White Man’s Burden or
White Man’s Crime?
What is Imperialism?

IMPERIALISM is a policy in which one
country, or nation, seeks to extend its
authority by conquering other countries
or by establishing economic and political
dominance over other countries.

A country or nation that was able to
extend its own influence over other
countries or peoples became known as
an EMPIRE.
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Imperial
Superpower
Colonized
Continent(s)
Motives
European
Advantages
Old Imperialism
(1450-1750)
New Imperialism
(1750-1914)
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Imperial
Superpower
Colonized
Continent(s)
Motives
European
Advantages
Old Imperialism
(1450-1750)
Spain
New Imperialism
(1750-1914)
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Imperial
Superpower
Colonized
Continent(s)
Motives
European
Advantages
Old Imperialism
(1450-1750)
New Imperialism
(1750-1914)
Spain
Great Britain
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Old Imperialism
(1450-1750)
New Imperialism
(1750-1914)
Imperial
Superpower
Spain
Great Britain
Colonized
Continent(s)
North & South America
Motives
European
Advantages
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Old Imperialism
(1450-1750)
New Imperialism
(1750-1914)
Imperial
Superpower
Spain
Great Britain
Colonized
Continent(s)
North & South America
Africa & Asia
Motives
European
Advantages
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Old Imperialism
(1450-1750)
New Imperialism
((1750-1914)
Imperial
Superpower
Spain
Great Britain
Colonized
Continent(s)
North & South America
Africa & Asia
Motives
European
Advantages
“God, Gold & Glory”
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Old Imperialism
(1492-1700)
New Imperialism
(1750-1914)
Imperial
Superpower
Spain
Great Britain
Colonized
Continent(s)
North & South America
Africa & Asia
Motives
European
Advantages
“God, Gold & Glory”
Industrial Raw Materials
Nationalism
Social Darwinism
White Man’s Burden
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Old Imperialism
(1492-1700)
New Imperialism
(1750-1914)
Imperial
Superpower
Spain
Great Britain
Colonized
Continent(s)
North & South America
Africa & Asia
Motives
European
Advantages
“God, Gold & Glory”
Guns, Germs, Horses &
Iron
Industrial Raw Materials
Nationalism
Social Darwinism
White Man’s Burden
Old vs. New
Imperialism: A
Comparison
Old Imperialism
(1450-1750)
New Imperialism
(1750-1914)
Imperial
Superpower
Spain
Great Britain
Colonized
Continent(s)
North & South America
Africa & Asia
Motives
European
Advantages
“God, Gold & Glory”
Guns, Germs, Horses &
Iron
Industrial Raw Materials
Nationalism
Social Darwinism
White Man’s Burden
Steamboat, Vaccination &
Machine Gun
THE BRITISH EMPIRE:
The Sun never sets on the British Flag!
The British Empire: An
American Perspective
INTELLECTUAL BASIS FOR 19th c. COLONIALISM:

Social Darwinism: the application of Charles
Darwin’s ideas about evolution and “survival of the
fittest” to human societies – particularly as
justification for imperialist expansion.
Evidence of the
White Man’s
Burden:
19th c. British
Advertistement
For Soap
Maxim Machine Gun
White Man’s Burden or
White Man’s Crime?
African
Languages
Families
Africa,
c. 1850
Colonial
Africa,
1914

SOURCE: A School in German colony of Cameroon, 1912

SOURCE: Building
of a Railroad in
Rhodesia (presentday Zimbabwe),
late 19th c.

SOURCE: Photograph
of young rubber
collectors in Belgian
Congo (late 19th c.)
The Legacy of Colonial Rule in Africa:
White Man’s Burden
(positive effects)




Economic expansion; new
jobs created & slavery
abolished
Built railroads, roads, dams,
telephone & telegraph lines
Hospitals, churches, schools
& sanitation systems built;
native Africans lived longer &
learned how to read & write
European law & order
reduced local warfare
White Man’s Crime
( negative effects)




African workers paid low
wages & taxed highly; treated
like 2nd class citizens.
Africans lost control of land &
independence
Local tribal belief systems &
village customs destroyed;
replaced by European
language, religion & culture
Artificial boundaries of
colonies created w/ no regard
for traditional tribal & ethnic
groupings caused problems
later
European Presence in India
British India, early 20th c.

SOURCE: British colonial official at home in India, late 19th c.

SOURCE: Hyderabad’s Indian Army Polo Team, late 19th c.

SOURCE:
Mohandas K.
Gandhi as a young
lawyer in South
Africa, c. 1906

SOURCE: Gandhi spinning cotton thread, 1929
The Legacy of Colonial Rule in India:
White Man’s Burden
(positive effects)




Brought order & stability to a
country often racked by civil
war
New school system est. (only
served elite, upper-class
Indians)
British officials improved
infrastructure (canals, dams,
bridges, etc.)
By 1900, India has the 3rd
largest railroad network in the
world
White Man’s Crime
( negative effects)





Brit. manufactured goods
destroyed Indian industries &
left thousands unemployed
Brit tax collectors forced
peasants into tenancy.
Switch to large-scale cotton
agriculture caused 30 million
Indians to die from starvation.
Best housing & jobs reserved
for British officials.
Disrespected India’s cultural
heritage by imposing by
imposing British customs.

