At the beginning of the 20th century, imperialism was mentioned by the European powers of the time; Germany, Great Britain, France and Russia. These nations were looking for raw materials in Asia, Africa and South America and when they realized they could not get them back, they began to colonize smaller countries that contained the many resources they needed and used them for their own benefit. Western values ​​played a big role in European imperialism. European civilization experienced a period of extraordinarily rapid expansion throughout the world during the 19th and 20th centuries. European nation states had become very powerful through industrialization. Imperialist projects will unite European industrial power with smaller nation states. The main causes of imperialism in Europe were the search for new markets, cheap and profitable raw materials, labor and land, as well as goods demanded by a mass consumer market (imperialism). Europeans wanted to produce products such as oil, cotton, rubber, tin, copper and gold and they hired cheap Indian workers to grow cotton and opium (imperialism ). They also wanted a mass consumer market for coffee, chocolate, tea, bananas and oranges. Europe began building massive colonies to help it industrialize and grow. Colonies are designed to help and support the leading country (imperialism). These colonies provided cheap raw materials, cheap labor and land, and also provided an open market that only benefited Westernized Europe as a country. British imperialism began in 1870 with the colonization of "Asia and Africa using military force to gain control of local territories." governments” (European Imperialism). Europe exploited "local economies" to obtain the raw materials it needed for its "growth...... middle of paper ... and its power over all other countries because the "white men" ran everything. "The Age of Western Imperialism". Essortment.com.http://www.essortment.com/age-western-imperialism-35707.html (accessed August 19, 2011).Gulf Coast. “Western Imperialism” Gulf Coast Community Collegehttp://socsci.gulfcoast.edu/rbaldwin/imperialism.htm (accessed August 19, 2011).M.Shenson. “European Imperialism” Wordpress.com mrshenson.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/woolleyimperialism.ppt (accessed August 19, 2011). Suffolk. “European Imperialism in the 19th Century” Suffolk Community College. http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/imperialism.html (accessed August 19, 2011). Whittier. “What was imperialism and what effects did it have? Whittier College. http://web.whittier.edu/academic/history/worldhistory/imperialism.pdf (accessed August 19, 2011).