Imperialism can be described as when a stronger country moves into an area or country and takes over completely and changes the lifestyle of the inhabitants. The weaker country submits to the control and power of the stronger one. This can cause changes in religion, language, currency, laws, and layout.

One example of imperialism is the Ancient Greek Empire. They came out of nowhere and defeated the Persian Empire and took over all of the land they had. Alexander the Great led them to become one of the strongest empires in history. They spread their military ideas throughout the empire while getting more soldiers to join. After they took over new areas they spread their culture to them such as the architecture, literature, and philosophy. Their style of architecture can still be seen influencing buildings around the world. The Romans took their gods, changed their names, made them more war like and violent, and made them their own.

Another great example of imperialism in the Roman Empire. They grew while the Greek Empire was strong and then they conquered them once they became strong enough. They were heavily influenced by the Greek rule but changed some things with the religious beliefs, fighting style, and architecture. This new way of thinking and new rule was spread throughout the Roman Empire. The Romans were in control for a very long time and many people had taken to their lifestyle and culturally changed.

The best known country that is very imperialistic is Great Britain. Their culture has been spread throughout the world from when they were basically in charge of the world. Their language, English, is one of the most common languages in today's world. They owned India for a time and there is evidence of that all over India as one of their official languages is English. The English also colonized the United States of America and there are similarities between the two countries such as their language, colors, and some of the food. They took over land and didn't really care what the inhabitants had to say about that, they were just hungry power.

The United States is also imperialistic. We have our army all over the world fighting in wars, helping weaker countries. The way the US government is set up has been taken and copied by other countries because they can see it works. The US brought industry and Christianity to places that were not as civilized. We took over Hawaii, put in our laws, culture, and way of thinking. The military presence in other countries affects the people living there and causes them to like or dislike the US. The US exerted its power and dominance in World War II over the smaller countries that weren't as powerful.