MODERN ERA
INTERACTIONS:
IMPERIALISM
1750 - 1914
IMPERIALISM
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Motives of imperialism
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Modern imperialism
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Refers to domination of industrialized countries over subject lands
Domination achieved by trade, investment, business activities
Two types of modern colonialism
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Colonies ruled and populated by migrants
Colonies controlled without significant settlement
Economic motives of imperialism
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European merchants made personal fortunes
Expansion to obtain raw materials
Colonies were potential markets for products
Political motives
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Strategic purpose: harbors, supply stations
Overseas expansion used to defuse internal tensions
Cultural justifications of imperialism
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Christian missionaries sought converts in Africa and Asia
"Civilizing mission“/"white man's burden“ justified expansion
IMPERIALISM
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Tools of empire
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Transportation technologies supported imperialism
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Western military technologies increasingly powerful
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Firearms: from muskets to rifles to machines guns
In Battle of Omdurman 1898, British troops killed
eleven thousand Sudanese in five hours
Communication technologies linked imperial lands
with colonies
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Steam-powered gunboats reached inland waters of
Africa and Asia
Railroads organized local economies to serve imperial
power
Oceangoing steamships cut travel time from Britain to
India to weeks
Telegraph invented in 1830s, global reach by 1900
Difference between colonialism and imperialism
OPIUM WARS
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1795 Maccauley Mission and After
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British send diplomatic, trade delegation to China
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Forced British, Europeans to trade through Canton
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A serious threat to Qing dynasty by 19th century
Cohong system restricted foreign merchants to Canton
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1810: 4500 chests weighing 133 pounds yearly
By 1839, 40,000 chests traded yearly
Opium draining revenue, destroying economy, society
By 1838, 1% of 400 million Chinese were addicted
The Opium War (1839-1842)
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Commissioner Lin Zexu directed to stop trade
British merchants refused
Lin confiscated, destroyed 20,000 chests of opium
British reaction
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China had much to offer, but little demand for European products
East India Company cultivated opium to trade for Chinese goods
British found that Chinese would trade for opium
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Chinese exported silks, porcelains, teas for silver
Chinese refused to trade for manufactures
Opium trade
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Chinese tell British they are not interested in trade
China made mistake of underestimating Europeans
British retaliated, easily crushed Chinese forces, destroyed Grand Canal
British navy destroyed Chinese navy with steam gunboats
British army invades and emperor sues for peace
2nd Opium war erupts in 1850s which the British won
British begin using Hong Kong and five other ports
2nd Opium War in 1860s: France, UK crush China
CHINA:
UNEQUAL TREATIES
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Unequal treaties forced trade concessions from Qing dynasty
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Treaty of Nanjing, 1842
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Britain gained right to opium trade
Obtained most-favored-nation status
Hong Kong ceded to Great Britain
Called unequal treaties
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Made with western countries and Japan
Extraterritoriality
Foreigners not subject to Chinese laws
Criminal acts tried in Western courts
Chinese crimes against westerners tried in western courts
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By 1900, China lost control of economy to foreigners
Foreigners invest in China, control industry
Ninety ports open to foreign powers
Foreigners issued own stamps, had own post
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Spheres of influence eroded Chinese power
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Foreign powers seized Chinese tribute states
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Vietnam (France)
Burma (United Kingdom)
Korea, Taiwan (Japan)
Effective partition of China by 1898
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China carved into spheres of economic influence
France: Southern China
UK: Canton area, Shantung area, Yangzte River, Tibet
Russia: Manchuria, Sinkjiang
Japan: Amoy area across from Taiwan, Southern Manchuria
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• Chinese government ineffective
Foreign merchants, missionaries free to run about country
Foreign legations (embassies) control many cities
Western, Japanese ships sail up, down rivers without interruption
CHINA & CONCESSIONS
EMPIRE IN ASIA
• The British empire in India
• Company rule under the English East India Company
• EIC took advantage of Mughal (Persian) decline in India,
began conquest of India in 1750s
• Built trading cities and forts at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay
• Ruled with small British force, Indian troops called sepoys
• Sepoy Rebellion, 1857: attacks on British led to reprisals
