EQ:

How and Why after 1875 did European nations rush to build political empires in Africa and Asia?

      After 1875, Western countries used a combination of brute force and self-justifying ideology of a "civilizing mission" to carve out vast political empires in Africa and rushed to establish political influence in Asia. There were many reasons for this empire building, but economic motives, political competition and super military technology were particularly important. In addition, many Europeans justified imperialist expansion on the basis of civilizing and christianizing primitive peoples, whom they believed they were racially superior to.