WH-09.3:
Building Global Empires
DEFINITION
Any form of control exercised by one nation beyond the its
own borders; can by political, economic, and/or cultural
- By 1914, European countries dominated approximately 84% of the
earth’s surface.
Direct Rule = direct control
of government and region;
usually through military
force (the Congo and
Belgium)
Indirect Rule = controlling
the economy through trade,
or "unequal treaties" (China
and the British)
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
In the latter half of the 19th c., Europe extended its control over
areas of Africa and Asia, bring about Western hegemony
(control).
● By the mid-1800’s, Britain was the most powerful nation in the world
● “The sun never set on the British empire.”
FORMS of IMPERIALISM
STEPS to MAKE AN EMPIRE
STEPS to MAKE AN EMPIRE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Create a ‘national identity’
Industrialize your economy
Militarize and conquer
Work well with others (diplomacy)
Create settlements (colonies, trading
posts)
Mass media is your friend
Change the culture
CREATE a NATIONAL IDENTITY
Nationalism creates unity
under one government
● Pride in your own country
creates the need to see it do
better than any other.
■ The United Kingdom –
1707
■ Italy - 1830
■ Germany – 1871
Competition between the
various new countries came
from each wanting to be the
most influential and wealthiest.
INDUSTRIALIZE
The Industrial Revolution gave Europe access to new
technology.
● Economies grew robust from new business.
■ Factories, banking, rise of the stock market
● Militaries grew strong from new tools.
■ Repeating rifles, machine guns, iron ships, railways
But, Europe needed continuous access to more resources and
markets.
MILITARIZE
Recolonization of Europe was impossible as it was filled
with Europeans, so these new nation-states look to Africa
and Asia.
● To Europe Africa, Asia were perfect places to expand their markets.
● Conquest became a necessary evil.
○ Great Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Russia, and Germany, all used
their militaries to gain territory
○ New weapons like the Maxim gun, and new tools like the steam-powered
warships were used for the first time
Europe wanted more land, and the only places left were Africa and Asia
● ‘Scramble for Africa’, Asian ‘Spheres of Influence’
VS.
WORK WELL with OTHERS
Africa has been largely
overlooked by Europe
up to this point.
The landscape (forests,
deserts, marshes, etc.) of
Africa made it very
difficult to conquer,
whereas the ‘New
World’ was taken easily.
WORK WELL with OTHERS
Europe needed more
land
● Fears that land disputes
in Africa could start a
war in Europe were real.
● A meeting was called to
prevent this.
Berlin Conference
“The Birthday Cake of Africa”
● Europeans divided up
Africa, giving the
regions to each major
power.
● No African reps were
present.
● Repeat of Vienna
WORK WELL with OTHERS
Spheres of Influence
Russia, Great Britain, Japan,
France, and Germany used their
navies to gain rights to trade in
different parts of Asia.
● China attempted to
resist, but they had not
industrialized.
● Japan was taken, but
they were lucky
○ Don’t have many
resources
○ They copied Western
styles of governance in
hoping they would be left
alone
CREATE SETTLEMENTS
After the Berlin Conference, and subsequent meetings, the
boundaries of who owned what were more or less set in
Africa and Asia (the Middle East to China)
● How to get the natural resources became the next big question
○ Answer was very similar to the colonization of S. America
○ Some countries instituted direct rule, while other used indirect policies.
The Congo Case Study
Rubber was the biggest export
● Used African villagers to
get rubber from vines
● If the villagers did not
bring back enough they
would be threatened with
starvation, mutilation, and
death
LOCALS MIGHT RESIST
MEDIA IS YOUR FRIEND
Social Darwinism -- What is darwinism?
● The White Man’s Burden -- What’s going on in this picture?
● Ethnocentrism, Eurocentrism, Xenophobia
-- Take a guess
●
at what this means...
MEDIA IS YOUR FRIEND
Social Darwinism
● Only the strongest will survive
○ Explains why Africa and Asia
were easy to conquer
The White Man’s Burden
● It is the responsibility (burden)
of white Europeans to civilize,
christianize ‘barbarians’.
○ Basically, because other
countries are so uncivilized it is
the job of Europeans to civilize
them.
Xenophobia
● Intense or irrational dislike or
fear of people from other
countries.
○ How is this seen today?
MEDIA IS YOUR FRIEND
Whites truly believed
they were doing their
"little brown brothers"
in Africa, Asia, and
Oceania a favor by
conquering and
"civilizing" them
● Bringing "them"
technology, education,
medicine, and
Christianity was a noble
cause
● English writer Rudyard
Kipling's poem
WHITE MAN’S BURDEN
Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send your sons to exile,
To serve your captives' need,
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child
MEDIA IS YOUR FRIEND
“In the version first published, [the Oompa-Loompas were] a tribe of 3,000 amiable black
pygmies who have been imported by Mr. Willy Wonka from ‘the very deepest and darkest
part of the African jungle where no white man had been before.’ [from Jeremy Treglown’s
Roald Dahl: A Biography]
CHANGE THE CULTURE
The most common impact of the White Man’s Burden is cultural
imperialism
● The practice of promoting and imposing a culture, usually that of a
politically powerful nation, over a less powerful society
● This was meant to make rebellion less like: Remove the cultural identity
of the conquered and have them adopt the dominant culture.
SHORT TERM EFFECTS
1. Colonies became dependant
on Europe to survive
2. Many nations in the Middle
East, South America,
sub-Saharan Africa, and
South and East Asia decline.
3. Western Europe becomes the
dominant region
4. New social structures based
on race become common.
5. European culture further
diffuses across the world.
6. New crops spread out.
LONG TERM EFFECTS
LONG TERM EFFECTS
1. Fight for control of land,
wealth further pushes
Europe closer to war
2. Many of these colony
nations do not become
independent again until
after WWII
a. India
b. Vietnam
c. 43 different African countries
3. The “Third World”
stereotype of poor,
collapsing, and or
dangerous nations remains
to this day.