ABSTRACT
Nineteenth-century colonialism was essentially a continuation of the patterns of behavior that had been manifested in the Americas since 1492. By the nineteenth century, as northern European states took the place of Spain as colonizing empires, few territories remained available in the western Atlantic. Nineteenth-century colonialism in Latin America, mainly the purview of the United States under the terms of the Monroe Doctrine, primarily remained informal, operating through political and economic influence and occasional military intervention rather than direct control, but colonialism was more openly expressed in other parts of the world. Newly imperial states thus turned to Africa in the eastern Atlantic and Asia when they sought to consolidate empires. In Asia and Africa, imperial conquest was made possible by the new technologies of the industrial age – the telegraph, steamship, and Maxim gun, as well as by the new wealth produced by industrialization. With these means, the conquest of Africa was rapid, mainly completed in the fifteen years from 1885 to 1900, unlike imperialism in Asia, which occurred more gradually as the Portuguese, English, Dutch, Russians, and French slowly extended control over southeastern and northern regions. The United States also stepped in, taking over control of the Philippines from Spain. During the nineteenth century, Europeans apportioned and took possession of previously uncolonized regions of the world. By the turn of the century, European countries, especially Britain and France, dominated much of the rest of the world.