• British imperial rule replaced the EIC, 1858
• British viceroy and high-level British civil service ruled
India
• British appointed viceroy, ran all domestic, foreign policy
• Indians held low-level bureaucratic positions
• Economic restructuring of India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
• Introduction of commercial crops: tea, coffee, opium
• Built railroads, telegraph lines, canals, harbors, irrigation
• Did not interfere with Indian culture, religion
• Established English-style schools for Indian elites
• Outlawed Indian customs considered offensive, (sati)
EMPIRE IN ASIA
• Imperialism in central Asia and southeast Asia
• "Great Game" refers to competition between Britain,
Russia in central Asia
• By 1860s Russian expansion reached northern frontiers
of British India
• Russian and British explorers mapped, scouted, but
never colonized Afghanistan
• Russian dominance of central Asia lasted until 1991
• Dutch East India Company held tight control of
Indonesia (Dutch East India)
• British colonies in southeast Asia
• Established colonial authority in Burma, 1880s
• Port of Singapore founded 1824; was base for conquest
of Malaya, 1870s
• French Indochina created, 1859-1893
• Consisted of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos--former tribute
states of Qing dynasty
• French encouraged conversion to Christianity,
established western-style schools
• Thailand left in place as buffer between Burma and
Indochina
IMPERIALISM IN ASIA
SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA
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1875 and 1900
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European powers seized almost the entire continent
Early explorers charted the waters, gathered information on resources
Missionaries like David Livingstone set up mission posts
Henry Stanley sent by Leopold II of Belgium to create colony in Congo,
1870s
To protect their investments and Suez Canal, Britain occupied Egypt, 1882
South Africa
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Settled first by Dutch farmers (Afrikaners) in seventeenth century
By 1800 was a European settler colony with enslaved black African
population
British seized Cape Colony in early nineteenth century, abolished slavery in
1833
British-Dutch tensions led to Great Trek of Afrikaners inland to claim new
lands
Mid-19TH century, they established Orange Free State in 1854, Transvaal in
1860
Discovery of gold and diamonds in Afrikaner lands; influx of British settlers
Boer War, 1899-1902: British defeated Afrikaners, Union of South Africa
SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA
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The Berlin Conference, 1884-1885
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European powers set rules for carving Africa into colonies, Africans
not invited
Occupation, supported by European armies, established colonial
rule in Africa
By 1900 all of Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia, was controlled by
European powers
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Colonial rule challenging and expensive
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"Concessionary companies": granted considerable authority to
private companies
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empowered to build plantations, mines, railroads
made use of forced labor and taxation, as in Belgian Congo
unprofitable, often replaced by more direct rule
Direct rule: replacing local rulers with Europeans--French model
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justified by "civilizing mission"
hard to find enough European personnel
Indirect rule: control over subjects through local institutions--British
model
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worked best in African societies that were highly organized
assumed firm tribal boundaries where often none existed
AFRICA 1880 & 1914
EMPIRES IN THE PACIFIC
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Australia and New Zealand
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Both became settler colonies in the Pacific
1770, Captain Cook reached Australia, reported it suitable for
settlement
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Fertile soil and timber of New Zealand attracted European
settlers
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1788, one thousand settlers established colony of New South
Wales
Became a penal colony after loss of Georgia in American
Revolution
1851, gold discovered; surge of European migration to Australia
Europeans diseases dramatically reduced aboriginal populations
European flora and fauna replaced most native species
Large settler societies forced indigenous peoples onto
marginal lands
EMPIRES IN THE PACIFIC
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Pacific Islands
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Spain and the Pacific
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Colonization of Pacific Islands delayed until late nineteenth century
Early American visitors to the Pacific
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American Whalers throughout region after American revolution
American merchants on way to China began in 19th century
California Gold Rush open Pacific coast to immigrants from Europe,
China
US challenged rule in 1854 when Commodore Perry forced Japan to
open ports
Some missionaries active especially in Hawaii and on way to China
Late nineteenth century,
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Pacific had been a Spanish possession until 19th century (Philippines,
Micronesia)
Spanish yearly shipments of silver from Mexico to China ended in 1812
European states sought coaling stations and naval ports
1867: USA acquires Alaska, Wake Island
1898: USA acquires Hawaii, Philippines, Guam
1899: German buys remaining Spanish islands
By 1900, all islands claimed by France, Britain, Germany and United
States.
