proto-imperialism
proto-imperialism noun: invasive and exploitative practices that anticipated capitalist imperialism.
Noun
proto-imperialism (plural not attested)
- Invasive and exploitative practices that anticipated capitalist imperialism.
- But just as classical Pan-Africanism—that of the twentieth century—can be understood as a reaction to classical European imperialism, so the reaction of early Africans or American Negroes to what could be called proto-imperialism can be described as ‘proto-Pan-Africanism.’¹1967, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, volume III, number 4, Historical Society of Nigeria, page 721
Forms of proto-imperialism
| alternative form | protoimperialism |
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Origin of proto-imperialism
From proto- + imperialism.
Questions about proto-imperialism
- What does proto-imperialism mean?
- Proto-imperialism means invasive and exploitative practices that anticipated capitalist imperialism.
- What part of speech is proto-imperialism?
- Proto-imperialism is a noun.
Words near proto-imperialism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: proto-imperialism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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