Imperialism

What is Imperialism?

Imperialism: • a policy in which a strong nation seeks to

dominate other countries politically, economically and/or socially.

• “Age of Imperialism” generally refers to the European colonization of other countries that took place after the beginning of the Industrial Revolution..

What’s the Difference?

Colonialism:• a policy of a nation seeking to acquire,

extend or retain is political, economic, and cultural control over other peoples or territories.

• Different types of colonies: settlement, dependencies, plantation/extractment

• Colonies have existed since ancient history.

Motives: The “Why?”

• Military Strength/Strategic Position• Land for Settlement• Missionaries – Conversion to Christianity• Spreading European Civilization• Belief in European Cultural or Racial Superiority• Control over Raw Materials/Potential Markets• Profit for Private Business Owners/Forced Labor• National Rivalry/Patriotism

Motives

• Military Strength/Strategic Position– Key sea ports and waterways, keeping check on

other countries’ military forces– Ex: Russia grabbing lands from former Ottoman

Empire.• Land for Settlement– Population pressures in urban centers, people

looking for “free” or cheap land.– Ex: South Africa and the Dutch (Boers – farmers)

Motives

• Missionaries – Conversion to Christianity– Proselytizing to bring the Word of God to “pagans”– Ex: French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia)

• Spreading European Civilization– “The White Man’s Burden” Rudyard Kipling, 1893– Ex: India – Britain brought social practices, forms

of dress, athletic and social events, and governing practices

Motives

• Belief in European Cultural or Racial Superiority – Social Darwinism – Europeans best fit to govern– Ex: Africa – Europeans saw themselves as superior

• Control over Raw Materials/Potential Markets for Industrial Products– Copper, wood, gold, tin, diamonds, cash crops– Ex: Demand for raw materials shaped African

colonies

Motives

• Profit for Private Business Owners/Forced Labor– Opportunities abroad to make money more easily

than at home, esp. with forced labor– Exs: China and Opium Trade, Congo River Valley

• National Rivalry/Patriotism– Keeping up with the competition/nationalism– Ex: Scramble for Africa

Process/Tools – The “How?”

• Warfare/Weapons of Industrialization• Transportation/Communication Inventions• Divide and Rule• Economic Reorganization to meet needs of “Mother

Country”• Direct Rule• Indirect Rule• Creation of Educated Elite to help govern colony• Forced Labor• Westernization/Assimilation/Civilizing Influences

Process/Tools

• Warfare/Weapons of Industrialization– Guns superior to local weapons– Machine gun developed in 1884

• Transportation/Communication Inventions– Railroads and steamships were a means to get

further inside Africa and India, movement of goods and people.

– Cables allowed “quick” communication between Mother Country and colonies.

Process/ Tools • Economic reorganization to meet needs of

“Mother Country”– Exchanging subsistence farming for cash crops– Ex: Africa

• Divide and Rule– Use natural divisions: language, religion, and

cultures, difficult for people to unite against colonizers

– Exs: Africa, India

Process/Tools

• Direct Rule:– Foreign officials brought in to rule– No self-rule– Goal: assimulation of local people– Government institutions based on European

styles, specifically of Mother Country– Ex: French Indochina, Angola (Portuguese),

German colonies in East Africa

Process/Tools

• Indirect Rule:– Local government officials used– Limited self-rule– Goal: to develop future leaders– Government institutions that are based on

Europeans styles but have local rules or customs.– Ex: India and Burma (British), U.S. colonies on

Pacific Islands (Hawaii)

Process/Tools• Creation of Educated Elite to help govern colony– Local rulers accepted foreign authority to rule and

would manage the colonies– Ex: India

• Forced Labor– Use “free” labor to carry out policies– Ex: Africa

• Westernization/Assimilation/Civilizing Influences– Use of religion, language and culture (food, music,

sports)– Ex: Indochina (French), India (British), Angola

(Portuguese)

Forms of Imperialism• Colony: governed internally by a foreign power– Ex: Indochina (France)

• Protectorate: its own internal gov’t but under control of outside power– Ex: Niger River Delta in Africa (Britain)

• Sphere of Influence: outside power claims exclusive investment or trading rights– Ex: Liberia (United States)

• Economic Imperialism: independent but less-developed country controlled by private business interests rather than by gov’ts– Ex: Pineapple trade in Hawaii controlled by Dole Fruit

Company

Effects/Legacy

• People in the Colonies lost their land to the colonizers

• Colonies became dependent on single cash crops

• Infrastructure built to support raw materials production/transportation

• Manufacturing activities in Colonies collapse• Improvements in Schools, Hospitals and

Sanitation

Effects/Legacy – cont.

