Imperialism and Nation-State
Formation
The Age of Imperialism was a time period
beginning around 1870 when modern, relatively
developed nations were taking over less developed
areas, colonizing them, or influencing them in
order to expand their own power.
Imperialism
• The creation and/or maintenance of an
unequal economic, cultural, and territorial
relationship, usually between states and
often in the form of an empire based on
domination and subordination
Nationalism
• Motivated European nations to compete for
colonial possessions
• European economic, military, and political power
forced colonized countries to trade on European
terms
• Industrially produced goods flooded colonial
markets and displaced traditional industries
• Colonized peoples resisted European domination
and responded in diverse ways to Western
influence
The Excuses of Imperialism
Forms of Imperialism
• Colonies
• Protectorates
• Spheres of influence
Forces Enabling Imperialism
• How was a relatively small portion of the
earth’s surface (that today has 14% of
Africa/Asia’s population) able to conquer
Earth’s largest continents?
Industrial
Revolution
Markets for
Finished
Goods
Source for
Raw
Materials
European
Nationalism
Missionary
Activity
European
Motives
For Colonization
Military
& Naval
Bases
Social
Darwinism
Places to
Dump
Unwanted/
Excess Popul.
European
Racism
“White
Man’s
Burden”
Humanitarian
Reasons
Soc. & Eco.
Opportunities
Berlin Conference of 1884-1885
Another point of view? 
Europeans: Carving up a Continent
Who is missing from this picture???
“We have been engaged in -British Official
drawing lines upon maps
where no white man’s foot
has ever trod.
We have been giving away
mountains and rivers and
lakes to each other, only
hindered by the small
impediment that we never
knew exactly where the
mountains and rivers
were.”
Social Darwinism
The “White Man’s Burden”
Rudyard Kipling
The “White Man’s Burden”?
Remember
“The White
Man’s
Burden”???
Which one do you think
is more accurate?
Where Is Dr. Livingstone?
Doctor
Livingstone,
I Presume?
Dr. David Livingstone
Sir Henry Morton
Stanley
David Livingstone
• Went to Africa as a
missionary but was a
combination of missionary,
doctor, explorer, scientist
and anti-slavery activist.
• Reached and named
Victoria Falls in 1855.
• In 1871 journalist Henry
Stanley found him at Lake
Tanganyika, greeting him
with the famous words "Dr.
Livingstone, I presume?"
European Explorations in mid-19c:
“The Scramble for Africa”
What is the Source of the Nile?
John Speke
Sir Richard Burton
The Congo Free State
or
The Belgian Congo
King Leopold II:
(r. 1865 – 1909)
Africa: the Congo
• In the 1870s King Leopold II
of Belgium employed Henry
Stanley to help develop
commercial ventures and
establish a colony called
Congo Free State in the
basin of the Congo River
• Leopold said the Congo Free
State would be a free-trade
zone open to all European
merchants in order to
forestall competition from
his more powerful European
neighbors
Leopold II
Africa: the Congo
• In reality, Leopold ran the
Congo Free State as a
personal colony and filled
it with lucrative rubber
plantations run under
brutal conditions
– Humanitarians
protested Leopold’s
colonial regime
• In 1908 the Belgium
government took control
of the colony and it
became known as Belgian
Congo
Clearing tropical forests ate away
at Leopold’s profit margins so
Congolese farming villages such
as this one were leveled to make
way for rubber tree plantations
Harvesting Rubber
Punishing “Lazy” Workers
5-8 Million Victims!
(50% of Popul.)
It is blood-curdling to see them (the
soldiers) returning with the hands of
the slain, and to find the hands of
young children amongst the bigger
ones evidencing their bravery...The
rubber from this district has cost
hundreds of lives, and the scenes I
have witnessed, while unable to help
the oppressed, have been almost
enough to make me wish I were
dead... This rubber traffic is steeped
in blood, and if the natives were to
rise and sweep every white person on
the Upper Congo into eternity, there
would still be left a fearful balance to
their credit.
-- Belgian Official
Belgium’s Stranglehold on the Congo
Leopold’s Conscience??
Leopold Defends Himself in Paris,
1903
King Leopold (to Loubert) :
How about that! John
Bull claims that I
tortured, robbed and
murdered more than he
did. . .
Loubert : No, your Majesty,
that's impossible .
