Imperialism
in Asia
Europeans had long
been interested in the
riches of the Orient,
especially after the
Portuguese explorer
Vasco da Gama proved
it was possible to travel
by sea around Africa to
India.
[Image source: http://www.thornr.demon.co.uk/kchrist/vasco.gif]
[Image source: http://opioids.com/opium/robert-clive.gif]
Sir Robert Clive,
an agent of the
British East
India Company,
was instrumental
in positioning
Great Britain to
seize all of the
Indian subcontinent.
His defeat of the French at the
Battle of Plassey in 1757 gave the
British a free hand in India.
[Image source: http://www.sterlingtimes.org/clive_of_india.jpg]
Over the next
hundred years
the British
expanded their
territory in
India through
wars and
commercial
activity.
[Image source: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/echoes/introduction/0_1.jpg]
Many Englishmen enjoyed a comfortable
life as colonial administrators.
[Image source: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~ssen/home.jpg]
[Image source: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~lawe/IMAGES/FORCLUB05.jpg]
The British employed a large
number of native troops known as
sepoys to control their new realm.
[Image source: http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/images/portraits/1860-2.jpg]
[Image source: http://165.29.91.7/classes/humanities/worldstud/97-98/imper/india/sepoy.jpg]
Between 1857 and 1859 the sepoys
mutinied and tried to drive the
British out of India.
[Image source: http://freespace.virgin.net/andrew.randall1/indiaraj.gif]
British might prevailed, and India
remained part of their empire until 1949.
[http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/imperialism/images/imperialism.gif]
The British sent out a viceroy to rule as
the monarch’s representative in India.
[Image source: http://www.petrafineart.net/catalog/volume6/212.jpg]
Queen
Victoria as
Empress
[Image source:
http://mss.library.nottingham.ac.uk/images/late_news/06_may/portrait2.jpg]
Imperialism in China
[Image source:
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/ralimage/map21chi.jpg]
China was a
powerful
empire in
her own
right when
European
explorers
arrived
during the
Age of
Discovery.
China was
ruled by
emperors of
the Manchu
Qing (Ch’ing)
Dynasty from
1644 to 1911.
[Image source http://www.chinapage.com/emperor/qing1207.jpg]
The Qing (Ch’ing)
emperors were
assisted by a
professional
bureaucratic corps
of Confuciantrained scholars
known as
mandarins.
[Image source: http://www.lcsc.edu/modernchina/images/Linzexu.gif]
The mandarins controlled virtually
every aspect of Chinese life.
Ethnic Han Chinese were expected to
shave their foreheads and wear their
hair in a long queue as a sign of their
subservience to their Manchu overlords.
Europeans initially came to
exchange goods with the Chinese.
[Image source: http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/images/chinatea.jpg]
[Image source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/765000/images/_767424_tea150.jpg]
One of the
items the
British
traded for
in large
quantity
was tea.
Fleets of
China
clippers
plied the
high seas,
bringing the
riches of the
Orient to the
people of the
West.
There was little if anything the people
of the Middle Kingdom wanted from
the Barbarians of the West.
[Image source: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/btns/zhenjng_banner.jpg]
Since the Chinese bought little from
the West, a trade imbalance resulted
between Britain and China.
[Image source: http://www.secure-eleasing.com/testequity/images/balance.gif]
British
gold and
silver
flowed
into
Chinese
coffers.
[Image source: http://www.money.org/una/georgeiir.jpg]
In an effort to reverse this trend,
the British began to grow Opium
in India for export to China.
[Image source:
http://www.sustainablepetaluma.net/films_may-2002/opium-poppypic.jpg]
Many Chinese quickly became
addicted to opium, and money began
to flow back into British coffers.
[Image source: http://opioids.com/opium/opiumsmokers.jpg]
On a number of
different occasions,
Chinese authorities
seized and
destroyed cargoes
of opium in an
effort to halt the
pernicious trade.
The British responded with
force, resulting in the Opium
War of 1839-42.
[Image source: http://opioids.com/images/opiumwar.jpg]
The Chinese were easily defeated,
and the British were able to dictate
the terms of the peace treaty.
[Image source: http://www.interbulletin.com/cspecial/his/his1.jpg]
Results of the Opium Wars
• first of a series of unequal
treaties between China and
foreign powers
-five ports opened to British
residence and trade
-Chinese are treated as
second-class citizens in their
own country
extraterritoriality
• immunity from local laws
-foreigners had the right to be
tried in court by the laws of
their own country before a
judge from their own country
It was at this period that the British
acquired a one-hundred-and-fifty
year lease of Hong Kong.
