Old and New Imperialism There were two different time periods where Imperialism occurred. The first wave of imperialism, called the “Old” Imperialism, lasted from around 1500 – 1800. The “New” Imperialism lasted from around 1870 – 1914. The three main differences that we will discuss today are the differences in economics, politics, and the motive behind all of this. The new and the old waves of imperialism were very much different through economics. The old economics was pretty much all about trading, they imply bought the wares brought to them by the native merchants. They didn’t have much of a money system; it was sort of a trade system. Also in old imperialism th