The Age of ImperialismChapter 11

The Scramble for Africa

• During 19th and early 20th centuries European nations seized large areas of Africa

• Wanted a source of raw materials and new markets for manufactured goods

• These stronger countries dominated the political, economic and social life of these countries (this domination is called imperialism)

• Africa before European domination:

• Divided into hundreds of ethnic groups with over 1,000 different languages

• Had large empires and independent villages

• Before 1880 most European settlement was along the coasts

• Europeans could not navigate the rivers, diseases (malaria, etc.) discouraged settlement

The Scramble for Africa

Forces driving Imperialism

• Industrial Revolution provided reason to add lands to their control

1. Belief in national superiority- many European countries saw empires as a measure of national greatness

2. Many believed they were better than other peoples, saw their race as superior

• Attitude was a reflection of Social Darwinism- major social theory of the time

• Took Darwin's ideas about evolution and applied it to human society

• They felt they were the fittest and saw others as inferior

• Believed they had the right and duty to bring progress, government and culture to others

3. Christian missionaries wanted to “civilize” peoples of Africa and Asia

The Scramble for Africa

4. Europeans had the advantage of better technology

• Weapons- machine guns

• Transportation- railroads, and steamships allowed them quicker access inside their colony

• Better communication systems- within the colony and between the colony and the controlling nation

• Medicine- 1829 the drug quinine was developed to prevent malaria

5. Internal issues led to European domination

Africa’s ethnic and linguistic differences discourage unity and the Europeans took advantages of these divisions

The Scramble for Africa

The Division of Africa

• Conquest of territory began around 1880

• French expanded along the West African coast and across the Sahara Desert

• Gold and diamonds were discovered in South Africa and this increased European interest

• 1884-1885 European countries met at the Berlin Conference to divide up Europe• No African countries were invited to attend

• European countries could claim any land they could control

• Divided country with little thought to traditional African ethnic and linguistic groups

• By 1914 only Liberia and Ethiopia were free from European control

IMPERIALISMSection2

Imperialism

• During the imperialism of the 1800s European countries demanded influence over the economic, social and political lives of the people

• They wanted to develop the economies to benefit European economies

• They wanted to them to adopt European customs

The four forms of colonial control

1. Colony- country or territory governed by a foreign power

2. Protectorate- country with its own government but under the control of an outside power

3. Sphere of influence- outside power claims exclusive trading or investing rights in a country or territory

4. Economic imperialism- independent country controlled by private business interests rather than a government

Imperialism

• Methods of management

• Indirect control- relied on existing local rulers• Local government used

• Limited self rule

• Government institutions based on European styles but may have local rules

• Direct control- viewed Africans as unable to rule themselves

• Europeans governed in a parental way, by providing for their needs but not giving them individual rights (paternalism)• Foreign officials brought in to rule

• No self rule

• Government institutions based on European styles only

• Type of control had an influence on the type of government chosen when countries achieved their independence

Imperialism

• African Resistance

• A majority of attempts at African resistance failed because of superior weapons that the Europeans had

• The one exception was Ethiopia

• 1889- Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II played the British, Italians and the French against each other

• He built up a large arsenal of weapons purchased from the French and Russians

• 1896 he defeated Italian forces at the Battle of Adowa and kept the nation independent

Imperialism

• Legacy of Colonial Rule

• Negative• Africans lost independence

• Were introduced to new deadly diseases

• Famine resulted from change from subsistence farming to cash crop agriculture for export

• Many lost traditional beliefs and ways of life that undermined society

• African continent divided without regard to political or ethnic boundaries (problem continues today)

• Positive• Local warfare reduced

• Sanitation and literacy were improved

• Economic expansion

• Railroads, telegraphs, telephones

• Most of the positive effects benefitted the European business interests rather than African lives

U.S. Economic ImperialismSection 3

U.S. Economic Imperialism

• Latin American’s struggle for independence in the late 1700s and early 1800s left the new nations in shambles

• The new nations struggled for economic and political security

Colonial legacy

• Most people were poor farmers that worked for large landowners

• Landowners gained more land and wealth after independence

• This unequal land and wealth distribution prevented social and economic development development in Latin America

U.S. Economic Imperialism

Political Instability

• Army leaders used their power to control the new nations as military dictators (caudillos)

• They were able to hold power because they were backed by the military

• By the mid-1800s most of Latin America was ruled by caudillos

• Reformers, who wanted to improve the lives of people in these countries did not stay in power long before they were defeated by the military

• Wealthy landowners supported the caudillos because they did not want to give up power to the lower classes

U.S. Economic Imperialism

Economies grow under foreign influence

• The new nations main trading partners were the US and

Great Britain

• Economies depended on export of one or two items

• Railroads, refrigeration and steamships increased Latin

Americas exports

• Foreign nations benefitted the most form trade

• Latin American countries imported most manufactured

goods and they had little reason to develop their own

industries

U.S. Economic Imperialism

• Latin American countries did not spend money to build

roads, schools and hospitals

• They borrowed and spent money to develop facilities for

their export industries

• Many countries could not pay back their loans and

foreign countries gained control over these industries

U.S. Economic Imperialism

Latin American Empire

• US had strong links with Latin America

• Security of Latin America was good for security of the US

• 1823 shortly after many Latin American countries gained independence they worried that they would be reconquered by European countries

• U.S. issued the Monroe Doctrine stating that the Western Hemisphere were off limits to European colonizers

• The US could not enforce this until the late 1800s

U.S. Economic Imperialism

Cuba

• Was one of the last Spanish colonies in the Western Hemisphere

• Cubans fought a decades long battle to gain independence from Spain

• By the mid-1890s Americans had significant business holdings in Cuba (sugar plantations) and had an economic stake in the future of the country

• The Spaniards began to put many Cuban rebels in concentration camps

• Many American objected to this treatment and began to sympathize with the rebels and their fight for freedom

• They also wanted to protect their business interests

• 1898 U.S. gets involved in the war for Cuban independence

U.S. Economic Imperialism

War became know as the Spanish American War

Lasted about four months

Results

Spain lost the last of their colonies

The U.S. gained control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines

The U.S. became the dominant imperial power in Latin America

As the U.S. asserted control over these regions many Latin American countries began to resent U.S. power

U.S. viewed as the “Colossus of the North”

U.S. Economic Imperialism

Panama Canal

• The U.S. wanted to build a canal across Central America to: A. Cut the travel time between the east and

west part of the United States

B. To be able to move goods and their navy easier between the two oceans

• They decided to build in Panama and they supported a revolution in Panama to break free of control by Columbia

• From 1904-1914 the U.S built the canal across the jungles and mountains of Panama

• Latin America became a crossroads of world trade that was controlled by the United States

U.S. Economic Imperialism

• Roosevelt Corollary

• United States expanded their economic interests in Latin America at the beginning of the 20th century

• To protect economic interests President Teddy Roosevelt issued an extension or corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Gave the US the right to be the policeman of the Western Hemisphere

US had the right to intervene in the economic affairs of Latin American countries

US used it to justify military intervention in many countries in Latin America over decades

• Latin American countries were powerless to stop the US