Why did colonialism occur?
Reasons are complex but can be summarized as being for “God, glory, and greed”. This includes things like the need for more land for agriculture; the search for natural resources (e.g., furs, minerals, fish); religious freedom; the desire to convert people to a religion (mainly Christianity). Colonialism has been around since classical times. The Greeks, notably Athens and Sparta, ran colonial empires and the Roman Empire ruled much of Europe and the Middle East. The Middle Ages did not see much colonialization in Europe, except for the Scandinavians (the Vikings). “Modern European colonialism dates from the 15th century and can be divided into two overlapping phases: the first from 1415 to about 1800; the second from about 1800 to World War II. In the first phase, western Europe, led by Spain and Portugal, expanded in the East Indies and the Americas; in the second, Great Britain spearheaded European expansion into Asia, Africa, and the Pacific” (“Colonies and Colonialism,” Microsoft