• Cultural changes (language, customs, religions)

• Increase in Racism• People in Colonies began to believe the myth

of European superiority• Migration• Rebellions and resistance (massive loss of life)

Effects/Legacy – cont.

• Increased Conflict = Instable Societies• Rise of nationalism in colonies as well as

spread of other political/economic ideas• National borders drawn without consideration

of geography or ethnic groups• And the big question – what happens when

the colonizing force leaves?

Case Study: Africa

Europe in AfricaAfrica - virtually ignored until late 19th century (except Dutch Cape Town)Africa a prime target – weakened by 250 years of slave trade and internal conflictEuropeans fought with guns and cannons – Africans with spears and shields made of bark and hideRailroads and steamships helped give greater access to interior Africa

Imperial Africa

Africa

All of Africa defeated by 1900 with exception of Liberia (a colony of ex-slaves founded by the US) and Ethiopia (won its independence from Italy)African borders redrawn without regard for ethnicity, language, or even geographyMost borders remained even after independence (post WWII)

Case Study: Great Britain

• The Sun Never Sets: India, Burma, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Canada, South Africa, Rhodesia, Hong Kong

• Jewel of the Crown: INDIA

Case Study: SE Asia

Case Study: China

Case Study: India 1498 - 1740

The Portuguese• The first Europeans to establish roots in India

since the fall of the Roman Empire were the Portuguese.

• Vasco da Gama's landed at Calicut in 1498. They established themselves along the Malabar Coast.

• The Portuguese maintained some holdings in India as late as 1961.

Case Study: India

The English• In 1600, the British East India Company was given the

right to a monopoly to trade with India. • Primary objective was to get spices from Indonesia (East

Indies), they needed goods to trade for spices. The good they wanted was cotton, and they got it from India.

• In 1612, the English won a battle against the Portuguese. Because of this victory, they were able to gain the right to trade and establish factories in India from the Mughal Dynasty.

India

The French• In 1664, the French equivalent of the English East India

Trading Company was formed. • The French obtained a few cities such as Pondicherry

but by 1740 this company's sales were only half those of the English East India Company. They withdrew in 1761.

Others• The Danish, the Austrians, the Swedes, and the

Prussians all tried unsuccessfully to get a piece of the action in India.

The Rise of the East India Company 1761-1857

• In 1786, Lord Cornwallis became British Governor of India. He strengthened the sepoy armies that the East India Company had raised.

• In 1813, the monopoly of the English East India Company was broken and all British citizens were allowed to trade with India. Over the next 30 years, the British continued to acquire new lands and strengthen their grip on those already under their rule.

• The British also aggravated the Hindu population. – English, instead of Persian, the official language. – Prohibited suttee and infanticide. – Allowed Hindu widows to remarry and sanctioned missionary

activity.

Sepoy Mutiny: 1857 - 1859• The growing Indian discontent with the rule of the East India

Company erupted on May 10, 1857. • The sepoys, who were Indians trained by the British as

soldiers, heard rumors that the cartridges for their new Enfield rifles were greased with lard and beef fat.

• Initially the mutiny was spontaneous, it quickly became more organized and the sepoys even took over the cities of Delhi and Kanpur.

• This mutiny was harshly crushed by the British. The British government had to send in troops to help the East India Company.

• The Indians could not unite against the British because of weak leadership and splits between the Hindus and Muslims.

The British Government Takes Control 1859-1885

• 1858, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act. This act transferred authority for India from the East India Company to Queen Victoria.

