Imperialism and the Victorians: The Dynamics of Territorial Expansion
Author(s)
Darwin, John
Abstract
Imperialism may be defined as the sustained effort to assimilate a country or region to the political, economic or cultural system of another power. ‘Formal’ imperialism aimed to achieve this object by the explicit transfer of sovereignty and, usually, the imposition of direct administrative control. Its ‘informal’ counterpart relied upon the links created by trade, investment or diplomacy, often supplemented by unequal treaties and periodic armed intervention, to draw new regions into the world-system of an imperial power. Quite small powers could and did enter this game and it could be played in any geographical setting. But its complex characteristics were most clearly visible in the expansion of strong Western states into the extra-European periphery. No other power developed more varied and far-reaching imperial relationships than Victorian Britain.
