Imperialism

In the late 1800s, European nations were interested in only one thing; expanding their empire. They wanted to do this for a variety of reasons, mostly for gold(money), god( spreading their religion) and glory( having control over the most land or resources). They set out on this mission, conquering weaker nations militarily, politically, culturally or economically. Any place that had something (such as oil, lots of land, lots of labor, or an essential shipping port) to add to their empires wealth would do. They took control of economies, and the natives became the laborers. They stripped the land of any valuable resources. They converted the people to their religion, at this point, many forms of Christianity. However, they did often do some good such as advanced transportation networks, education, health and hygiene. That is why the colonies such as fertile Southeast Asia, oily Middle East and conveniently located Africa made such sounds investments to the European empires of the time.