History 275: Modern European Imperialism

By 1900 the small island group of Great Britain ruled over one-fourth of the world’s land mass and one-fifth of its people. How and why did Britain and other European states seize power over much of the world in the 19th and 20th centuries? Why did they think they had the right (or duty) to do so? What did this mean for Europe? For the people in the colonized lands? What is the legacy of European imperialism for the contemporary world? Did decolonization create truly independent states? Centering on British and French imperialism, the course seeks to answer these questions through intensive reading of primary and secondary sources. The course begins by studying theories of empire, then looks at how imperialism impacted history via a variety of themes, including geopolitics, capitalism, and expansion; the empire at home; gender and empire, and nationalist and racist visions of the world. Formerly History 335-may not be taken if previously completed 335.