Five Motives for Imperialism. Various motives prompt empires to seek to expand their rule over other countries or territories. These include economic, exploratory, ethnocentric, political, and religious motives.
1. Economic - manufacturers wanted access to natural resources such as rubber, petroleum and palm oil. Also hoped for new markets to sell their goods. 2. Political and Military - linked to economic motives. Needed bases around the world to move resources. Nationalism drove countries to try to get the most land to compete with other nations. 3. Religious - felt a concern for their "little brothers", believed they had a duty to protect them and spread Western civilization 4. Social Darwinism - Europeans believed they were racially superior to all others and domination of the weaker races was nature's way of improving the human species.
