9.3 Colonial Empires

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify the places in which the industrialized nations built empires in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
• Describe how the industrialized nations built their empires
• Explain where and why the world’s industrialized nations came into conflict while building their empires

In the later nineteenth century, the industrialized nations regarded their colonies as necessary sources of wealth and strength. Some, like Britain and France, had already established colonies a century or more before. Now they focused on tightening their control over these and acquiring more. The United States, Germany, and Japan lacked overseas colonies and now sought to acquire them.