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Abstract:
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The continuing debate over the causes , effects and future implications of European colonialism and imperialism is perhaps best viewed through a transatlantic lens . The various phases of imperialism from 1415 through 1914 provide ample time and examples of this continuous cultural interchange . The last of these interchanges , forced or otherwise , is that of the New Imperialism of 1860 -1914 . Discussions of later globalization and economic /cultural imperialism are not covered . That discussion is a different subject perhaps requiring different tools of analysis , especially economic . The impact of this last period reverberates through the current world discussion on rights , obligations , morality and law , especially natural law . The basic question is : are there truths that merit , no demand , their transmission by force or otherwise ? Expressed more philosophically , "is man the measure of all things ?"
Was there something the "West" had or represented that needed to be spread by word or by sword ? Are there universal concepts , or to use the Platonic euphemism , "virtues" that are inherent to all men so that there is a need or quoting Jefferson "a duty" , to respond and spread them throughout the world ? Or , quoting Lenin , is imperialism merely " ;the highest stage of capitalism" and this New Imperialism a mere economic and political exercise in power and arrogance ?
There can never be a definitive analysis of imperialism which will yield a final answer to these questions . Continued historical inquiry does enhance both knowledge and understanding . This is a study of Belgium and its first king Leopold I in the years 1830 -1855 , a period before the New Imperialism . Why then is it of any value as a tool of analysis of the New Imperialism , decades before it took place ? Because Belgium , its king , government and sense of nationhood were new . Yet , within a few years of its creation in 1830 its king at least viewed the world through the eyes of an imperialist . Its very newness and relative openness of its government allows the historian to poke around , so to speak . This is especially so in view of the later overwhelmingly successful imperialism of its second king Leopold II in the Congo Free State .
This is an inquiry into four examples of early Belgian colonial efforts in the Republic of Texas , Guatemala , Brazil and the Rio Nunez River in present day Guinea . The method employed is that of a historical inquiry into the event and then an analysis of the effort by the political , economic , social and scientific causes of the New Imperialism in a search of analogies and differences . It is not as much a new study of the historical events themselves but an attempt to discern an overall or macro -historical view of Belgian , and by extension , European imperialistic motivation . |