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Imperialism started in the latter part of the nineteenth century, which was triggered by the Industrial Revolution. Ever since the Industrial Revolution has started, competition among European countries has increased. In order to be the strongest among the rest of the countries, a nation had to be able to adapt to the new era and to be able to compete for survival, otherwise it was viewed as the weak and would eventually be defeated by the others. Mother countries such as Britain, France, and Germany began to develop new interests for the places which met their desires. Such desires included a dependable source for raw materials, and a large army to protect its possessions and the country itself. If all of these desires were met, higher standards of living could also be obtained, as well as prestige and the continuous prosperity of the mother country. Nations began to seek places which had a good geographical location and plenty of natural resources. Once they discovered these areas, they made them their colonies. By having colonies, a large army could be established to protect the mother country and its investments; raw materials could be transported from the colonies to the mother country and thus increased production. Imperialism benefited some aspects of the colonies, but was harmful in other aspects. Some colonies gained benefits such as better transportation as a result of new built roads and railways; better education for the people in the colony as schools were built; better shelters as new houses were built to replace mud huts (in the colonies in Africa in this case) (Mitchner & Tuffs. 1997. P.173). However, not all the things that happened were beneficial. As a mother country came into power and took control of a colony, the colony could lose what she originally had, such as control over her own issues. After investigating the benefits gained and the harm done to the colonies, the evidence shows that the harm done due to imperialism outweighed the benefits. For example, as India became one of Britain’s colonies, the lives of the Indians were in the hands of the British and they no longer had control over their own affairs (History of India, n.d.). Britain took advantages of India as much as possible and at all cost.
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