Chapter 21

THE HIGH TIDE OF

IMPERIALISM

The Spread of Colonial Rule

• Q: What were the causes of the new imperialism of the nineteenth century, and how did it differ from European expansion in earlier periods?

Colonialism & Imperialism

• Economic motives for colonialism– Raw materials & New Markets– Oil, tin, rubber & manufactured goods

• Imperialism– Process of western economic expansion in

Asia and Africa• efforts of western capitalist states to seize markets,

cheap raw materials, and lucrative avenues for investment

Voices of Imperialism• John A. Hobson, Imperialism: A Study in 1902

• Jules Ferry (1885) & Karl Pearson– Evoked Social Darwinism

• Cecil Rhodes, – purpose was to extend the British empire on “which

the sun never set.”

• Moral Arguments: Promote Christianity & Build a better world.

Colonial Rivalry• Colonial rivalry

– scramble to acquire new territories in Asia and Africa, primary motive, economic

– Africa• British engaged in a struggle with rivals to protect their

interests in the Suez canal and Red Sea

– Southeast Asia • U.S. seized the Philippines from Spain and to keep

them from the Japanese

– Indochina• The French took over in competition with Germany,

Japan or the U.S. would usurp that territory

The Colonial System

• Q: What types of administrative systems did the various colonial powers establish in their colonies, and how did these systems reflect the general philosophy of colonialism?

Philosophy of Colonialism

• “Might makes it right”– pseudoscientific validation from the concept

of Social Darwinism

• “White mans burden”– Moral justification:

• bringing the benefits of western democracy, capitalism, and Christianity to the tradition-ridden societies of Africa and Asia,

– (civilizing mission)

Foreign Intervention & Occupation

• Indirect Rule

• Direct Rule

• Association (French)

• Assimilation

India Under the British Raj

• Q: What were some of the major consequences of British rule in India, and how did they affect the Indian peoples?

British India, 1800

• Empire of the Muhgals • British sought to consolidate their control

over Indian and expand into the interior– Direct Rule

• East India Co.• Later by the British Crown

– Indirect Rule• through their local Maharajas and rajas.

•company’s resident dominating a procession in Tanjore in 1825, while the Indian ruler, Sarabhoji, follows like an obedient shadow

© Art Media, Victoria and Albert Museum, London/HIP/The Image Works

The East Indian Co. Resident and His Puppet

Colonial Reforms

• British government brought order and “stability” and quelled civil wars

• Benefits – Increase in access to education

• Girls had some increase access – wifely duties, – Sati outlawed – widows allowed to remarry legally– new infrastructure of railroads and telegraph,

postal service, health and sanitation improved.

Costs of Colonialism• High price for stability

– British used the Zamindar system– Economic hardship to the majority of millions of

people• Introduction of British textiles put thousands of Bengali

women out of work and severely damaged the local textile industry

– Limited industrialization, • remiss in bringing the benefits of modern science and

technology

– Psychological impact of British arrogance, contempt and discrimination

India Under British Rule, 1805–1931

•This map shows the different forms of rule that the British applied in India under their control.

Colonial regimes in SE Asia

• Q: Which western countries were most active in seeking colonial possessions in Southeast Asia, and what were their motives in doing so?

Colonial Regimes in Southeast Asia

• 1800 only two societies were under colonial rule

– Spanish Philippines– Dutch East Indies

• 1900 the entire area colonized by the west

The Effects of Dutch Colonialism in Java

•Dutch administration buildings in Batavia© William J. Duiker

Singapore and Malaya

•“Opportunity in the Orient”

•1819 Stamford Raffles founded British colony in Singapore

•Strategic shipping port in the region

Government Hill in Singapore

•Strait of Malacca, an important commercial seaport in Asia.

© British Library/HIP/Art Resource, NY

Colonial Southeast Asia

•British Burma

Malacca

•French Vietnam

Laos

Cambodia

•American Philippines

The Nature of Colonial Rule

• Colonial administrations did not allow for “democratic” institutions nor encouraged educational reforms.

