Economic Imperialism refers specifically to resource extraction and wealth generation in a foreign land for the benefit of the home empire. Economic Imperialism in the 19th century led to harsh mining conditions in places such as South Africa and slave-like treatment in the rubber plantations of Brazil. Many argue the practice of economic imperialism continues today with resource extraction from the Global South for the benefit the Global North.

European imperialism and colonization came at great detriment to the indigenous people of the land they conquered. The justification for this practice was that they were bringing "civilization" to these "backward," "savage" people. This led to the use of missionaries and religious conversion, the use of European legal systems, forced cultural integration, and new technologies. Unfortunately, the "civilization" brought by the Europeans had no reasonable place in it for the inhabitants of the land they conquered, indigenous groups were violently oppressed, and in many cases murdered on a large scale.

The poem ‘White Man’s Burden’ focuses on the support of the United States’ intention to colonize the Philippines, but had cultural implications extending beyond that particular conflict. The white man’s burden was used to justify imperial policies as it "helped" traditional cultures become integrated into the modern, European cultural and economic world. By depicting traditional cultures as "backwards," imperial powers attempted to justify policies that destroyed traditional ways of life were justified in the pursuit of progress. By figuring their imperialist plundering in this manner, European colonizers were thus the burdened party, doing what needed to be done, as opposed to, say, violent, greedy imperialist forces pillaging countries and murdering the inhabitants for natural resources and trade goods.

The British colonial rule of India lasted from 1858 to 1947. The British Raj was run by the Viceroy to India, representing the British Crown and was served by a coalition of Indian Princes, loyal to the crown. The mid-19th century marked the height of power for the British Empire with wealth extraction from India providing a great boon for British coffers. The British not only extracted wealth from India, but set up a colony that imposed British society, administration, and culture upon the native populations.

Between 1865-1909 King Leopold II ruled Congo Free State as a megalomaniacal foreign ruler. During his control of this territory, he approved for the use of brutal tactics to force the local populations to extract rubber, ivory, and minerals from the land. There are estimates that between 2 and 10 million people died in Congo Free State during King Leopold II’s rule.

The Berlin West Africa Conference was held in Berlin to outline the rules for colonization of the African continent. The conference produced rules on how to claim land and trade regulations for the region. The conference highlighted justifications for colonization that included bringing religion and European civilization to the region, points related to the "white man’s burden." No Africans represented African interests at the conference.

French Indochina, officially known as the Indo-Chinese Federation was a grouping of French colonial possessions in Southeast Asia. The three countries that made up this territory, as they are known today, are Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The countries of this territory eventually gained independence in 1954 after a tumultuous century of French rule marked by foreign aggressions and internal rebellions.

The Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1895 was a huge failure. The Italian army expected they would easily defeat the army of Ethiopian ruler Menelik II. Full scale war erupted in 1895 and the Italians were defeated in 1896. Ethiopia was one of the only regions in Africa to remain independent of colonial rule during this period. In 1935 Italy launched another invasion of Ethiopia and successfully occupied the territory on this attempt.

Direct imperial rule employed citizens of the colonial power to oversee all government and market functions. Direct rule employed strict management of law and order and divided naturally aligned kin groups to disrupt potentially powerful rebellions. Direct rule was characteristic of French and Belgian colonies.

Indirect imperial rule was a hybrid system that used a blend of strong foreign influence and well educated indigenous elites to rule a population. The purpose of this type of rule was to provide some agency to locals while attempting to indoctrinate them with the ruling power’s political philosophy. This type of rule was seen in many British colonies, though it led to future conflicts in some colonies and was abandoned in others in favor of direct imperial rule.