14.6: Effects

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Imperialism can be described as “plunder economies.”

First, colonial regimes seized the land from the people who lived there through force, backed by pseudo-legal means. Unless a given person, or group, had a legal title in the western sense to the land they lived on, they were liable to have it seized. Likewise, traditional rights to hunt, gather material, and migrate with herds were lost.
Second, colonial regimes expropriated raw materials like rubber, generally shipped back to Europe to be turned into finished products.
Third, colonial regimes exploited native labor. Examples could be found in outright slavery like the Congo, the Portuguese African colonies, and forced labor in French and German colonies. In other cases, "semi-slavery" existed, as on the island of Java where the Dutch imposed quotas of coffee and spices on villages. Subsistence-level wages paid to workers were offered in most of the territories controlled by the British.

In addition to labor exploitation, European powers imposed “borders” where none had existed. This action split up existing kingdoms, tribes, and cultures and then arbitrarily lumped different groups together. Sometimes European powers favored certain local groups over others in order to better maintain control. For example, British policy used the Tutsi tribe (“class” is more accurate) to govern over the majority Hutus in what would later become Rwanda. Thus, the effects of imperialism lasted after former colonies achieved their independence in the 20th century, using almost all of the borders originally created by the imperialists.

In a somewhat ironic twist, only certain forms and areas of exploitation made a profit for Europeans and their governments. Numerous private merchant companies founded to exploit colonial areas went bankrupt. The entire French colonial edifice never produced significant profits. Since governments generally stepped in to declare protectorates and colonies after merchant interests went under, the cost of maintaining an empire grew along with the territorial claims. Thus, while economic motives were always present, much of imperialism boiled down to the increasingly hostile great powers of Europe.