{"product_id":"weltkarte-1900-kolonialmachte","title":"World Map | 1900 | Colonial Powers","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis world map of colonial possessions around 1900 is more than a geographical record: it is a document of domination that visualizes and legitimizes the imperial world order. The colored shading of the continents acts as a display of trophies – the larger the area of a color, the more powerful the respective colonial power appears. For the European bourgeoisie, it served as a means of national self-assurance, celebrating both Great Britain's vast territorial share and France's colonial empire in Africa and Indochina. Colonial possession was a status symbol in the concert of European powers, signaling military strength and the claim to \"global importance\" – a competition in which latecomers like Germany and Italy also participated.\u003cbr\u003eBehind the seemingly neutral colored surface lies a system of systematic resource extraction: Africa supplied rubber, ivory, and copper, India cotton and tea, Southeast Asia served for the forced cultivation of coffee and sugar. Railway lines and telegraph cables were extraction infrastructure, connecting raw material deposits with ports. The Congo Free State under Leopold II exemplifies the most brutal exploitation with forced labor and mass killings. Colonies also served as protected sales markets, whose customs policies destroyed indigenous manufacturing traditions – such as the Indian textile production.\u003cbr\u003eThe justifying ideology of \"mission civilisatrice,\" the duty of the \"white man's burden,\" served as a moral facade for economic and power-political interests, while terms like \"protectorates\" obscured the actual violence. Practically every colonial border was drawn through wars of conquest, existing empires were disempowered, the borders of the Berlin Congo Conference followed European interests rather than evolved realities. Forced labor and land expropriation forced the population into the colonial economy, missionary work displaced indigenous culture.\u003cbr\u003eEven technical map elements fit into this logic: The clock bar symbolizes the claim to order the globe according to European time standards. The polar projection shows the proximity of imperial claims around the North Pole. The depth legend refers to the surveying of the oceans as resource spaces, the height profile to the total capture of the earth from ocean depths to mountain peaks. Thus, global dominance is expressed not only in colonial colors but in the universal access to time, space, and nature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eHistorical maps show traces of time and use, the intensity and nature of which vary depending on the map and its purpose. The offered print is a reproduction.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe strive to display the colors of our items as accurately as possible. However, due to differences in monitor and device settings (brightness, contrast, saturation), there may be slight color variations between the online representation and the actual product.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"uk-maps.com","offers":[{"title":"40 x 60 cm","offer_id":65611278647645,"sku":"WELT_1900_40x60cm","price":49.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"50 x 75 cm","offer_id":65611331141981,"sku":"WELT_1900_50x75","price":59.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1074\/8982\/1021\/files\/welt_1900_kolonialmaechte_2026-08-18_300_4096_2731-volle.jpg?v=1787066084","url":"https:\/\/uk-maps.com\/en\/products\/weltkarte-1900-kolonialmachte","provider":"uk-maps.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}