Ch. 19 Imperialism and Modernization (1800-1914)
Lesson 1 British Rule in India
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The Industrial Revolution speeded up the economic development of Europe and United States.
It also established the way industrial nations viewed their colonies.
They began to see the colonies as markets for goods as well as sources of raw materials.
The result was a new stage of imperialism.
For the first time, the Unites States began looking overseas fro areas to colonize.
At the same time, the U.S. wanted to keep Europeans out of the Americas. U.S. presidents in
the late 1800s reminded Europeans of the Monroe Doctrine. It declared the Western
Hemisphere closed to further colonization by European nations.
 Causes of the New Imperialism
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The major reason for European interest in imperialism was economics.
The factories and mills of the Industrial Revolution required vast amounts of raw material, like
cotton. Regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America had raw materials in abundance.
Once goods, such as cloth, were produced, European and U.S. business owners needed
markets- people to whom they could sell the finished goods. Africa, Asian, and Latin America
represented huge new markets.
Setting up colonies ensured that the flow of raw materials to the home country continued. It
also ensured that the home country controlled the sale of goods in the colonies.
In addition to economic reasons, a spirit of nationalism motivated imperialism.
European nations were still competing with one another for power and wealth.
This competition started the beginning of the Global Age. Setting up colonies was one way to
show how one nation was more powerful and wealthy than another.
Humanitarian reasons also moved people to support imperialism.
Humanitarians often thought that native people should be more like Europeans.
Sometimes, humanitarians were helpful, like when medicine and education were provided.
However, they often caused more harm than good.
The main force behind humanitarianism was Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism believed that
Western Civilization- European and U.S.- was far superior to all other civilizations.
As a result, they believed that whites had a responsibility to convert and educate native people.
This belief in Western supremacy is a type of racism- the belief that one race is superior to
another.
 The East India Company and the Sepoy Rebellion
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European nations first competed for colonies in India.
In the 1600s, the British East India Company began trading in India and elsewhere in Asia.
France also established trading posts in India.
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War broke out between the two nations in India in the 1750s. The British, under the command
of Robert Clive, were victorious.
Clive was the head of the East India Company in India. His job was to increase the company’s
wealth.
To gain more trading rights, he fought the Indians as we as the French.
By the 1850s more than 60 percent of India was under the control of the East India Company.
The company did make life better, in some ways, for some Indians. It set up schools, improved
roads, and built railroads. It also kept peace between rival local leaders.
At the same time the Company grew more and more powerful and wealthy.
The Company had its own army and forts to protect its property and British citizens.
It also hired Indian soldiers known as sepoys.
In 1857, the Company gave the sepoys new rifles. To load them, the soldiers had to bite off the
end of the powder cartridges with their teeth. The cartridges were greased with fat either from
cows, which were sacred to Hindus, or pigs, which Muslims were forbidden to eat.
When the sepoys refused to put the cartridges in their mouths, they were sent home without
pay. They rebelled against this unfair treatment.
British men, women, and children were slaughtered. It took a year for the British to regain
control of the rebellious regions.
The British, in turn, burned villages and slaughtered Indians.
British Parliament ended the East India Company’s control of India.
Beginning in 1858, Indian was ruled directly by Parliament.
 British Rule
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Parliament appointed a viceroy to govern India.
British officers commanded the army. However, lower government posts were filled by Indians.
Upper-class Indian families sent their sons to Great Britain for their education.
The effect of British rule on India was disastrous for most Indians.
First, British manufacturers sent British-made cloth to India for sale. This destroyed the Indian
textile industry because the imported cloth was cheaper.
Second, the British collected taxes from Indians to keep the British army in India.
Third, the British need for cotton moved many Indian Farmers to grow cotton instead of food.
As a result, famines in the late 1800s caused millions of deaths among Indian poor.
 The Indian Nationalist Movement
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By the late 1800s, a small group of upper-class Indians was working to end imperial rule.
They had learned about such Western ideas as democracy and freedom in their British schools.
In 1885, they set up the Indian National Congress, or Congress Party.
They expected a gradual end to British rule.
They agree with British ideas about modernization or Westernizing- the Indian economy and
society.
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They also wanted a greater say in government.
Lesson 2 The Scramble for Africa
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“The scramble for Africa” refers to the race among European nations to seize parts of the
continent. Only Ethiopian and Liberia remained independent nations.
