Question

examine the importance of colonies for the European imperialist powers

Answer 1

New Imperialismcharacterizes a period of colonial expansion by European powers, the United States, and Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The period featured an unprecedented pursuit of overseas territorial acquisitions

Answer 2

There were three main reasons why colonies benefitted the imperial powers (or why those imperial powers thought colonies helped them).  One of these reasons was economic, one was political, and one was military.

Powerful countries took colonies partly because they felt those countries would help them economically.  There were two ways in which colonies could help.  First, colonies could serve as places to get raw materials. Industrialized countries needed raw materials and colonies were places where they could get those resources without having to buy them.  Second, colonies could be markets for the imperial powers.  Industrialized countries could produce large amounts of goods. They had to sell those goods somewhere and they felt that colonies made good “captive markets” in which to sell. In these two ways, colonies could benefit imperial countries economically.