What was the "New Imperialism?"

The "New Imperialism" was the rapid expansion of European powers around the globe in their efforts to dominate the peoples, economies, religions, and governments of those areas they conquered. This global rush for land in Africa, the Middle east, and Asia was led by great Britain who built an empire so large the sun would never set on land claimed to be part of Her Majesty the Queen's land. France, Germany, Russia, and to a lesser degree the United States would all join in the massive land grab that ensued in the 1880s due to many reasons. A large driving force for most countries was the economic factor. Britain, for example, needed natural resources such as manganese and iron for the countries massive steel mills in the North. Places like Africa were loaded with rich resources. The British (like other countries) desired also to create new markets to sell their goods (the British forced opium upon the Chinese and this led to The Opium War and years of strife). Political and military interests drew desire for imperialism since other countries saw the massive land grab as a chance to assert their dominance. Not all reasons for Imperialism were bad, missionaries and others often wanted to genuinely help those less fortunate. This was indeed a nobler cause for expansion. Unfortunately, the strong belief in Social Darwinism was the final factor in the rush for the world since Europeans assumed they were better than other races and European destruction of others was simply them helping the human species.