European nations viewed Africa much as they did other less-developed parts of the world. It
was a source of raw material.
They also saw Africa as a market for European goods.
Europeans also wanted to stamp out the slave trade and bring Christianity to Africa.
 Partitioning Africa
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The first Europeans to move into the interior were explorers who mapped Africa’s rivers,
mountains, and plains.
European missionaries soon followed. The goal of missionaries was to convert the native people
to Christianity and to abolish slavery.
Local civilizations were considered inferior to Western culture.
Africans often resisted these groups.
The Europeans then asked their home countries for military protection. Their governments sent
troops with instructions to end the problem and build permanent forts. Once in Africa, the
military was there to stay.
By the early 1880s, European nations were quarrelling among themselves over territory in
Africa.
In 1884, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck called a conference in Berlin to partition – or
divide up- the continent by formal treaty.
Fourteen European nations and the United States were represented. Not one African nation or
person was invited.
Between 1885 and 1914, European nations continued to divide the African continent among
themselves.
 Colonial Rule
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European nations mainly chose one of two ways to rule their new colonies.
The British favored indirect rule. Most other nations used direct rule.
The British ruled through existing rulers and local officials. The British believed it would be
easier to maintain order if the people were allowed to keep some of their traditions and
customs.
This included their political system. British officials, however, made all the decisions. Local
African officials simply carried them out.
The French used direct rule. The government in France appointed a governor for each colony.
Bellow him were a number of government officials.
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The highest levels were filled with men sent from France. Lower levels, down to the local
villages, were filled by native Africans.
The French wanted to assimilate their African subjects.
The French government set out to introduce French culture, including its political system, to its
colonies.
The goal was to have Africans think and act like French men and women.
The British and French encouraged the ruling elite- the upper class- to send their sons to school
in Europe.
Most Africans, however, were little affected by assimilation.
 African Resistance
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The educated elite saw both the good and bad side of Westernization- the acceptance of
Western Culture.
They learned about Western ideas like freedom and democracy. Yet, they saw how Western
democracies refuse to extend these rights to their colonies.
By the early 1900s, groups of nationalists in many colonies were working for independence from
imperial rule.
In some areas like Sudan, West Africa, and East Africa, local groups fought European rule.
However, each time, the superior weapons of the Europeans ended African defiance.
Lesson 3 Modernizing Japan
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One Asian nation that was able to stay free of European control was Japan.
Japan took the West as a model and modernized quickly. It learned Western ways so well that it
became an imperial power.
 Opening to Western Influence
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The Tokugawa Shogunate came to power in Japan in 1603. By the mid 1600s it had closed off
Japan to outsiders.
In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry and a fleet of four U.S. warships sailed into Tokyo Bay.
Perry presented a letter from President Millard Fillmore to the Emperor. The letter demanded
that Japan open diplomatic and trading relations with the Unites States.
Perry and his fleet sailed out of the bay with a promise to return.
Japanese officials debated the issue for six months. They determined that Japan could not win
against the cannon power on Perry’s warships.
The Japanese government reluctantly agreed to a treaty with the United States. Japan also was
forced to sign similar treaties with the major European nations.
 Meiji Restoration
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Not all Japanese were pleased with the new agreements. But they came to realize that Japan
could not defeat the westerners.
In 1867, rival leaders forced the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
They said they “restored” power to the emperor.
The emperor, however, did not govern. As under the shoguns, the men who kept the emperor
in power controlled the government.
The period from 1868 to 1912 is called the Meiji Restoration.
The word Meiji means “enlightened rule.”
During this period, Japanese officials modernize and westernized the nation.
They made a careful and systematic study of Western technology and science, as well as political
and economic ideas.
They put an end to feudalism and made Japan an industrial nation.
Industrialization was an important part of the Meiji’s plans for Japan.
They realized that a farming economy would not make Japan a rich country and a strong state.
To aid industrialization growth, the government created a subsidy program.
A subsidy is a payment by a government to nongovernment entities. The Japanese government
provided money to help start new industries.
By 1900, Japan was becoming a leading producer of silk, cloth, steel, ships, and weapons.
To aid modernization, the Meiji used British expertise to build the first Japanese railroad and a
telegraph system.
Western-style banking and postal systems were also organized.
Harbors and roads were improved.
The Meiji also set up a modern army and navy. All men had to sever in the army for three years.
