im­pe­ri­laism ~ a sys­tem in which one coun­try con­trols over other coun­t­ries, often after de­fea­ting them in a war.
the Roman Em­pire, the Ot­to­man Em­pire, the Bri­tish Em­pire

Eu­ropeans brought ma­nu­fac­tu­red goods to Af­ri­ca in ex­chan­ge for slaves (guns, cloth, metal, to­b­a­cooc

Slaves were sent to the Ame­ri­cas (North Ame­ri­ca , Plan­ta­ti­on Sta­tes, West In­dies, to work in the fiel­ds and pro­du­ce raw ma­te­ri­als cash crops: Midd­le Pas­sa­ge

Raw ma­te­ri­als were ship­ped to Eu­ro­pe where they were ma­nu­fac­tu­red and traded (cot­ton, sugar to­b­ac­co)

1) the Bri­tish were proud of their in­de­pen­dence but did not share it with its co­lo­nies <> con­tra­dic­tion
2) In­de­pen­dence mo­ve­ment in a lot of co­lo­nies grew stron­ger
3) After WW II Briti­an was bank­raupt and ex­haus­ted, it did not lon­ger have the power or will to con­trol a large part of the world.