Defining the "New Imperialism": Formal and Informal Empire

The word "imperialism" entered common European political vocabulary in the 1870s, first applied to the expansionist foreign policies of Napoleon III of France and of Disraeli's Britain. From the start, historians have distinguished between "formal imperialism" — direct annexation accompanied by full colonial administration — and "informal imperialism," a form of economic and political domination exercised without territorial annexation, through unequal treaties, debt leverage, or recognized spheres of influence. The term "New Imperialism" designates specifically the European expansionist wave running from 1870 to 1914, qualitatively distinct from the mercantilist colonialism of earlier centuries. The legal forms this domination took varied widely: direct colony, protectorate, dominion, concession, sphere of influence, and condominium, each retaining a different degree of formal sovereignty for the local power.