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American History

Autor:   •  March 2, 2014  •  Essay  •  962 Words (4 Pages)  •  1,261 Views

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American history is among the most interesting and studied in the world. From the time of discovery of North American in 1776, America has gone through many dramatic and important events most of which have been put on record in books and manuscripts. Sufficing to note, it did not take much time for America to organize itself both economically and militarily and become a force to reckon with in the world. In fact, by the year 1850, America had already become a leader in imperialism and creation of empires all over the world (Smith).

Incidentally, the concept of empire creation was not conceived in America. Rather, it had been conceived many years even before America had gained its independence. The concept was conceived by one Joseph Chamberlain. Chamberlain was a politician and political leader in Great Britain who lived between 1836 and 1914. He was the mayor of Birmingham in 1873, was elected to parliament in 1876 and held other posts among them being the colonial secretary of the Great Britain between 1895 and 1903. Chamberlain advanced the idea of creation of colonies which would be extensions of the rule of the Great Britain. The colonies were to practice everything British including religion, education and language among others. The author of this article agrees on the need for creation and propagation of colonization.

American imperialism therefore began at a time when the concept had matured. The superpowers of the time had already established means and set the pace for America and other countries that were getting into the business of imperialism. At the time, The Germans had already established themselves as a great imperial country under the charismatic leadership of Otto Von Bismarck. Born in 1815 as Otto Eduard Leopold, Bismarck became the prime minister of Prussia between 1873 and 1890. It was during this time that he organized and presided the 1884 Berlin Conference (Congo or West Africa Conference) that he is most renowned for in the history of imperialism (Frederic P. Miller). During this conference, the rules and approach to be used to conquer and set up empires were established and agreed upon by all the states represented. The conference set the ground and increased the stakes in the ultimate scramble for Africa.

The French were among the most involved and important colonialists in Africa. This probably explains why besides English, French is the second most spoken language in the world especially in the West and Central regions of Africa. The policy and idea of French expansion and colonization were advanced by Jules Ferry who was the Prime Minister for two periods between 1880-1881 and 1883-1885. Jules believed in the importance expansion to aid in the strengthening of the French political and economic systems. He asserted that the ideas of politics and patriotism, economy and civilization went hand in hand. In his efforts to champion the idea of imperialism, Jules championed the removal of the influence

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