[Image sourec:
http://home.planet.nl/~pbdavis/HongKong.gif]
British actions highlighted just how
weak China was, and soon other
European powers were imposing their
will on the Middle Kingdom.
[http://www.historywiz.com/images/china/chinaimperialism.gif]
Taiping Rebellion
(1851-64)
• one of the longest, most
devastating war in Chinese
history
• spread rapidly throughout the
countryside
• was an attempt to overthrow
the Qing dynasty
Taiping Rebellion
(1851-64)
• rebel philosophy a fusion of
Christianity and traditional
beliefs
• put-down with aid of Western
powers
• ravaged country and greatly
weakened China
In 1884, the
French
inflicted a
series of
humiliating
defeats on a
weakened
China.
[Image source:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/pictures/asia/vietnam/history/hunghoa.jpg]
[Image source: http://www.ehistory.com/vietnam/maps/images/018.jpg]
France acquired
control over the
tributary states of
Tonkin, Annam,
and Cochinchina, as
well as eventually
establishing a
sphere-of-influence
over southeast
China proper.
Sino-Japanese War
(1894-95)
• war between China and Japan
• hostilities initiated by Japan
before war was formally
declared
Japan used propaganda in the
form of art to unify their people
and stir up the martial ardor of
the nation in its war with China.
The commander of the IJS Yoshino,
Captain Togo, later commanded the
Japanese fleet that defeated the Russian
navy at the Battle of Tsushima during
the Russo-Japanese War.
[Image source: http://www.russojapanesewar.com/gallery/images/Yoshino.jpg]
Japan gained influence
in Manchuria.
Korea gained “independence”
under Japanese protection.
(It was later annexed to
Japanese empire).
Formosa
Formosa
China also lost control of the
island of Formosa to Japan.
Japanese interests ran afoul of the
interests of an expanding Russian
Empire, which was in search of
warm water ports in the Far East.
[Image source: http://www.carto.com/maps/02096208.jpg]
Eventually Russia and Japan would fight
a brutal war during 1904-05 over control
of Manchuria in northeast China.
[Image source: http://www.russojapanesewar.com/naval_links.html]
During the late-1800s Germany
established a sphere-of-influence over
Tsingtao in Shantung Province.
[Image source: http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/Review/2000/winter/graphics/Saxon%20map%201.jpg]
An Outpost of Tsingtao (Qingdao),
the German Stronghold in China
[Image source: http://www.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/chinawwi/images/China02.jpg]
Spheres-of-Influence
• region in which an outside power
claims exclusive trading rights
and privileges (monopoly)
• usually along the coast and/or on
major rivers
• a result of unequal treaties
John Hay, the
American
Secretary of
State at the turnof the-century,
proposed to level
the playing field
when he
advocated an
Open Door
policy in China.
America’s Open Door Policy
An uprising
known as the
Boxer Rebellion
erupted in
Northern China
in the late-1800s.
[Image source:
http://www.grtc.org/articles/martialcivil/image/BoxerWFlag.jpg]
Fueled by a desire
to return to
traditional ways
of life, its goal was
to expel the evil
influences of
European culture,
primarily
Christianity.
The Boxer
movement
was
particularly
strong
among the
rural
peasants of
North China.
The Dowager
Empress Ci Xi
secretly
supported the
rebels, while
publicly backing
the efforts of the
European powers
to suppress the
rebellion.
[Image source: http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/images/cixi2.gif]
The Boxer Uprising was ultimately
suppressed by the Western powers.
The Western powers battling
the Chinese dragon.
Republic of China
Established on 10 October
1911 after a brief revolution.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen
(1866-1925)
• aka “Father of the Revolution”
• first president of China
• founded the Kuomingtang Party
Three Principles
of the People
1. Nationalism
2. Democracy
3. Livelihood
Yuan Shih-kai
(1859-1916)
[Image source:
http://www.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/c
hinawwi/images/China03.jpg]
• Qing (Ch’ing) general
who replaced Dr. Sun
Yat-sen as president of
China in early-1912
• tried to reestablish the
monarchy with himself
as emperor
-was deposed in 1916
Kuomingtang
(aka Nationalist)
• led China towards democracy
• had little real power outside of
major cities in the south
-country slides into chaos