Description:
"Osterhammel (History, U. of Constance) argues that the global mercantile expansion of the European powers of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries bears a marked resemblance to the political imperialism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Further, although there are some differences in scope and timing, the colonizers had similar aims and experiences. Instead, Osterhammel finds more significant the intentions and goals of the individual colonies, which he groups into those that were exploited for raw materials, land and labor, those that served for settlement, and those that served as military installations. He finds each type has distinctive features, such as ethno-cultural demarcation, and clear differences in economic management and administration, which lead to very different outcomes as colonies gained independence. Osterhammel provides a new bibliography for this edition."
Brief description: Jürgen Osterhammel, University of Constance, is the author of several books, in-clu-d-ing the award-winning China and World Society. He has provided a new bibliography for this edition.
Review Quotes:
"Insightful and often brilliant." --International Journal of African Studies
"Osterhammel's book offers a concise conceptual framework in which to place further consideration of aspects of the fundamental phenomenon of colonialism." --Journal of World History
"Osterhammel's book represents a new approach to the subject. The concise but sweeping study encompasses the process of colonization and decolonization from the early modern period to the twentieth century. "Virtually all other studies to date have looked at strategies of colonial conquest, exploitation, and rule from the imperial point of view. Osterhammel shows that the colonial situation developed in ways that duplicated neither the metropolis nor the pre- colonial society, but instead blended these and added a new direction characteristic only of colonial realms. He emphasizes that the Europeans were normally not considered dangerous invaders by local populations until they threatened the traditional cultures with missionaries, European schools, and bureaucracy. "A conviction of imperial cultural superiority gave modern colonialism an aggressive turn. The result was ethnic and social stratification in the colonial society, even when colonists took over the pre-colonial administration and society as the British did in India." --Midwest Book Review