• Albert Sarraut I will treat you like my younger brothers, but do not forget that I am the older brother. I will slowly give you the dignity of humanity

• French officials in Vietnam: Educating the natives meant not “one coolie less but one rebel more”

Cultural Influences—

East and West

© Archives Charmet/The Bridgeman Art Library

The Nature of Colonial Rule• Economic Development

– Exploitation of raw materials• Burma: Teakwood

• Malaya: Rubber and Tin

• East Indies: spices, tea, coffee, palm oil

• Philippines: sugar, copra (coconut flesh)

– Limited industrialization• Industrialization to meet needs of European elite and

local elites

• Most industrial and commercial establishments, banking, & trade, owned and managed by Europeans

The Nature of Colonial Rule

• Colonialism and the Countryside – Majority of people agrarian

• Subsistence agriculture

• Plantation agriculture– European Rubber & Tea Plantations– Workers “Shanghaied”

• English term , practice of recruiting laborers, often from the docks and streets of Shanghai: use of force, drugs or alcohol

The Production of Rubber

• European

Cash Crop of Asia

•Slave wages.

© William J. Duiker

The Production of

Rubber

•.latex sheets

© William J. Duiker

Empire Building in Africa

• Q: What factors were behind the “Scramble for Africa” and what impact did it have on the continent?

• Berlin West African Conference1884-1885

The Scramble for Africa

© Snarky/Art Resource, NY

The Suez Canal • Strategic Imperialism

• British Control of Egypt & Sudan

The Opening of the Suez Canal, 1869

•Continues to be Egypt’s greatest revenue producer

© Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, NY

French Conquest & Settlement of Northwest Africa

• 1830 – 1869 France expanded influence into Algeria, the Sahara, Tunisia, Morocco

• Encouraged French re-settlement

• Created a system of White Privilege– Colons or settlers enjoyed representation in

government– Muslims not represented and dispossessed of

land and resources

Belgium

• King Leopold II, 1876– “I want my share of this wonderful African cake”

• Organized private commercial organization to exploit resources of Congo basin– Established the Congo Free State– Exploitation of land and people of Congo justified

accusations that modern tropical colonization by Europeans was motivated by economic greed

• International outcry against repressive policies forced him to appoint a Commission of inquiry in 1904

1912

• Partition of Africa Completed• Industrial Development

– Demand for raw materials from Africa & elsewhere increased

– Improvements in shipping reduced transportation costs

– Steamships, telegraphs, railways, superior guns, military equipment facilitated European intervention & control

– European mentality, economic system & morality – the desire & justification to conquer other peoples was present

Serving the White Ruler•African workers carry British officers across a mangrove swamp in Central Africa. Two porters in the rear bring the liquor. © Mary Evans Picture Library/The Image Works

Resistance

• invasion disrupted to traditional life ways, political, socio-economic systems

• 25 conflicts with Europeans before WWI– Key resisters

• Ethiopia• Ashanti in present day Ghana• Followers of the Mahdi in Sudan• Zulus in Southern Africa

– All lost in the end with exception of Ethiopia who skillfully used modern weapons they purchased

Empire Building in AfricaInformal Empire

• The Growing European Presence in West Africa– Emergence of European educated elite class of

Africans who were then employed by Europeans– Christianizing – African social splits– Tensions with African government

– British: Gold Coast, Sierra Leone– America: Liberia– French: Senegal River near Cape Verde

• Peanut plantations

South Africa

• Dutch & English Colonization

• Creation of Apartheid State(s)

• S. Africa Company:– Created Rhodesia– Diamond Mining

Revere the conquering heroes: Establishing British

rule in Africa© Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Domestic Slaves, Zanzibar, 1890•Slave trade in decline: growing outrage among humanitarians in European countries over human trafficking & increase in price coupled with decrease in demand © Bojan Brecelj/CORBIS

New African LeadershipAnti-colonial movements

• Educated– Wanted to seize new opportunities created by

colonialism– Began to develop anti-colonial movements

• Prior to WWI, demanded African Christian Churches be placed under black African leadership

• New African independent states be established based on modern democratic principles

Africa in 1914• Nationalist Political

movements in North Africa– Morocco

• Rif Rebellion led by Krim Brothers

• Brutally crushed by French and Spanish forces

– Algeria– Libya

• Italians bombed rebellion

– Tunisia• French crushed

movements in early 1900s