Modernization also included changes in society.
The public education system was modeled on the U.S. system. All boys and girls were required
to attend school for six years.
Many of the subjects were the same as those studied by students in other countries. The
schools also taught traditional Japanese values.
 Japanese Imperialism
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As an island nation, Japan lacked many of the natural resources, such as coal, that were needed
for industry.
Gaining colonies would provide sources of raw materials. Colonies would also provide larger
markets for Japanese goods.
In 1874, the Meiji made the decision to build an empire overseas.
They seized the Ryukyu Islands off the coast of China.
In 1895, Japan defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War and added Taiwan to its territory.
In 1905, Japan and Russia went to war. Western nations were shocked at Japan’s easy victory
over Russia.
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No Asian nation had defeated a Western power before. Each time, Japan added territory to its
empire.
In 1910, Japan was bold enough to make Korea part of its nation.
It attempted to do in Korea what Western nations were doing in other parts of the world.
Japan took most of Korea’s wealth for itself.
It imposed the Japanese language on Koreans and tried to stamp out their culture.
The result was the development of a nationalist movement similar to those growing in other
colonies.
Lesson 4 European Powers and the Chinese Revolution
 Foreign Pressures
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By the early 1800s, British merchants were importing opium from India to China.
The Chinese government demanded that the British government halt the opium trade.
Opium is an addictive drug.
However, the British government refused to stop the British East India Company.
When the Chinese attempted to end the trade themselves in 1839, the British attacked several
cities. This was the beginning of the three-year Opium War.
The Chinese were not equipped to fight the modern British army and navy. In the end, the
Chinese government backed down and signs the Treaty of Nanjing.
The British opium trade continued.
China agreed to:
A) Repay Great Britain for its costs in the war.
B) Open five treaty port cities to foreign trade.
C) Allow Westerners to live in their own sections under their own laws in these treaty ports.
This is known as extraterritoriality.
D) Give Great Britain the islands of Hong Kong.
The Opium War was only the beginning of foreign pressure on the Chinese government.
Over the next 50 years, foreign nations won more concessions from China, usually by force.
China fought and lost five wars between 1842 and 1895.
As a result of unequal treaties, foreign nations were able to carve out spheres of influence for
themselves.
A sphere of influence was an area where only the foreign power had the right to trade with the
Chinese.
By 1912, foreign nations controlled more than 50 treaty ports and the areas around them.
 Internal Pressures
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At the same time the Chinese government was dealing with foreign nations, it was trying to
deal with internal problems.
China was suffering from population explosion and food shortage.
Officials in the bureaucracy could be easily bribed.
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The government could not collect enough revenue to cover its costs.
Peasant and urban workers made up the Majority of the population. They lived in terrible
poverty.
The anger of the lower class erupted into open rebellion in 1850.
The Tai Ping Rebellion lasted until 1864 when the Chinese government crushed it with
foreign help.
By that time, some 20 million Chinese had died in the uprising.
Its leaders were Hong Xiuquan, who had converted to Christianity. He called for land
reforms and equal treatment for women.
Quing Officials accepted the need to introduce Western technology and science but nothing
else.
As a result, China began industrializing. Railroads, shipyards, weapon factories and other
types of factories were built.
The army was modernized.
The final blow to the Qing Dynasty was the Boxer Rebellion.
The Boxers was a secret society whose members swore to destroy foreigners.
In 1900, they began killing foreigners across China, especially Christian missionaries. They
trapped foreign residents in Beijing, China’s capital.
France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Russia and the United States sent troops to rescue
them. This ended the rebellion.
Once again, China had to give up more treaty ports. It also had to make another huge
payment to the foreign nations for their losses during the rebellion.
 The Founding of the Chinese Republic
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The Boxer Rebellion frightened the Qing officials into action.
A new public school system was adopted.
Women were allowed to attend school.
A new national assembly was set up but had no law-making powers. Its role was to advise
Qing officials.
None of these changes, however, reached the peasants or urban workers.
One result of China’s growing Westernization was the development of a middle class.
Often the sons of these families were sent to study in the United States or Europe.
They came back wanting to replace the emperor with a government based on Western
principles.
One of these young men was Sun Yat-Sen. He called for a new government that adapted
Western ideas to Chinese needs.
He called his policy Three Principles of People. His principles were nationalism, democracy,
and livelihood- or economic well-being for everyone.
