberia and Ethiopia.
• At the time, states focused on building their empires with new technological advances and developments, making their territory bigger through conquest, and exploiting the resources of the subjugated countries.
• Research suggests, the current conditions of postcolonial societies have roots in colonial actions and policies. For example, colonial policies, such as the type of rule implemented, the nature of investments, and identity of the colonizers, are cited as impacting postcolonial states. Examination of the state-building process, economic development, and cultural norms and mores shows the direct and indirect consequences of colonialism on the postcolonial states.

4-Conclusions

• Numerous scholars have attempted to analyze and categorize colonial activities by determining if they have positive or negative outcomes some researchers have focused on the type of political and economic institutions that existed before the arrival of Europeans. Heldring and Robinson conclude that while colonization in Africa had unequivocal negative consequences for political and economic development in areas that had previous centralized institutions or that hosted white settlements, it possibly had a positive impact in areas that were virtually stateless, like South Sudan or Somalia. In a complementary analysis, Gerner Hariri observed that areas outside Europe which had State-like institutions before 1500 tend to have less open political systems today. According to the scholar, this is due to the fact that during the colonization, European liberal institutions were not easily implemented. Beyond the military and political advantages, it is possible to explain the domination of European countries over non-European areas by the fact that capitalism did not emerge as the dominant economic institution elsewhere. Prosperous economic institutions that sustain growth and innovation did not prevail in areas like China, the Arab world, or Mesoamerica because of the excessive control of these proto-States on private matters.