A fair answer to this question requires a review of imperialism and the associated notions of prejudice and racism. Completeness also depends upon understanding the setting of Heart of Darkness: the region now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the period around 1900. A version of Conrad's work first appeared in the Blackwood's Magazine in 1899, but was published as a novella in 1902.
Imperialism is the political theory of the acquisition and maintenance of large, multi-ethnic states held together by coercion. This model is typified by the ancient empires of Rome and Greece. S…