Dutch Landing in 1652
Shaka Zulu
(1785 – 1828)
Boers Clash With the Xhosa
Tribes
Boer Farmer
The Great Trek, 1836-38
Afrikaners
Diamond Mines
Raw Diamonds
The Struggle for South Africa
Cecil Rhodes
(1853-1902) De Beer
“The Colossus of Rhodes”
Cecil Rhodes
• Went to south Africa in 1871
and by 1889 he controlled
90% of the world’s diamond
production
• Also gained a healthy stake
in the gold market
• Served as prime minister of
the British Cape Colony from
1890-1896 and saw the Cape
Colony as a base of
operations for the extension
of British control to all of
Africa
South Africa and the Boer War (1899-1902)
Principal sponsor of the Cape-to-Cairo
dream where Britain would dominate
the continent.
Diamonds and gold were discovered in
the Transvaal and Rhodes wanted to
extend his influence there but region
controlled by Boers (descendents of
Dutch settlers)
Boer-British Tensions Increase
 1877 – Britain annexed the Transvaal.
 1883 – Boers fought British in the
Transvaal and regained its
independence.
- Paul Kruger becomes President.
 1880s – Gold discovered in the
Transvaal
Paul Kruger
Kruger Telegram (1902):
Kaiser Wilhelm II,
dispatched telegram to
Boers congratulating
them on defeating
British invaders without
need of German
assistance
Anger swept through
Britain aimed at
Germany.
(1825-1904)
The Boer War: 1899 - 1900
The Boers
The British
South Africa and the Boer War (1899-1902)
Massive British force
eventually defeated
Boers and in 1910 the
Transvaal, Orange Free
State, Cape Colony, &
Natal combined to form
the Union of South
Africa.
A Future British Prime Minister
British Boer War Correspondent,
Winston Churchill
The Struggle for South Africa
Many Africans fought back:
“I have listened to your words but can find no reason
why I should obey you – I would rather die first… If you
desire friendship, then I am ready for it, today and
always. But I cannot be your subject. If you desire war,
then I am ready.”
-Chief Machemba (1890)
What do you think happened?
• As states industrialized during this period, they
also expanded their existing overseas colonies
and established new types of colonies and
transoceanic empires.
• Regional warfare and diplomacy both resulted in
and were affected by this process of modern
empire building.
• The process was led mostly by Europe,
although not all states were affected equally,
which led to an increase of European
influence around the world.
• The United States and Japan also participated
in this process.
• The growth of new empires challenged the
power of existing land-based empires of
Eurasia.
• New ideas about nationalism, race, gender,
class, and culture also developed that
facilitated the spread of transoceanic empires,
as well as justified anti-imperial resistance
and the formation of new national identities.
Industrializing powers
established transoceanic
empires
Transoceanic Empires
• States with existing colonies strengthened
their control over those colonies
– British in India
– Dutch in Indonesia
• British, Dutch, French, German, Russian, as
well as the Americans and the Japanese,
established empires throughout Asia and the
Pacific
• Spanish and Portuguese influence declined.
Methods of Colonization
• Many European states used both warfare and
diplomacy to establish empires in Africa
– Berlin Conference
– Britain in West Africa
– Belgians in the Congo
– Open Door Policy in China
Settler Colonies
• In some parts of their empires Europeans
established settler colonies
– The British in Southern Africa, Australia, Canada,
and New Zealand
– The French in Algeria
Economic Imperialism
• In other parts of the world, industrialized
states practiced economic imperialism
– British and French expanding their influence in
China through the Opium War
– The British and the United States investing
heavily in Latin America
Imperialism in Africa and Asia
•
•
•
•
•
•
European domination
European conflicts carried to the colonies
Christian missionary efforts
Spheres of influence in China
Suez Canal
East India Company’s domination of Indian
states
• American opening of Japan to trade
Imperialism influenced state
formation and contraction
around the world
• The United States and Russia emulated
European transoceanic imperialism by
expanding their land borders and conquering
neighboring territories
• The expansion of U.S. and European influence
over Tokugawa Japan led to the emergence of
Meiji Japan
Arrival of Matthew Perry and his kurofune or
"Black Ships" in Japan in 1854
Rise of Nationalism
• First Indian nationalist party founded in the
mid-1800s - Indian National Congress
Anti-imperial Resistance
• Led to the contraction of the Ottoman Empire
• Establishment of Independent states in the
Balkans
• Semi-independence in Egypt, French and
Italian Colonies in North Africa
– Later British Influence in Egypt
EUROPEANS IN EGYPT
• 1870s – with the Egyptian government
bankrupt, the British and French took over
financial control of the country
– Egyptian monarchs (technically Ottoman
viceroys) ruled as puppet leaders
