Settler colonialism is the practice of establishing colonies in other
countries with settlers---people who plan to live there indefinitely and
establish a new society. At its best, settler colonialism is just a form of
large-scale immigration. At its worst, it can overlap heavily with imperialism
and attempts to force out local populations, or even lead to genocide.
Economic imperialism is the use of economic institutions, particularly
multinational corporations, as instruments for conquering and colonizing other
countries.
For the period 1750 to 1900 in particular, the British Empire was a
particularly prominent example of both types of colonialism, and it's
worthwhile to compare the outcomes in each case.
Emigration from Britain to the United States was largely settler colonialism:
British citizens who wanted to build a new life away from Britain set up
colonies in North America that would eventually become the United States and
Canada. By the period in question, the east coast of the US was already largely
settled, and new colonization was spreading westward to fill the continent.
Once the United States officially became its own country in 1776 with the
Declaration of Independence, we could consider the settlers spreading out west
to be American settlers rather than British settlers, though the harmful effect
on indigenous Native American populations was largely the same. Warfare and
forced resettlement killed hundreds of thousands of natives. Disease killed
almost 100 million.
Meanwhile, the British Empire was also engaging in economic imperialism in
India and Africa, where private corporations like the East India Company and
East Africa Company actually held large territories---many larger than Great
Britain itself!---and ruled over them as if they were countries themselves. But
these were a particularly terrible kind of country, ruthless dictatorships
operated on an entirely for-profit basis that functioned primarily to extract
natural resources and sell them far away in Europe. Imagine if Exxon or Walmart
ruled an entire country, and you may have some sense of what life was like
under the East India Company.
Eventually these multinational corporations grew so powerful that the British
Crown decided they could not tolerate it anymore, and broke them up in order to
make the colonies into official British territories. A few decades after that,
most of them became independent countries.
In both cases, a wealthy and powerful country exploits other, poorer countries.
In both cases, indigenous populations suffer and many die. However, the starkly
different effects of settler colonialism on the one hand versus economic
imperialism can still be seen to this day. Countries that were colonized by
British settlers are now among the most prosperous countries in the world
today: The US, Canada, Australia. Countries that had economic imperialism
imposed upon them by the British Empire are now among the poorest countries in
the world today: India, Kenya, Zimbabwe. Settler colonialism can have a happy
ending---economic imperialism almost never does.
Get Ahead with eNotes
Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.
Already a member? Log in here.
Further Reading