What was a primary motivation for British colonization?

Answer 1

Great Britain, as with most of the Western European nations, saw colonization as a path to wealth and an extended base for more military power. If Great Britain chose not to use colonization, France and other Western nations would have had an excellent chance of surpassing Great Britain and marginalizing her to a second class world power. Great Britain and other nations realized that they would fall behind if the opportunities presented by colonization were not taken advantage of.

Answer 2

There were several reasons that Britons and other Europeans were interested in controlling substantial areas of Africa and Asia and these reasons derive from the political and social climate in Europe during the Imperialist Period.

These reasons include:

Resources: There were an incredible variety of resources produced around the world that fed into the European industrial machine. Indonesia and Malaysia had rubber trees, Central Africa produces coltan and other metal ores, the Persian Gulf is known for petroleum, etc. The European powers wanted to gain access to these resources to power their industrial rise.

Strategic Territory: Numerous colonies had specific strategic locations, such as Egypt with the current Suez Canal, Morocco (Spanish) with the Straits of Gibraltar, India because of its massive spice production and outlets to the Indian ocean. Indochina (French) was close to the unconquerable Qing Empire. Many colonies were chosen specifically based on where they were and how effectively defense could be maintained by holding those positions.

Christian Evangelism: Many Europeans (and Britons specifically) believed quite strongly at the time that their technological success was correlated with their belief in Christianity. In their view, non-Christians like the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. were hindered by the mentalities present in their religions from being technologically astute. In order to "help" these people to becomes more modern and more worldly, it was "necessary" to teach them the proper way to believe so that they too could succeed. Sometimes this evangelism was benign. At other times, it erupted in full-scale conflict, such as the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

White Man's Burden: Europeans, but the British especially, were fascinated with the philosophy of J.S. Mills Jr. and Rudyard Kipling who believed that there was really only one track to humanity and each person was on this track to ultimate advancement. As Europeans were further along this track, it was "incumbent" on them as act of generosity to help those who were not as technologically or "culturally" advanced. There were campaigns across Africa, Asia, and Australia to "Europeanize the Natives" so that they would be "able" to progress properly.

Labor and Military Augmentation: The colonies, especially in Asia, had very high populations relative to European countries. This allowed them to add large numbers to their labor force and to create new military divisions from this large population. British India fielded quite a large number of soldiers for the United Kingdom, especially in the World Wars.

Appearance of Power: European Leaders ascribed power and dominance to those countries who were able to amass a large number of colonies, especially if they were in coveted or strategic locations. As a result, the British agglomeration of territory demonstrated prestige.

It is worth noting that while Europeans (including the British) sowed discord between many different ethnic groups which had previously co-existed without problems or with minimal problems in order to more effectively govern, the impetus for this was effective governance (as opposed to seeding discord). As a result, it is not a reason why Europeans were interested in controlling those territories.

The following reasons detail the reasons for British conquests specifically in the Mediterranean area:

Proximity: Islamic Lands were typically closer to Europe than non-Islamic Lands. Spain was interested in Morocco and France was interested in Algeria for exactly these reasons. The Middle East had heavy interaction with Europe prior to colonization relative to Central Africa or Southeast Asia and therefore, more Europeans were aware of the societies and places there.

"Barbarism": This is sort of the corollary to the Christian Evangelism and the White Man's Burden. Muslims were seen as barbaric, backwards, and outmoded. They were seen to be ruling in unconscionable ways according to ridiculous principles. This "barbarity" needed to be set aright and fixed for the benefit of those people.

Zionism: Colonization did not really favor Zionism until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. At that point, Christian Zionists in the United Kingdom saw the creation of Jewish State in the former Land of Israel as a desirable outcome in its restoration of Biblical Prophecy. As a result, Palestine was created as a Class-A Mandate with the intent to set it free as the Jewish State. However, relatively soon, Britain reverted and decided that the creation of a Jewish State was against its better interests to avoid causing issues with Muslims and limited its support of Zionism by the later 1930s and 1940s.