Old Imperialism is the first phase of European overseas expansion, from the late 15th century to the mid-18th century, led by Spain and Portugal and built on American colonies, coastal trading posts, and mercantilist wealth extraction. On AP Euro, it's the baseline you compare against the New Imperialism of 1815-1914.
Old Imperialism is the first round of European empire-building, running roughly from Columbus's voyages in the 1490s to the mid-1700s. Spain and Portugal led the way (with the Dutch, French, and English joining later), planting settler colonies in the Americas and setting up coastal trading posts in Africa and Asia. The goals were mercantilist. Empires existed to pump gold, silver, sugar, and spices back to the mother country, and indigenous and enslaved labor did the extracting.
Here's the catch for AP Euro. The term mostly matters as a contrast. Topic 7.6 covers New Imperialism (1815-1914), and the CED frames that era as something genuinely different. Per KC-3.5.I.B, Europeans turned to Africa and Asia searching for raw materials and markets for manufactured goods, even as their colonies in the Americas broke free politically. In other words, the Old Imperial system in the Americas was collapsing right as the new one ramped up. Old Imperialism was about extracting bullion and cash crops for a mercantilist state. New Imperialism was about feeding industrial factories and national prestige. Knowing the old version is what lets you explain what changed.
Old Imperialism lives in the background of Unit 7, Topic 7.6 (Imperialism). Learning objective AP Euro 7.6.A asks you to explain the motivations behind European imperialism from 1815 to 1914, and the cleanest way to do that is to show what was new about it. KC-3.5.I.B literally builds the comparison into the essential knowledge by noting that Europeans colonized Africa and Asia while their American colonies were breaking away politically (though not always economically). The technology piece (AP Euro 7.6.B) sharpens the contrast further. Old Imperialism ran on caravels, gunpowder, and disease luck; New Imperialism ran on machine guns, steamships, telegraphs, and quinine. If you can articulate that before-and-after, you've got a ready-made continuity and change argument, which is exactly the kind of historical reasoning AP Euro essays reward.
Keep studying AP Euro Unit 7
New Imperialism (Unit 7)
This is the pairing the whole term exists for. Old Imperialism targeted the Americas for bullion and cash crops under mercantilism; New Imperialism (1815-1914) targeted Africa and Asia for raw materials, markets, and national prestige. Same impulse to dominate, completely different fuel, because the second wave was powered by the Industrial Revolution.
Mercantilism (Units 1-3)
Mercantilism was the operating system of Old Imperialism. Colonies existed to enrich the mother country with gold, silver, and raw goods while buying only its products. When industrial capitalism replaced mercantilism in the 1800s, the logic of empire changed with it, and that shift is the dividing line between old and new.
Columbian Exchange (Unit 1)
The Columbian Exchange was Old Imperialism's biggest consequence. Crops, animals, silver, and diseases moved between hemispheres, devastating indigenous populations and flooding Europe with American silver. It's your go-to evidence for the effects of the first imperial wave.
Berlin Conference (Unit 7)
The 1884-85 Berlin Conference, where European powers carved up Africa on paper, shows how different the new era was. Old Imperialism's version of dividing the world was the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), a two-player deal between Spain and Portugal. By the 1880s, half a dozen industrialized rivals were competing, which is exactly the national rivalry KC-3.5.I.A describes.
Old Imperialism usually shows up as the contrast case, not the star. Expect multiple-choice stems built around a New Imperialism source where the credited answer requires knowing what changed since the first wave. For example, a question describing a British industrialist in 1880 arguing that African colonies will secure rubber and minerals while creating markets for Manchester textiles is testing whether you recognize the industrial-economic motives of New Imperialism, motives that didn't drive the conquistador era. No released FRQ has used "Old Imperialism" verbatim, but the concept is tailor-made for continuity-and-change LEQs about European overseas expansion. A strong move is one sentence of contextualization, such as noting that Europe's first empires in the Americas had broken free politically by the early 1800s, before explaining why Europeans pivoted to Africa and Asia.
Old Imperialism (late 1400s to mid-1700s) was led by Spain and Portugal, centered on the Americas, and driven by mercantilism, meaning gold, silver, sugar, and spices for the crown. New Imperialism (1815-1914) was led by industrialized powers like Britain, France, and Germany, centered on Africa and Asia, and driven by the hunt for raw materials, markets for manufactured goods, and nationalist prestige (KC-3.5.I). The tech gap is the easiest tell. Old Imperialism meant sailing ships and swords; New Imperialism meant machine guns, steamships, telegraphs, and quinine (KC-3.5.II). Topic 7.6 is entirely about the new version, so if a question gives you a 19th-century date, you're in New Imperialism territory.
Old Imperialism is Europe's first wave of overseas expansion, from the late 15th century to the mid-18th century, led by Spain and Portugal in the Americas.
It ran on mercantilist logic, meaning colonies existed to send gold, silver, and raw materials to the mother country and buy its goods in return.
On AP Euro, Old Imperialism mostly matters as the contrast to New Imperialism (1815-1914), the actual focus of Topic 7.6.
KC-3.5.I.B builds this contrast into the CED, noting that Europeans colonized Africa and Asia even as their American colonies broke free politically, if not economically.
The technology gap marks the change. Old Imperialism used sailing ships and gunpowder, while New Imperialism used machine guns, steamships, telegraphs, and quinine.
Old motivations were bullion and trade monopolies under mercantilism; new motivations were raw materials, markets for industrial goods, and nationalist rivalry.
Old Imperialism is the first phase of European overseas expansion, from roughly the 1490s to the mid-1700s, when Spain and Portugal (later joined by the Dutch, French, and English) built American colonies and Asian trading posts to extract wealth under mercantilism.
Old Imperialism (late 1400s-mid 1700s) targeted the Americas for gold, silver, and cash crops under mercantilism. New Imperialism (1815-1914) targeted Africa and Asia for raw materials and markets for manufactured goods, powered by industrial technology like machine guns, steamships, and the telegraph. Topic 7.6 covers the new version.
Not as a standalone topic in Unit 7, but you can't fully answer Topic 7.6 questions without it. KC-3.5.I.B explicitly frames New Imperialism against the loss of Europe's American colonies, so the comparison itself is in the CED, and it makes strong contextualization in essays.
No. It ended because the American colonies broke free politically (the US in 1783, most of Latin America by the 1820s) and because mercantilism gave way to industrial capitalism. Europe's appetite for empire actually grew afterward, redirected at Africa and Asia in the 1815-1914 scramble.
Spain and Portugal led the first wave, splitting the non-European world between themselves in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). The Dutch, English, and French built rival empires in the 1600s and 1700s, but the era's defining colonies were Iberian holdings in the Americas.