THE HEIGHT OF IMPERIALISM
I.
Colonial Rule in Southeast Asia
A. The New Imperialism
1. Imperialism is the extension of a nation’s power over other lands.
2. Capitalist states in the west wanted to control directly their sources of raw materials and
their markets.
3. States wanted to gain an advantage over their rival states.
4. Colonies were a source of national prestige.
5. Social Darwinists believed that in the struggle between nations, the fit are victorious.
6. Racist beliefs have led to the use of military force against other nations.
7. Some argued the Europeans had a moral responsibility to civilize primitive people—
“white man’s burden.”
8. Some believed that the West should help the nations of Asia and Africa by bringing
Christianity to the “heathen masses” or the benefits of democracy and capitalism.
B. Colonial Takeover in Southeast Asia
1. Great Britain
a. Singapore (“city of the lion”), an island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, became
a major stopping point for traffic going to and from China in steamships.
b. Burma (Myanmar) was taken to protect its possessions in India and as a land route
to South China.
2. France
a. By 1884, France had made the Vietnamese Empire a protectorate—a political unit
that depends on another government for protection.
b. France extended its control over neighboring Cambodia, Annam, Tonkin, and
Laos—French Indochina.
3. Thailand—The Exception
a. Thailand (Siam) remained the only free state in Southeast Asia.
b. Britain and France agreed to maintain Thailand as an independent buffer state
between their empires.
4. The United States
a. At the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Philippines became a
colony of the U.S. This action kept the Philippines from falling under Japanese
control and provided a jumping off place for trade with China.
b. Led by Emilio Aguinaldo, guerrilla forces in the Philippines fought against the
U.S. to establish their independence. They lost.
C. Colonial Regimes in Southeast Asia
1. Indirect rule allowed local rulers to maintain their possession of authority and states in
a new colonial setting.
2. Direct rule replaced local elites with a new set of officials brought from the mother
country, mostly because they local elites resisted the foreign conquest.
3. Colonial Economies
a. The colonial powers did not want their colonies to develop their own industries.
Colonial policy stressed the export of raw materials.
b. Wages were low to maximize profits and taxes were high to pay for colonial
governments.
c. Colonial powers built railroads, highways, and other structures that would benefit
native peoples.
D. Resistance to Colonial Rule
1. At first the leaders of these movements did not focus clearly on the idea of nationhood
but simply tried to defend the economic interests or religious beliefs of the natives.
II.
III.
2. The leaders were people who had been educated in Western-style schools, understood
the institutions and values of the West, and spoke Western languages, and worked in
jobs connected with the colonial regimes.
3. Not until the 1930s did the resistance movements begin to demand national
independence.
Empire Building in Africa
A. Between 1880 and 1900, fed by intense rivalries among themselves, Great Britain, France,
Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Portugal placed virtually all of Africa under European rule.
B. West Africa—As slavery declined, Europe’s interest in other forms of trade increased. European
governments began to push for a more permanent presence along the coast.
C. North Africa
1. The Suez Canal was built by a Frenchman, but Great Britain saw it as a lifeline to India
and sought as much control as possible over it. They finally took control of Egypt and
the Sudan.
2. The French colonized Algeria and imposed a protectorate over neighboring Tunisia and
Morocco.
D. Central Africa—King Leopold II of Belgium was behind the colonization of Central Africa—the
Belgian Congo.
E. East Africa—The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 officially recognized both British and
German claims for territory in East Africa. Portugal received a clear claim on Mozambique. No
African delegates were present at this conference.
F. South Africa
1. The Boers, or Afrikaners—as the descendants of the original Dutch settlers were
called—had occupied Cape Town and surrounding areas in South Africa since the 17th
century.
2. During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain seized the lands from the Dutch.
3. In 1910, the British created an independent Union of South Africa, a self-governing
nations within the British empire. To appease the Boers who lived within the borders
of the new nation, the British agreed that only whites and a few propertied Africans,
would vote.
G. Colonial rule in Africa
1. Only Liberia, which had been created as a homeland for freed United States slaves, and
Ethiopia remained free states.
2. The British used indirect rule whenever possible.
a. Indirect rule had the positive effect that it did not disrupt local customs and
institutions.
b. British administrators made all major decisions, and the native authorities
enforced those decisions.
c. Indirect rule kept the old African elites in power and provided few opportunities
for ambitious and talented young Africans from outside the old elite.
H. Rise of African Nationalism.
1. Western educated native leaders admired Western culture but also grew to resent
foreigners and their contempt for African people.
2. During the first quarter of the 20th century, native peoples began to organize political
parties and movements seeking the end of foreign rule.
British Rule in India
A. The Sepoy Mutiny
1. Indian soldiers hired by the British East India Company were called sepoys.
2. Rumors spread that the British were issuing their Indian troops with new bullets that
were greased with cow and pig fat. The cow was sacred to the Hindus; the pig was
taboo to Muslims. A group of sepoys at an army post near Delhi refused to load their
rifles with the new bullets. When the British arrested them the sepoys went on a
rampage and killed 50 European men, women, and children
3. The revolt was crushed by Indian troops loyal to the British and fresh British troops.
4. The title Empress of India was bestowed on Queen Victoria in 1876.
B. Colonial Rule
1. The British government ruled India directly through a British official viceroy (a
governor who ruled as a representative of a monarch), who was assisted by a British
civil service staff.
2. Benefits of British rule
a. It brought order and stability to a society that had been badly divided by civil war.
b. A new school system was set up to train Indian children to serve in the
government and army. It served only elite, upper class Indians.
c. Railroads, the telegraph, and a postal service were introduced to India shortly
after they appeared in Great Britain.
3. Costs of British Rule
a. British entrepreneurs and a small number of Indians reaped financial benefits.
b. British manufactured good destroyed local industries.
c. Zamindars, local officials sent to collect taxes, raised taxes and took advantage of
their new authority.
d. When the British encouraged farmers to switch from growing food to growing
cotton, food supplies could not keep up with the growing population.
e. The best jobs and the best housing were reserved for the British. The Indians
were never considered equals of the British. The British also showed disrespect
for India’s cultural heritage.
C. An Indian Nationalist Movement
1. The first Indian nationalists were upper class and English-educated.
2. At first, many preferred reform to revolution, but the slow pace of reform was
frustrating.
3. The Indian National Congress had conflicts within itself between Hindus and Muslims.
4. Mohandas Gandhi, a London-educated lawyer, set up a movement based on nonviolent
resistance.
D. Colonial Indian Culture
1. The British set up a publishing house which supported a flourishing regional language
literature.
2. India admired and imitated the British model while also agonizing over how it could
establish a modern identity separate from that of Great Britain.