• 1882 – Egyptian nationalist rebellion
– France withdrew its troops
– Great Britain left in control of Egypt
• Lord Cromer introduced reforms
– De facto British protectorate
• Made official in 1914
• Independence came in 1922
Egypt Seeks to Modernize
– Muhammad Ali – Governor of Egypt
(1805)
• Known as the “Father of Modern Egypt”
• Improved tax collection, reorganized the
landholding system, and backed large
irrigation projects
• Also brought in western military experts
to modernize Egypt’s army
• Dies in 1849
– Successors build the Suez Canal
• Britain took control of
Egypt in 1883
– Pushed southward and took
control of Sudan
• Battle of Omdurman (1898):
General Horatio H. Kitchener
defeated Sudanese tribesman
and killed 11,000 (use of
machine gun) while only 28
Britons died
SUDAN
BRITISH IN NORTHERN AFRICA
• Sudan
–
–
–
–
Area south of Egypt
Under Anglo-Egyptian control
Cotton needed for British textile mills
Entente Cordiale (1904)
• Great Britain controlled Sudan
• France controlled Morocco
• Cape-to-Cairo Railroad
– Idea of Cecil Rhodes
– Would secure Great Britain’s dominance in Africa
– Never completed – sections missing through
modern Sudan and Uganda
Cape-to-Cairo Railway: Crossing over Victoria Falls
Fashoda Incident (1898): France & Britain nearly
went to war over Sudan; France backed down in
the face of the Dreyfus Affair
• By theAFRICANS
time of the FirstIN
World
War (1914)
AFRICA
– Only 2 independent African countries
• Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
–Ruled by dynasty stretching back to at least
the 13th century
–Last emperor was Haile Selassie, deposed in
1974
–Home to Ethiopian Orthodox Christian
Church (strongly tied to Egyptian Coptic
Church)
• Liberia
–Formed by freed slaves under auspices of
the United States government
Remember?
“Whatever happens, we have got
the Maxim gun, and they have not.”
When Africans rebelled, Europeans killed thousands of
Yao, Zulu, Asante, Shona, Herero, and Maji-Maji people.
Ethiopia was the only exception…
Many Africans gave up traditional agriculture to work for
European companies. Some worked on rubber
plantations or in copper mines. Others built railroads to
bring these natural resources to ports, where they could
be shipped to Europe and used in factories.
New States developed on the edges
of existing empires
•
•
•
•
Cherokee Nation
Siam
Hawaii
Zulu Kingdom
Spread of Nationalism
• An ideology fostered new communal identities
– German Nation
– Filipino nationalism
– Liberian nationalism
AFRICANS IN AFRICA
• By the time of the First World War (1914)
– Only 2 independent African countries
• Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
–Ruled by dynasty stretching back to at least the
13th century
–Last emperor was Haile Selassie, deposed in
1974
–Home to Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church
(strongly tied to Egyptian Coptic Church)
• Liberia
–Formed by freed slaves under auspices of the
United States government
Emperor Haile
Selassie I
“Conquering Lion of
the Tribe of Judah,
King of Kings of
Ethiopia and Elect of
God”
“Ras Tafari”
When Italy invaded again in 1935, Haile Selassie I made
a famous speech to the League of Nations.
Bob Marley used his speech as lyrics to a song, “War”
“That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another
inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned:
That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of
any nation;
That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than
the color of his eyes;
That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all
without regard to race;
That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship
and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting
illusion, to be pursued but never attained…”
“And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our
brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in
subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed…
Until that day, the African continent will not know peace.
We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall
win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.”
Impact of Imperialism in Africa
• POSITIVE
– Local warfare
reduced
– Improved sanitation
– Hospitals led to
increased lifespan
– Schools led to
increased literacy
– Economic growth
• NEGATIVE
– Loss of land and
independence
– Men forced to work in
European owned mines
and on European owned
farms
– Contempt for traditional
culture and admiration of
European culture =
identity problems
– Dividing up of Africa =
artificial boundaries
divided kinship groups and
united rivals
New racial ideologies,
especially Social Darwinism,
facilitated and justified
imperialism
Identify major developments of African history in the 19th and
early 20th centuries.
•Africa’s interaction with imperialism
•Agricultural changes and new patterns of employment
•The origins of African nationalism
Use your notes, and the lyrics to Bob Marley’s “War” to explain
how European imperialism affected Africans and their desire for
Nationalism.