Why were some countries more successful in responding to the challenge of European imperialism than others? Essay

In the period between 1450 and 1800, Europe was successful to control and dominate most nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Europe established this control by employing three strategies which included the use of colonial imperialism, Economic imperialism and political imperialism. What motivated Europe to establish that control was so that to get raw materials for its industries, accrue wealth and amplify its power and glory.

In 1450, Europe had managed to establish economic and political imperialism in many parts of the world. The religious leaders and especially the Papal system were threatened by the high propagation of the Muslim religion and especially in the Middle East, Latin America and African nations. To curtail the widespread of Muslim, the Papal declared Christian crusades that were aimed at inhibiting the high proliferation of Muslims in these regions.

In order for the Papal to win this battle, merchants were lured to join the Christians crusades by being promised trading interests and expansion of their trading areas. Through this process the European nations managed to control the main trading routes in Asia, Africa and Latin American. Despite the high imperialism of the European nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, some nations in the three regions were successful in evading colonial imperialism due to their well established systems and strategies.

Japan was more successful in responding to the European colony as early as 1450 because it had strategically closed its ports from foreigners except the Nagasaki port. During this period Japan had opted to trade with only the Dutch since it was aware that its power had greatly diminished and thus not a threat to Japan. Japanese used this opportunity to imported science, technology and European philosophy from Dutch.

The Japanese had realized the military superiority of Europe nations and therefore took appropriate measures to learn it, rather than assume it like how the Chinese had done due to their superiority complex. In the 1853 when the western powers came to Japan, it was well prepared to deal with them. Although Europe eventually managed to force it to sign some trading treaties, the Japanese were well conversant with their ideologies.

The trade between Japan and the western powers deteriorated later when Japan suffered from civil war. This made the European powers not to take much attention on it, but instead use their presence there to put more control on China. Japan continued to learn the Europeans technology and ideas which eventually helped it to liberate itself from the European control.

Europeans used the concept of Christianity spreading to take control of the Latin American nations such as Mexico and Brazil. With the help of the Catholic religion, Europeans were successful in taking the lands and resources of Latin Americans in the sixteenth century.

The factor that motivated the Latin Americans to successfully achieve their independence early in the 19th century is the success of the United State to liberate itself from its colony. The residents of the Latin America and especially Mexico and Brazil mastered the western technology and philosophy which they employed in their fight for independence.

There was a high scramble from European States for African nations. This is because in European nations regarded Africa as an inferior continent that was less developed. This perception greatly contributed to most African states to being colonized. British managed to occupy Egypt in the 18 century due to its interest in the Suez Canal. Ethiopia is one of the countries in Africa that resisted the European colonization.

Menelik II who was the Ethiopian leader by then realized the superiority of the European nations and realized the importance of establishing good relations with them. Through this process he managed to strike a deal with the Europeans powers about offering them territorial concessions in exchange for weapons. Thus, when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1896 it was defeated by the Ethiopian strong military army that was well equipped with modern weapons.