IMHO, the answer is in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by Lenin
TLDR: Capitalism cannot survive without Colonialism, because it needs new markets to solve the recurring overproduction crises. An overproduction crisis is when the workers earn too little to buy what they produce.
European capitalism, particularly from the 16th century onward, was not a simple market economy. It was mercantile capitalism, a system where the state and private capital became fused in a project of national economic expansion. The goal was to accumulate wealth by any means necessary for the benefit of the metropolitan power. This system was inherently expansionist, violent, and required external colonies to serve as sources of raw materials and captive markets.
China’s commercial developments, while advanced, largely served an internal, agrarian-based empire. The state’s Confucian ideology prioritized stability and internal harmony over aggressive external expansion and accumulation. There was no comparable fusion of state and commercial power for the explicit purpose of global domination.
IMHO, the answer is in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by Lenin
TLDR: Capitalism cannot survive without Colonialism, because it needs new markets to solve the recurring overproduction crises. An overproduction crisis is when the workers earn too little to buy what they produce.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperialism,_the_Highest_Stage_of_Capitalism
Europeans are not evil nor good. They are influenced by the material conditions they live in and by ideology.
Removed by mod
European capitalism, particularly from the 16th century onward, was not a simple market economy. It was mercantile capitalism, a system where the state and private capital became fused in a project of national economic expansion. The goal was to accumulate wealth by any means necessary for the benefit of the metropolitan power. This system was inherently expansionist, violent, and required external colonies to serve as sources of raw materials and captive markets.
China’s commercial developments, while advanced, largely served an internal, agrarian-based empire. The state’s Confucian ideology prioritized stability and internal harmony over aggressive external expansion and accumulation. There was no comparable fusion of state and commercial power for the explicit purpose of global domination.