POLI 205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sint Eustatius, Saint Lawrence River, Settler Colonialism
12 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Imperialism is the process of extending a nation"s authority through territorial acquisition or through the establishment of political and economic hegemony over other nations. Throughout history many extensive empires have risen and fallen, including egypt, persia, These empires were isolated from each other and often did not know of each other"s existence. European imperialism began in the fteenth century, once western europe became densely populated and natural resources were diminishing. Imperialism was also fueled by a desire to establish trade routes to asia to acquire spices, silk and other commodities, and by the development of new technology in ship building and maritime navigation. Both spain and portugal sought trade routes to asia that would bypass the middlemen who controlled the land routes through the middle east. To avoid con ict between them, spain and portugal agreed to the treaty of tordesillas (1494), which established a vertical line 300 miles west of the azores islands.
