Imperialism

Phases of Imperialism

The first phase of imperialism began in 1440 with the arrival of the first shipment of enslaved African people and gold in Portugal. This period, which lasted until 1870 when the colonial phase began, involved an investment in human flesh, unknown in scale and scope before this time. These shipments of African people to other lands might be called the first experiment in organized modern capitalism, as the accumulation of profit from the trade of enslaved Africans made imperialism, as a whole, possible. The modern global economy, which Europeans once dominated and now European Americans dominate, was created by the inhumane exploitation of African people.

The enslavement of Africans by Europeans is not properly considered trade—it is accurately defined as a holocaust, meaning the destruction of a people. The rise of and support for the enslavement of Africans may have led directly to what African American scholars see as the moral decay of the modern world. From the 15th through the 20th centuries Europeans developed a network of international trade and fought for its control. The trade of enslaved Africans was the single most important element of this effort. Portugal established a strong foothold early, establishing a trading monopoly in the East. Once Portugal united its political ambitions with those of Spain, attention was turned to establishing colonies in the Americas.

The Dutch replaced the Portuguese in the East and carried the technique and institutions of commercial empire building to their furthest development. The Dutch efforts were supported by their role in supplying enslaved Africans to the colonies in the Americas.

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