Read this excerpt from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden" and then answer the question that follows:

Take up the White Man's burden -
Send forth the best ye breed -
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild -
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burden -
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit
And work another's gain.¹

According to Kipling, why were imperialists motivated to take over other
countries?

A. They wanted to gain honor and prestige for their countries.
B. They wanted to spread European civilization throughout the world.
C. They wanted to discover new resources in foreign lands.
D. They wanted to learn more about the other civilizations in the
world.