EFFECTS OF NEW
IMPERIALISM 1750-1900
Evaluating the positive and negative impacts of New
Imperialism 1750-1900
DOC #1 RUDYARD KIPLING’S “WHITE
MAN’S BURDEN”
BACKGROUND: MANY WHITE PEOPLE
FELT THAT THEY WERE MORALLY
RESPONSIBLE TO RAISE “IGNORANT
NATIVE PEOPLES” TO A HIGHER LEVEL
OF CIVILIZATION. FEW CAPTURED THIS
NOTION BETTER THAT THE BRITISH
POET RUDYARD KIPLING IN HIS FAMOUS
POEM THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN. HIS
APPEAL, DIRECTED TO THE UNITED
STATES, BECAME ONE OF THE MOST
FAMOUS SETS OF VERSES IN THE
ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD
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Kipling, a former captain in the British army served
in India and identified that it was his duty to
Christianize, commercialize and civilize what he
called “ Half devil” (not yet Christian) and half child
(not yet civilized)” Fill full the mouth of Famine-”
save the starving”
And bid the sickness cease “ heal the sick”;
And when your foal is nearest The end for others
sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly” social Darwinism
identified the strongest survived were those who
worked hard and were morally superior” an
additional document from an American soldier in
the Philippines would evidence whether they
supported this justification of social Darwinism
DOC #2 “BLACK MAN’S BURDEN”RESPONSE TO…BACKGROUND:
THIS BRITISH AUTHOR POINTS OUT
SOME OF THE MORE HARMFUL
ASPECTS OF COLONIALISM IN THE
BELGIAN CONGO.)
• This author is identifying the negative
impacts of African imperialism both by
Europeans as well as by “Semitic” Arab
peoples. The purpose is to change the
mind of pro imperialists and , perhaps,
to end the exploitation of land, labor
and capital. A excerpt from “King
Leopold’s Ghosts” by Adam Rothschild
to evidence the mistreatment of native
Africans would serve to justify the
author’s narrative
DOCUMENT #3
BACKGROUND: THIS
ONGOING DEBATE CENTERS
UPON THE RELATIVE
BENEFITS OF ENGLISH AND
VARIOUS INDIAN
LANGUAGES.)
THOMAS BABINGTON
MACAULAY, MINUTE ON
EDUCATION
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This rather ethnocentric look at the many languages (focus
on Arabic and Sanskrit) of India needed a focus on one to
“educate” the natives. The author’s purpose was to
indoctrinate the use of a European education to the people
of India while dismissing their history. One can look at this
as “cultural imperialism” and serves as the “civilizing”
mission of the British. “It is, I believe, no exaggeration to
say, that all the historical information which has been
collected from all the books written in the Sanskrit
language is less valuable than what may be found in the
most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in
England. In every branch of physical or moral philosophy
the relative position of the two nations is nearly the same.”
A Indian student who is learning through the European
style education would be a useful source to determine
whether it was beneficial or harmful toward their own
traditional cultural values.
(BACKGROUND: EDWARD DOUWES
DEKKER WAS A DUTCH COLONIAL
OFFICIAL WHO OBSERVED IN THE EAST
INDIES FOR NEARLY TWENTY YEARS. IN
1860, HE PUBLISHED A CRITIQUE OF THE
DUTCH COLONIAL SYSTEM THAT HAD AN
IMPACT IN THE NETHERLANDS SIMILAR
TO THAT OF HARRIET BEECHER STOWES
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN IN THE UNITED
STATES. IN THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT
FROM HIS BOOK MAX HAVELAAR, OR
COFFEE AUCTIONS OF THE DUTCH
TRADING COMPANY, DOUWES DEKKER
DESCRIBED THE SYSTEM AS IT WAS
APPLIED ON THE ISLAND OF JAVA, IN
THE INDONESIAN ARCHIPELAGO.)
EDUARD DOUWES DEKKER, MAX
HAVELAAR
• Document #4 This is an attempt to
humanize the Javanese people and to
promote the end of imperialism by the
Dutch in what is Indonesia today. One
can see how he attempts to draw
parallels between the lands of France
and that of Java for the purpose of
shame and promotion to end the
colonial policies of the exploitation of
land, labor and capital. A journal from a
native of Java would serve to validate
the concerns of the author and justify
the end of colonialism in Java by the
Dutch.
(BACKGROUND: MOST AFRICANS LIVING
OUTSIDE THE PORT CITIES HAD LITTLE IDEA
OF WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE ARRIVAL OF
THE WHITE MAN AND THE NEW COLONIAL
AUTHORITY. THANKS TO THESE MEMOIRS,
RECOUNTED A HALF CENTURY LATER BY AN
AFRICAN WOMAN FROM NORTHERN
NIGERIA, WE ARE OFFERED AN INTIMATE
GLIMPSE INTO THE ARRIVAL OF THE
BRITISH AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE
THAT SLAVERY AMONG AFRICANS WAS
STILL A LONG-ESTABLISHED TRADITION IN
THE AREA. IN A LATER PASSAGE, THE
WOMAN REMARKS THAT HER FAMILY LOST
INCOME FROM THE FLIGHT OF ITS SLAVES,
BUT THE LOSS WAS OFFSET BY A
REDUCTION IN TAXES THAT AFRICAN
FARMERS HAD TRADITIONALLY BEEN
COMPELLED TO PAY TO FILL THE POCKETS
OF LOCAL OFFICIALS AND CHIEFS.)
