During the age of imperialsm, the economies of European colonies were seen as testing grounds for new and risky technology, due to a number of factors that include the usage of the local environment and conditions, such as climate and soil, or social and political conditions; but also, some of these new technologies were a result of the direct borrowing and adaption of indigenous practices or the use of indigenous knowledge (medicinal plants, for example) being gradually redeveloped by European science.