In 1911 an uprising occur and within months, the rebels held most of southern China.
Sun, who had been in the United States, rushed back to China.
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A republic was declared, and Sun was elected president by his followers.
However, Sun’s Nationalist party was not strong enough to seize control of China from local
warlords.
In 1912, Sun resign in favor of Yuan Shigai.
Yuan was himself a powerful warlord from northern China who promised to rule
democratically.
However, once in power, he had no interest in creating a democratic China. He wanted to
set up his own dynasty and rule as Emperor.
Yuan was overthrown in 1916.
Civil War and foreign invasions marked China’s history until 1949. In that year, Mao Zedong
finally unified China under a Communist government.
Lesson 5 Imperialism in Latin America
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The independence movement in the 1800s ended Spanish and Portuguese rule in Central
and South America.
However, independence brought little political or social change to Latin Americans.
A huge gap still existed between the rich upper class and the generally poor mestizos,
mulattos, and blacks.
The majority of wealth in the new nations remained in the hands of large landowners. These
landowners were also the most politically powerful people in the new nations.
They ran the national governments and saw that government policies favored their
interests.
 Economic Imperialism
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Once free of Spain and Portugal, the new nations adopted free-trade policies.
Their major trading partners became Great Britain and the United States.
Latin American nations did not become industrialized like the United States and European
nations. They remained farming nations.
It was in the economic interests of the United States and European nations to keep Latin
Americans dependent on them for manufactured goods.
If Latin American nations industrialized, their trading partners would lose their market. This
Latin American dependence of the United States and European nations was a form of
imperialism.
It was economic imperialism; the buyers set the price because Latin American producers
had nowhere else to sell their crops and raw material. As a result, foreign companies and
investors made fortunes from Latin American resources and labor.
Local land owners and business owners also grew rich from trade.
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Latin American nations exported raw material such as tobacco, wool, rubber, and silver.
They also exported cash crops such as wheat, sugar, cotton, bananas, and coffee.
Cash crops are crops grown to be sold to others rather than to be used by the farmers.
In exchange, companies in Britain, the United States, and other European nations sold Latin
Americans finished goods, such as cloth and machinery.
 United States Intervention
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The United States issued the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Its purpose was to close the
Americas to any future European colonization.
European nations did not think the new United States could stop them. However, Great
Britain supported the goal of the Monroe Doctrine. The British navy was the strongest navy
in the world, and no nation wanted to engage it in battle.
As it turned out, the United States took territory from a former Spanish colony. As a result of
the Mexican War from 1846-1848, the United States gained what are the present states of
California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Texas, which had declared its independence from Mexico earlier, asked to join the United
States. This had begun the war.
The United States gained more territory as a result of the Spanish -American war in 1898.
The U.S. came to the aid of Cuban patriots trying to free their island from Spain.
After the war, the United States made Cuba a protectorate. The United States set up a
government for the island and declared that Cuba was under its protection.
The U.S. also annexed Puerto Rico after the war. Unlike Cuba, Puerto Rico became a
territory of the United States.
In 1903, the United States aided a rebellion in Panama because the U.S. wanted control of
land to build a canal.
President Theodore Roosevelt sent warships to threaten Colombia, which control Panama at
the time.
Colombia had little choice and allowed the rebels to declare independence.
The Panamanians gave the United States control of what became the Panama Canal Zone.
The canal opened in 1914.
 The Roosevelt Corollary
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In 1904, Venezuelans could not repay debts to German and British businesses and investors.
It looked as though these foreign governments might send troops to collect payment.
President Roosevelt acted first. He announced in 1904 that the United States would police
the Western Hemisphere. It would keep order and prevent wrong doing.
Great Britain, Germany, and Venezuela negotiated a settlement.
President Roosevelt’s policy is known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
The United States used it self-appointed police powers the following year.
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Several European nations appeared ready to invade the Dominican Republic to collect its
citizens’ debts. Instead, Roosevelt insisted that the president of the Dominican Republic ask
the United States to collect taxes.
U.S. officials used the tax money to repay the foreign businesses and took a fee for the
United States.
The United States remained in the Dominican Republic until 1941.
Eventually, the U.S. government sent military forces into Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, and Haiti to protect U.S. interest.
Sometimes they stayed for years. This action often gave rise to hard feelings against the
United States.