SOURCE: Sepoy Mutiny (a.k.a. Indian Rebellion), 1857-58
 SOURCE:
Battle of Isandlwana, 1879
 SOURCE:
First Sino-Japanese War, 1895
 SOURCE:
Battle of Adowa, 1896
 SOURCE:
Battle of Manila, 1899
EAST ASIA BEFORE IMPERIALISM
CHINA





Large centralized, unified
state (Qing Dynasty)
Pop. explosion led to growing
pressure on land,
impoverishment, starvation
Chinese bureaucracy did not
keep pace w/ pop. growth
Internal conflict : Taiping
Uprsing (1850-64)
Trade w/ Europeans
controlled & limited for
centuries
JAPAN





Decentralized, feudal state
since 1600 (Tokugawa
shogunate)
Enjoyed internal peace (16001850)
Samurai evolved into
bureaucratic/administrative
class
Great economic growth,
commercialization, & urban
development made it
impossible for shoguns to
freeze society
Westerners expelled in early
17th c. (limited trade to 1 port)
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
IN EAST ASIA
Western
Pressure(s)
Responses
to the West
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
CHINA
JAPAN
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
IN EAST ASIA
Western
Pressure(s)
Responses
to the West
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
CHINA
British sold large
quantities of opium to
cover trade imbalance
JAPAN
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
IN EAST ASIA
Western
Pressure(s)
Responses
to the West
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
CHINA
British sold large
quantities of opium to
cover trade imbalance
JAPAN
U.S. commodore
Matthew Perry demands
Japan be “opened” to the
world
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
IN EAST ASIA
CHINA
Western
Pressure(s)
British sold large
quantities of opium to
cover trade imbalance
Responses
to the West
China fought & lost two
Opium Wars w/ the
British after trying to stop
opium trade
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
JAPAN
U.S. commodore
Matthew Perry demands
Japan be “opened” to the
world
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
IN EAST ASIA
CHINA
JAPAN
Western
Pressure(s)
British sold large
quantities of opium to
cover trade imbalance
Responses
to the West
China fought & lost two
Signed Treaty of
Opium Wars w/ the
Kanagawa (1854) with
British after trying to stop the United States
opium trade
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
U.S. commodore
Matthew Perry demands
Japan be “opened” to the
world
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
CHINA
IN EAST ASIA:
A COMPARISON
British sold large
Western
quantities of opium to
Pressure(s)
cover trade imbalance
Responses
to the West
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
JAPAN
U.S. commodore
Matthew Perry demands
Japan be “opened” to the
world
China fought & lost two
Signed Treaty of
Opium Wars w/ the
Kanagawa (1854) with
British after trying to stop the United States
opium trade
“Self-strengthening”
(1860s & 70s)
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
CHINA
IN EAST ASIA:
A COMPARISON
British sold large
Western
quantities of opium to
Pressure(s)
cover trade imbalance
Responses
to the West
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
JAPAN
U.S. commodore
Matthew Perry demands
Japan be “opened” to the
world
China fought & lost two
Signed Treaty of
Opium Wars w/ the
Kanagawa (1854) with
British after trying to stop the United States
opium trade
“Self-strengthening”
(1860s & 70s)
Meiji Restoration (1868)
transforms Japanese
society using European
models
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
IN EAST ASIA
CHINA
JAPAN
Western
Pressure(s)
British sold large
quantities of opium to
cover trade imbalance
Responses
to the West
China fought & lost two
Signed Treaty of
Opium Wars w/ the
Kanagawa (1854) with
British after trying to stop the United States
opium trade
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
“Self-strengthening”
(1860s & 70s)
Europeans est. spheres
of influence. Boxer
Rebellion (1900). Qing
Dynasty collapsed (1911)
U.S. commodore
Matthew Perry demands
Japan be “opened” to the
world
Meiji Restoration (1868)
transforms Japanese
society using European
models
19th c. EUROPEAN
IMPERIALISM
IN EAST ASIA
CHINA
JAPAN
Western
Pressure(s)
British sold large
quantities of opium to
cover trade imbalance
Responses
to the West
China fought & lost two
Signed Treaty of
Opium Wars w/ the
Kanagawa (1854) with
British after trying to stop the United States
opium trade
Modernization
Policy
Outcome
“Self-strengthening”
(1860s & 70s)
Europeans est. spheres
of influence. Boxer
Rebellion (1900). Qing
Dynasty collapsed (1911)
U.S. commodore
Matthew Perry demands
Japan be “opened” to the
world
Meiji Restoration (1868)
transforms Japanese
society using European
models
Japan becomes an
industrial , military, &
imperial power.
Chinese Opium Addicts
Chinese Opium Den
Commodore Matthew Perry
A Japanese take on Commodore Perry
Emperor Mutsohito (a.k.a. “Meiji”)
Meiji Restoration – One Perspective
Meiji Restoration – Another Perspective