Chapter 26
The West and the
World,
1815–1914
Africans in Madagascar
transport a French diplomat in
1894,
Africans in Madagascar transport a
French diplomat in 1894, shortly
before France annexed the island.
Snark/Art Resource, NY
The Growth of Average Income per Person in the Third World,
Developed Countries, and Great Britain, 1750–1970
Growth is given in 1960 U.S. dollars and prices.
P. Bairoch and M. Lévy-Leboyer, eds., Disparities in Economic Development Since the Industrial Revolution.
Copyright © 1981. Reprinted by permission of Palgrave Macmillan, UK.
British Ships and Shipbuilders
The British continued to dominate
international trade before the First
World War. This handsome
membership certificate of the British
shipbuilders union features the
vessels that drew the world together
and were Britain’s pride. Britain’s
thriving shipbuilding industry was
concentrated in southern Scotland
along the Clyde.
Trade Union Congress, London/The Bridgeman Art Library
European Investment to 1914
Foreign investment grew rapidly after 1850, and Britain, France, and Germany were
the major investing nations. As this map suggests, most European investment was
not directed to the African and Asian areas seized by the “new imperialism” after
1880.
Britain and China at War, 1841
Britain capitalized on its overwhelming naval superiority, and this British aquatint
celebrates a dramatic moment in a crucial battle near Guangzhou. Having received a
direct hit from a steam-powered British ironclad, a Chinese sailing ship explodes into
a wall of flame. The Chinese lost eleven ships and five hundred men in the twohour
engagement; the British suffered only minor damage.
National Maritime Museum, London
The Increase of European and
World Populations, 1750–1980
The Increase of European and World
Populations, 1750–1980
W. Woodruff, Impact of Western Man: A Study of Europe’s Role in the World Economy. St. Martin’s Press, New
York, 1967, p. 103; United Nations, Statistical Yearbook, 1982, 1985, pp. 2–3.
Emigration from Europe by Decades, 1851–1940
Emigration from Europe by Decades, 1851–1940
Copyright © W. Woodruff, from Impact of Western Man, by W. Woodruff, 1982. Reprinted with permission of
University Press of America.
Origins and Destinations of European Emigrants, 1851–1960
Origins and Destinations of European Emigrants, 1851–1960
Copyright © W. Woodruff, from Impact of Western Man, by W. Woodruff, 1982. Reprinted with permission of
University Press of America.
An Italian Custom in Argentina
Italian immigrants introduced the game of boccia to Argentina, where it took hold and
became a popular recreation for men. Dressed up in their Sunday best, these
Argentinian laborers are totally focused on the game, which is somewhat like
horseshoes or shuffleboard.
Hulton Archive/ Getty Images
The Partition of Africa
The European powers carved up
Africa after 1880 and built vast
political empires. European states
also seized territory in Asia in the
nineteenth century, although some
Asian states and peoples managed to
maintain their political independence,
as may be seen on Map 26.3, page
864. The late nineteenth century was
the high point of European
imperialism. Compare the patterns of
European imperialism in Africa and
Asia, using this map and Map 26.3.•1
What European countries were
leading imperialist states in both
Africa and Asia, and what lands did
they hold?•2 What countries in Africa
and Asia maintained their political
independence?•3 From an imperialist
perspective, what in 1914 did the
United States and Japan, two very
different countries, have in common
in Africa and Asia?
Cecil Rhodes,
Cecil Rhodes, after crushing the last African revolt in Rhodesia in 1896.
Brown Brothers
A Missionary School
A Swahili schoolboy leads his classmates in a reading lesson in Dar es Salaam in
German East Africa before 1914, as portraits of Emperor William II and his wife look
down on the classroom. Europeans argued that they were spreading the benefits of a
superior civilization with schools like this one, which is unusually solid because of its
strategic location in the capital city.
Ullstein Bilderdienst/The Granger Collection, New York
Imperial Complexities in India
Britain permitted many native princes to continue their rule, if they accepted British
domination. This photo shows a road-building project designed to facilitate famine
relief in a southern native state. Officials of the local Muslim prince and their British
“advisers” watch over workers drawn from the Hindu majority.
Nizam’s Good Works Project—Famine Relief: Road Building, Aurangabad 1895–1902, from Judith Mara Gutman,
Through Indian Eyes. Courtesy, Private Collection
The Rapid Modernization of
the Japanese Army
This woodcut from about 1870 shows
Japanese soldiers outfitted in
Western uniforms and marching in
Western formation. Japanese
reformers, impressed by Prussian
discipline and success on the
battlefield, looked to Germany for
their military models.
Ryogoku Tsuneo Tamba Collection/Laurie Platt Winfrey
The Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi (1835–1908)
Tzu Hsi drew on conservative forces, like the court eunuchs surrounding her here, to
maintain her power. Three years after her death in 1908, a revolution broke out and
forced the last Chinese emperor, a boy of six, to abdicate.
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Photographer: Hsun-ling.
Negative no. 261
An English lady attended by
her Indian servants.
An English lady attended by her
Indian servants.
Stapleton Collection, UK/The Bridgeman Art Library