Ecological imperialism

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For a the idea of forceful imposition of western environmental views on developing countries see Eco-imperialism.

Ecological imperialism is the idea that the European conquest of the New World was more a matter of the introduced plants, animals, and diseases that accompanied the Europeans than their technology or weaponry. For example, the conquest of Spaniard Hernan Cortes over the Aztecs was aided foremost by the introduction of European disease into the Aztec population. Many more natives died from exposure to new diseases than died from the guns and superior weaponry of the conquistadors.

The idea was popularized in Alfred Crosby's 1986 book Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 in which he postulates that European expansion and imperialism in the New World can be explained predominantly by ecological factors.