The 19th Century

North and South AmericaAsia

Africa

The Caribbean• Slave revolts throughout the Caribbean• Brutally put down by Salve Owners• One notable exception . . . Haiti• Massive slave revolt in the French Colony of

St. Domingue (1791-1804)• Led by an educated former slave who had

Military experience: Toussaint L’Ouverture• Success in defeating the French and

founding the Republic of Haiti• The only successful slave revolt in history

and one of only two successful revolutions ever to this point

• Haiti is a tragedy – politically and economically isolated by Europeans and Americans – fell into horrible poverty (currently the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere)

South America• South America was the only continent

that reduced the influence of Europeans in the 19th century

• Ancient Plantation economies and the backwards rule of the Spanish and Portuguese could not be sustained

• Revolutions throughout South America• Jose San Martin led revolutionary

forces and liberated Argentina, Chile and Peru

• Simon Bolivar led revolutionary forces and liberated Venezula, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia

• Mexico became independent from Spanish rule

North America• With the power of the Industrial

Revolution fuelling them, the United States pushed westward, destroying entire civilizations and murdering hundreds of thousands

• By the beginning of the 20th Century, all of the Natives of North America had lost their land and were forced into reservations

• America pushed further, violently taking pieces of Mexico and several Pacific Islands

India• The British had been in India for centuries• British East India Company won several wars to solidify control of

India• Their Army consisted of Mercenaries and Sepoys (Indian

Mercenaries)• Took advantage of the lack of unity in the region• Sepoy Rebellion of 1857: Massive Rebellion all over India led by

Sepoys: started over a new rifle. • Brutally repressed, massive retaliation in the countryside, British

East India Company lost control of India to British Government• Britain took full political control of India

The Middle East

• The Middle east was dominated by the Ottoman Empire for Hundreds of Years

• However, the Ottoman’s poverty and lack of political and economic advancement lead to severe weakness – started to break into pieces (this is it Eastern Question)

• Russia, England and France all battle over the pieces (Crimean War)

• Several Middle Eastern Nations also get independence• However, Europeans slowly move in and by the end of

the 19th Century completely dominate the region

Africa• The Race to conquer Africa started in the 1870’s and

by 1885 Africa was completely conquered except for Ethiopia

• In Ethiopia, Menelik II unified his kingdom and hired western experts to modernize his country

• He created a European based school system, build railroads, imported weapons and commanders to train an army

• When Italy came, they were ready!• However, most African groups did not have large

political organization and small groups easily fell to Europeans

• European Powers began to partition Africa into manageable administrative sections with little or no regard for ethnic, religious and traditional boundaries

• Artificial nations are created with people who have little in common (In many ways, both Africa and the Middle East are still paying for this)

• It took much violence to subdue the continent (for example – the British fought several bloody wars versus the Zulu tribe – a large group united and organized by Shaka Zulu)

China• Europe had been trying to gain access to

China since the Middle Ages• Europe had been trading with China but was

always at a disadvantage – the Europeans didn’t have anything the Chinese wanted

• This changed when the British started to deal in Opium – a narcotic made from poppies

• The Chinese understood the dangers of Opium to their society and tried to restrict trade

• The result was the Opium Wars – the British won and got exclusive trading rights in China and gained possession of several Chinese ports (including Hong Kong)

• They never gained full political power of China but after the Opium Wars they had full economic access and were able to intimidate their way into favourable trade relationships

Japan• Japan was isolationist throughout most of their history• They resisted modernization in order to hold on to their

social stratification – no guns to keep the power of the Shoguns and Samurai

• However, free trade with Japan was opened by the guns of American battleships

• They Modernized very quickly (they immediately understood the advantage of European industry)

• However, the Samurai resisted this change – understanding it was an end to their power and priviledge in Japanese society

• The Samurai rebelled and their was civil war – by the end, the Samurai were also using firearms

• Japan retained it’s warrior spirit and after they had sufficiently modernized, they refused to be pushed around by European powers

• In 1905, the Japanese fought and destroyed the Russian Eastern Army and Black Sea fleet in the Russo-Japanese war

• The first time in History a non-European power defeats a European power in a conventional war