Middle East Colonialism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Middle East Colonialism - Essay Example The other transformations entailed the erosion of the economic and political independence and spirit of nationalism had finally begun suffocating the atmosphere. The Europeans had opted to protect the non-Muslims from the heinous acts of the Muslims in the empire. The empire was gradually losing its territories as calls for nationalism were ringing around Turkey and other Arab countries. As the empire was ageing the division between the powerful and less powerful continued to widen. Meanwhile, the colonial empires were rooting themselves by dividing colonies among the European powers. Apparently the colonial powers took advantage of the falling Ottoman Rule that had had enormous influence of the regions it had Balkanized. Cole (1999) illuminated that the driving factors for the distribution of territories among these powers were economic reasons, political reasons, strategic reasons, and partly nationalism. The economic reasons encompassed the deep need for the powers to find new mar ket for their produce as well as other resources that were deemed to exist in these acquired territories.   The strategic reasons entailed the need to occupy areas that were strategically located not only for economical benefit but to gain control of numerous states.   Besides the above illuminated reasons, the western powers were also driven by their deep need to adventure. The trend of annexation of territories by several powers influenced other western nations as well. Makdisi (2006) vindicated that earlier, between 1798 and 1801.