Chapter18

Chapter 18 discusses how the Europeans once again felt they were superior to the developing world and colonized places such as Africa,Asia, and India. The “scramble for Africa” was a few European powers that were against each other as they took control and separated lands across the continent amongst themselves within twenty five years. Europeans were surprised by the intensity of their rivalries as well as the time it took to acquire large territories. When they colonized these places there was a lot of racism and inequality; however, the people were still able to have a stable growing economy. The second wave included Germany, Italy, Belgium, Japan, and the United States these were the countries that did not take part in the first wave of colonizing. Meanwhile the Spanish and Portuguese were able to work through the economy with military intervention. The European military advantages were due to the structure, organization,and also most importantly fire power. In the nineteenth century rifles and machine guns were invented. Something else to note was that the Europeans at the time saw the achievements and culture of Asian and African people through the scope of a new kind of racism that was expressed in terms of science. Race was a matter of fact and based on intelligence, moral development, and destiny.