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BABA, A HAUSA WOMAN OF NIGERIA
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Document #5 This Hausa ( named after West
Africa city-states in Nigeria) is recounted 50
years after colonization so memory might be
vague. She evaluates the tales the Muslims
scholars told of European kindness and
technologies while neighboring Fulani peoples
were suspicious. She identifies the European
opposition to slavery ( although it had existed
prior and maintained in the Arab world),she
identifies the Habe people who welcomed the
Europeans and received wage labor. Sources
from Fulani and Habe journals would be a useful
source to identify the specific positive and
negative views of British imperialism in Western
Africa. Also an excerpt from the Berlin
Conference to identify the intentions
Of European imperialists and their scramble for
Africa would help illustrate the causes of
European imperialism in Africa
(BACKGROUND:
AS BRITISH FORCES
ADVANCED NORTHWARD FROM THE CAPE
COLONY TOWARD THE ZAMBEZI RIVER IN
THE 1890S, THEY OVERRAN THE NDEBELE
PEOPLE, WHO OCCUPIED RICH LANDS IN
THE REGION NEAR THE SITE OF THE RUINS
OF GREAT ZIMBABWE. ANGERED BY
BRITISH BRUTALITY, NDEBELE WARRIORS
REVOLTED IN 1896 TO THROW OFF THEIR
OPPRESSORS. DESPITE THEIR GREAT
SUPERIORITY IN NUMBERS, BRITISH UNITS
POSSESSED THE FEARED MAXIM GUN,
WHICH MOWED DOWN AFRICAN ATTACKERS
BY THE HUNDREDS. FACED WITH DEFEAT,
THE NDEBELE KING, LOB UNGULA, FLED
INTO THE HILLS AND COMMITTED SUICIDE.
IN THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT, A SURVIVOR
DESCRIBES THE CONFLICT.)
NDANSI KUMALO, A PERSONAL ACCOUNT
• Document #6 this survivor’s account of
the British wars of imperialism illustrate
the savagery of their conquest both by
the British (white people) and their
native collaborators. The purpose is the
show the mistreatment of the Ndebele
people under Cecil Rhode’s leadership (
Rhode’s wished to build a Transcontinental railroad from Cape town to
Cairo) . This document also illustrates
the power of the Maxim gun as a tool of
imperialism. An account from a local
collaborator would serve to illustrate
how and why they worked with Rhodes
rather than their local African people.
(BACKGROUND: IN THIS PASSAGE
FROM A BOOK WRITTEN AT THE
HEIGHT OF WORLD WAR I, THE
AUTHOR SEEKS TO PERSUADE
HIS READERS THAT THE
COMMON DESTINY OF ALL
HUMANITY IS MORE IMPORTANT
THAN THAT OF AN INDIVIDUAL
NATION OR PEOPLE.)
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RABINDRANATH TAGORE,
NATIONALISM IN INDIA
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Document #7 this Indian nationalist who has seen
many of his fellow people fights and die for the
British should unite using the principles which the
British helped to unite them (Indian National
Congress, All Muslim league, Education,
infrastructure, mutual animosities of the British).
He identifies that , while diverse, India should unite(
his audience being both people of South Asia and
the anti-imperialists in the world. “A true unity is
like a round globe, it rolls on, carrying its burden
easily; but diversity is a many cornered thing which
has to be dragged and pushed with all force. Be it
said to the credit of India that this diversity was not
her own creation; she has had to accept it as a fact
from the beginning of her history. An excerpt from
Mohandas Gandhi's Village Swaraj would
illustrate the impacts of nationalism out of
imperialism and the voice of the birth of an
independent India (1948)
(BACKGROUND: IN 1862, THE
VIETNAMESE IMPERIAL COURT AT
HUE CEDED THREE PROVINCES IN
SOUTHERN VIETNAM TO THE
FRENCH. IN OUTRAGE, MANY
PATRIOTIC VIETNAMESE MILITARY
OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT
OFFICIALS APPEALED TO THEIR
COMPATRIOTS TO RISE UP
SPONTANEOUSLY AND RESIST THE
FOREIGNERS. THE FOLLOWING
PASSAGE IS FROM AN ANONYMOUS
DOCUMENT WRITTEN IN 1864)
AN APPEAL TO RESIST THE FRENCH
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Document #8 this anonymous document (
probably for fear of reprisal) uses nationalist and
religious fervor to persuade the Vietnamese
(although fragmented under 3 provinces) to fight
despite some problems(French had better artillery
and local conspirators). The author hints at
successes (French generals killed) and warnings (
Vietnamese scholars who “Do not envy the scholars
who now become provincial or district magistrates
[in the French administration]. They are decay,
garbage, filth, and swine”) the purpose was to
continue the fight for independence. A document
from a French soldier would provide a perspective
as to intent and reaction to “insurrectionists’ in
“French Indochina”.
THESIS: FROM 1750-1900 THE EFFECTS OF EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM LED TO THE BIRTH OF NATIONALISM WITHIN THE
COLONIES AND COLONISTS WHO LED MOVEMENTS AGAINST , THE
EXPLOITATION OF THE LAND, LABOR AND CAPITAL OF AFRICA AND
ASIA . THE BENEFITS THE EUROPEANS USED TO JUSTIFY THE
CHRISTIANIZATION, CAPITALIZATION AND CIVILIZATION WERE MET
WITH FIERCE OPPOSITION AND ILLUSTRATED FAR MORE
MALEVOLENT ABUSE THAN BENEVOLENT GAIN.