
Extended from western Africa to
Southeast Asia
› The Three Muslim empires:
 the Mughals in India
 Ottomans in the Middle East,
 Safavids in Iran
› By the 1700s, these empires were declining,
why??

They faced western imperialism
› The Europeans demanded for special rights
for Europeans living in Muslim lands

“The powder keg”
› Internal: nationalist revolts weakened the
Ottoman Empire
› External: European nations tried to gain
territory in the Ottoman Empire

With westernization, some things
improved in the Muslim world
› Improved education, trained military and
built railroads

Nationalism created tensions between
Turkish nationalists and minorities who
sought their own state
› These tensions triggered a genocide of the
Armenians
 Genocide is a deliberate attempt to destroy
an entire religious or ethnic group
› Over the next 25 years, a million or more
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were killed
Iran was ruled by the Safavids and later the
Qajars from 1794-1925
 Like the Ottoman Empire, Iran faced major
challenges in the 1800s
 Both Russia and Britain battled for influence
in Iran

› Each nation set up its own sphere of influence in
Iran
› Both Russia and Britain wanted control of Iran’s
oil fields
 Persuaded the Iranian government to grant them
concessions (special economic rights given to
foreign powers)

Muhammad Ali
› Governor of Egypt in 1805
 Called “Father of modern Egypt”
› Introduced political and economic reforms
 Strengthened and trained the military
 Able to conquer Arabia, Syria, and Sudan
› His successors were not great leaders
 Egypt became a protectorate of Britain

Suez Canal
› A French entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps
organized a company to build the Suez Canal
 A manmade waterway that links the
Mediterranean and Red Seas.

The British allowed the British East India
Company, who won trading rights in
India and by 1800s, to control India
› Introduced British education and legal
procedures
› Tried to convert Indians to Christianity
› Worked to end slavery and the caste system
› Required the use of sepoys (Indian soldiers)
 Issued new rifles to the sepoys that had
cartridges greased with pig fat (against the
Muslim religion)
Angry sepoys rose up against the British
officers
 The British crushed the revolt

› In 1858, Parliament ended the rule of the
East India Company and put India directly
under the rule of the British crown

After 1858, Parliament set up a system of colonial rule
in India
› A British viceroy in India governed in the name of the
queen
› The British foreigners worked in government and trade
› Upper-class Indians served the lowest government jobs
Benefits of British rule
 The British built roads and railroads to improve trade
and transportation.
› After the opening of the Suez Canal, British trade with
India soared.
Transformed agriculture
Negatives of British rule

› No roles for most Indians in government
› Indian Nationalism rose in the 1900s dramatically, and
leaders demanded independence

During the late 1700s, British merchant began making
profits by trading opium grown in India for Chinese
tea
› Many Chinese became addicted to the drug
› Chinese government outlawed opium and executed
Chinese drug dealers
› The British refused to stop the trade
 In 1839, Chinese warships clashed with British merchants,
triggering the Opium War
 Chinese were easily defeated

In 1842, Britain made China accept the Treaty of
Nanjing
› Britain received a huge indemnity (payment for losses in
the Opium War)
› Britain also gained control of the island of Hong Kong
› China had to open five ports to foreign trade and grant
British citizens in China extraterritoriality
 Extraterritoriality: the right to live under their own laws and
be tried in their own courts
The Qing dynasty was in decline by the
1800s
 The Taiping Rebellion

› As poverty and misery increased, peasants
rebelled.
 Lasted from1850-1864
 Most devastating peasant revolt in history
› Their leader was Hong Xiuquan
 Hong endorsed social ideas
 Called for the end of the Qing Dynasty
 Won control over large parts of China
 Nearly toppled the Qing Dynasty
 Caused 20-30 million Chinese deaths

In the 1860s, reformers launched the
“self-strengthening movement” to
westernize China
 Imported western technology, setting up
factories to make modern weapons

Sino-Japanese War
› Japan modernized after 1868 and began
competing with imperialists
 In 1894, Japanese pressure on China led to the
Sino-Japanese War
 Japan won the island of Taiwan
 Exposed the difference between modern Japan and
China

Boxer Uprising
› Anti-foreign feeling finally exploded in the
Boxer Uprising in 1899
 A group of Chinese had formed a secret
society, the Righteous Harmonious Fists
(Westerners called them Boxers)
› The Boxers attacked foreigners across China
 In response, the western powers and Japan
organized a multinational force to crush the
Boxers

After the Boxer Uprising, the Chinese
admitted westernization

Although the Boxer rebellion failed, Chinese
nationalism grew
› Reformers want to strengthen China’s
government
 By the 1900s, they introduced a constitutional
monarchy

Sun Yixian
› In the early 1900s, he organized the
Revolutionary Alliance
 Wanted a Chinese republic

In 1908, a two-year old boy inherited the
throne and China slipped into chaos
› In December 1911, Sun Yixian became president
of the new Chinese republic