During the age of imperialism, the main reason for colonizing other countries was to gain economic, political, and strategic advantages. European powers, such as Britain, France, and Spain, established colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas to gain access to natural resources, such as rubber, oil, and minerals, and to establish new markets for their goods. They also sought to spread their culture, language, and religion, and to gain strategic advantage by establishing military bases in strategic locations. Additionally, imperial powers often believed that they had a moral obligation to "civilize" and "modernize" the people of the colonized territories, which led to the imposition of Western values and institutions on the native populations.