European empires annexed over eight million square miles in fifteen years

Evidence

These figures are quoted by Carlton J. H. Hayes, A Generation of Materialism, New York, 1941, p. 237, and cover the period from 1871–1900.—See also Hobson, op. cit., p. 19: “Within 15 years some 3¾ millions of square miles were added to the British Empire, 1 million square miles with 14 millions inhabitants to the German, 3½ millions square miles with 37 millions inhabitants to the French.” — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2187

Categorization

• XREF: Concrete scale of imperial expansion in the scramble for Africa, which Arendt ties to the continent’s role in the colonial exploitation that parallels the mob’s politics.