Imperial Policy

Monarchs and merchants accrued many advantages by following an imperial policy instead of a colonial policy. These advantages can be divided into at least three major categories. The first of these is that, when compared to a colonial policy, an imperial policy required a significantly smaller investment into the trade endeavors, allowing short-term maximization of profits. A second category of advantages is the greater focus on expansion, both of power and of trade routes, as more areas are reached and overtaken, and each of these new areas yields new goods, providing the merchants with more and wider varieties of goods to sell. Finally, a third category of imperial policy advantage is the long-term sustainability of the same system, which …show more content…
Following a colonial policy, a significant amount of money would have to be spent as a start-up investment to establish a long-term base of operations (the colony). Typically, this colony would require a more complete infrastructure, such as housing for each individual colonist family and other permanent structures. In addition, the colony would need to provide sufficient components for a colonist family, such as a schoolhouse for children. Even if the structures were not already prepared for the colonists, the investors would have to provide the needed materials or sufficient compensation for those who moved there to do the needed work. In contrast, the adoption of an imperial policy would require less initial investment. The initial base of operations would be little more than an outpost, with only essential buildings being constructed, and later bases would follow a similar pattern. Housing could be built with less focus on permanence, perhaps fulfilled with communal housing for many people, since most individuals would be there on relatively short-term assignments. Few other buildings would be needed, perhaps just a place to store the goods to be transported back to the home country. As long as there continued to be a fairly consistent turnover, it is also likely that these short-term workers would bring most of their …show more content…
In the colonial policy, it becomes necessary to focus the power held by the monarchs and merchants on a more limited geographical area. There is less focus, at least in the short term, on influencing the largest area possible, but rather on maintaining full control of a smaller area. In addition, there is less focus on the idea of a “trade route,” but rather on the idea of utilizing the resources within the more limited area. This would limit the variety and often the amount of resources that could be accessed at any one time. Under an imperial policy, the area may not be fully subdued, but more areas are reached, providing a wider variety of goods to sell. An example of this may been seen in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Instead of fully subjecting and controlling the area around the first base that was established, several more bases were founded upriver, penetrating further and increasing the area which was controlled and the goods, in this case ivory, that could be reached and thus acquired. If only one base had been established, as under a colonial policy, there would have been far less income from ivory, as there would have been less obtainable