• In 1876, Queen Victoria declared herself "Empress of India." • In 1869, the Suez Canal was completed - British women

began to come to India, and the British developed their own society in India separate from the native society.

• Increasing amounts of British goods were imported to India, effectively destroying many Indian crafts.

• By end of 19th CE, about 90% of the Indian population were farmers – an increase from beginning of 1800’s.

• Increasing number of factories, railroads, hospitals, schools, and roads were built.

Rise of Indian Nationalism 1885 - 1919• In 1885, the Indian National Congress (primarily Hindu) was

established with the aim to gain national self-determination. – Mostly of upper middle class Indians: lawyers, journalists,

businessmen, and professors. The congress was widely ignored by the British, but it quickly gained popular support among Indians.

• 1906, Muslim League founded. • Many Indian scholars and journalists began to call for Indians to

take more pride in their own history and in their own products. • In 1905, the British partitioned the state of Bengal into Muslim and

Hindu sections. This prompted huge protests and attracted many millions more people to the nationalist movement. Several acts of terrorism occurred. In 1911, British revoked the order.

• British reform efforts were put on hold during World War I. At end of war, India fell into a deep economic depression.

End of the Empire: 1919 - 1947• 1919 when Britain passed the Rowlatt Acts. Both Hindu

and Muslim leaders protested these acts.• Amritsar Massacre, April 13, 1919 – ban on public

meetings, about 4000 killed.• Mahatma Gandhi and other nationalist leaders to

cease all cooperation with the British. – The strategy for gaining independence was to boycott all

British goods, schools, courts, and elections. – Despite Gandhi's efforts, however, he was unable to gain

widespread Muslim support for his efforts. – By the beginning of 1921, it became clear that the Hindu

and Muslim populations were taking separate paths.

Partition 1947

• After WWII ended, the British Secretary of State for India established a committee with the goal to resolve the conflict between the Congress and the Muslim League and to turn over authority for India to a single Indian administration.

• In 1947, the British Parliament passed an act establishing the Hindu majority country of India and the Muslim majority country of Pakistan. At midnight of August 14, 1947, these two countries became independant, ending British imperial rule of India.

Southeast AsiaKEY IDEA: Demand for Asian products drove Western

imperialists to seek possession of Southeast Asian lands.• European nations also grabbed land in Southeast E Asia and

the islands on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. • They wanted the area for its resources and because it was

close to China. • The United States joined this quest for colonies.• European powers found that these lands were

good for growing such cash crops as sugar, coffee, cocoa, rubber, and fruit.

• As trade in these items grew, Europeans moved to take more land.

Dividing Up SE Asia

• The Dutch ran Indonesia, where their settlers remained at the top of society.

• The British took the port of Singapore plus Malaysia and Burma (modern Myanmar). Needing workers, the British brought many Chinese to Malaysia.

• France grabbed Indochina (modern Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam). They made farmers grow rice for export. Because most of the rice was shipped away, the farmers had less to eat even though they were growing more rice than before.

• Thailand stayed independent. King Mongkut and his son modernized Siam without giving up power.

Legacys/Effects

• Colonialism brought some features of modern life to these regions.

• However, economic changes benefited European-run businesses, not local people.

• The native peoples did benefit from better schooling, health, and cleanliness.

• Plantation farming brought millions of people from other areas to Southeast Asia.

• The mix of cultures and religions did not always go smoothly. Even today, some conflict between groups results from this period.

United States in SE Asia

• In the late 18OOs, the United States also began to seek colonies.

• In 1898, as a result of the Spanish American War, the United States won possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands.

• Filipino nationalists fought Americans for their freedom, just as they had fought the Spaniards before.

• The United States defeated the rebels and promised to give the Philippines self-rule later. Strong presence of American businesses.

United States and Hawaii

• Some American businessmen grew wealthy from sugar plantations in Hawaii

• In the 1890s, when Queen Lihuokalani tried to regain control of her country, the businessmen overthrew her.

• They declared a republic and asked the United States to annex of Hawaii.

• In 1898, it became a territory of the United States.