Industrialization played a central role in nineteenth-century European imperialism. At the same time that industrialization created skyrocketing demand in Europe for raw materials and new markets, it provided Europeans with the wealth and technology that made global domination possible. While Europeans often cast imperialism in economic terms, they also justified expansion and colonization in other ways. Some believed that Europeans had a responsibility to spread their “superior” Western culture and religion to less fortunate regions of the world. Others, drawing on distorted interpretations of Darwin’s theory of evolution, claimed a biological right of conquest, arguing that human progress depended on the subjugation of the weak by the strong. The results of European imperialism were mixed. The fortunes made from the extraction of raw materials and the exploitation of colonial labor were offset by limited success in establishing new markets and the costs associated with conquest and colonial rule. Moreover, the penetration of European culture into colonized societies was often shallow, and European missionaries and educators were dismayed to discover that many non-Europeans were quite content with their own culture and religion. Finally, while industrial innovation catapulted Europe into a position of global dominance, native resistance never fully faded, and an undercurrent of fear persisted among the uninvited occupiers. ■