Page "Arthur de Gobineau" Paragraph 9

Paradoxically, although Gobineau saw hope in the expansion of European power, he did not support the creation of commercial empires with their attendant multicultural milieu, concluding that the development of empires was ultimately destructive to the " superior races " that created them, since they led to the mixing of distinct races.

Instead, he saw the later period of the 19th century imperialism as a degenerative process in European civilization.

To support his conclusion, he continually referred to past empires in Europe and their attendant movement of non-white peoples into European homelands in explaining the ethnography of the nations of Europe.