How did the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution countribute to colonialism?
Colonialism is always dependent on the society of one land having a technical and scientific advantage over the society or place of another. The power exerting the colonial establishment is dependent on the resources of the people and place to be colonized. As the explosion of scientific knowledge, enlightenment and industrial might took off, so did the need to exploit foreign resources. The rich capabilities of the expanding nations gave them an immense ability to impose themselves. Being ‘enlightened’, raw conquering was passed over in favor of cultivating the cooperation of those whose lands would be colonized – for their betterment, of course. And in many cases, among the resources to be exploited were the people themselves. So, to answer your question as to how this all contributed – colonialism grew by the machinery of the more powerful and fuel provided by the colonized lands. But so too did the knowledge and hunger for progress of those who were exploited in the process, and th