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13 - Assessing imperialism

from Part III - Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Danielle Kinsey
Edited by
J. R. McNeill  and
Kenneth Pomeranz
J. R. McNeill
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Kenneth Pomeranz
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Summary

This chapter discusses several related questions about the history of imperialism since about 1750. Across the world in the middle of the eighteenth century there were dozens of political units that people at the time recognized as empires, colonies, and metropoles. The Ottoman Empire, often seen as a classic land empire, could just as easily be framed as an empire built on controlling seaways. Establishing an empire that worked over time meant establishing an unequal power relationship between at least two groups, traditionally described as the 'colonizer' and the 'colonized'. The web or network model accounts for multi-directional flows and influences within an empire, enabling a more complex understanding of imperial social formation. Hybridization, in terms of cultural, economic, and political practice as well as the actual mixing of DNA, has been shown to be common in all imperial contexts. The pervasive Eurocentrism embedded in the concepts of modernity and modern imperialism.

Keywords

agricultural policiesmodern economic growthagricultural institutionsworld agriculturestaple foodsnational productionrice cultivation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History , pp. 331 - 365
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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References

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