Island plantations produced sugarcane, copra, guano
EMPIRES IN THE PACIFIC
U.S. IMPERIALISM
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Westward Expansion, Manifest Destiny precede overseas imperialism
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The Monroe Doctrine and Latin America
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US annexation of Texas set off conflict with Mexico
US defeats Mexico, annexed 1/3 of Mexican territory
Settlement of Far West, Pacific Coast, Great Basin follows
1867 – 1898
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1823: proclamation by U.S. president James Monroe
Opposed European imperialism in the Americas
Justified American interventions in late 19th, 20th century
Used doctrine to tell France to withdraw from Mexico in 1867
United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867
Hawaii became a protectorate in 1875, formally annexed in 1898
Tended to leave area open only for American investments, loans
The Mexican American War 1846 – 1848
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Americans push west after American revolution
Drove Indians from land
US purchases Louisiana from France
Opened up West to settlement
Americans saw it as God-given right to occupy continent
Acquires small Pacific Islands, Alaska from Russia in 1867
Economic interests in Hawaii lead to revolution, annexation in 1898
The Spanish-American War (1898-99)
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US defeated Spain and took over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Philippines
US and Philippines
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Backed Filipino revolt against Spain, purchased and took over the colony
1902-1904, bitter civil war killed two hundred thousand Filipinos, ended in U.S. victory
The Panama Canal, 1903-1914
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Colombian government refused U.S. request to build canal at Panama isthmus
US helped rebels establish the state of Panama for the right to build a canal
Completed in 1914; gave United States access to Atlantic and Pacific
Major Imperialistic Powers!!!
Four stories of imperialism
»Belgium
• France
»Great Britain
• Japan
Belgium
• The Belgium Revolution occurred in 1830
• Leopold I became King in 1831
• His son Leopold II took power in 1865
• Under their rules Belgium became the second most
important industrial power!
• After becoming one of the industrialized powers in
Europe, Belgium wanted to secure its economic
independence by beginning to explore the idea of
colonization.
Belgium’s move into Africa
• Leopold II backed an expedition into
the Congo Basin (see map on next slide!).
• During the expedition, contact was made
with chiefs in the Congo Basin and a
confederation of states was formed.
• Soon after this, the Conference of Berlin was held.
• What’s that, hmmmm????
Conference of Berlin
• After the interior of Africa had been “discovered” by
Belgium, many European nations immediately
started scrambling into Africa. (Only those who
were industrialized)
• The Conference of Berlin was called because
many nations were trying to stake claim in the
Congo.
• The outcome of the Conference of Berlin –the
“Scramble for Africa”.
“Scramble for
Africa”- the growth
of conflicting
European claims to
African territory
during the New
Imperialism period,
between the 1880s
and World War I in
1914.
The General Act of Berlin States:
• The territory of today's Democratic Republic
of the Congo, some two million square
kilometers, was made essentially the
property of Léopold II
• Free trade open to all!
• The Niger and Congo Rivers were made free
for ship traffic.
• An international prohibition of the slave trade
was signed.
• Any fresh act of taking possession of any
portion of the African coast would have to be
notified by the power taking possession, or
assuming a protectorate, to the other
signatory powers.
• In the end, Africa was divided
between the main powers of
Europe
Back to Belgium…
• After the Conference of Berlin, Belgium was able to
keep full “ownership” of Congo.
• Belgium proceeded to take resources out of the
Congo such as Ivory and Rubber.
France
• France’s first colonial empire was in the Americas
and parts of India (light blue)
France’s second colonial empire
• France took control of areas of SE Asia (Which
became French Indonesia)
• France invaded Algeria in 1830 and continued to
take on African territory.
• Under the Conference of Berlin, France was
granted an east-west axis of the continent (aka
Control of east-west Africa)
Great Britain
• The First British colonial empire was in North
America...the 13 colonies? Remember what
happened?
Second British colonial empire
• After the British lost its colonies in the Americas
(American Revolution) they turned their attention
elsewhere.
• Who caught their eye?
• Australia (became the British island for criminals)
• India, Egypt, parts of SE Asia, and parts of Africa.
The sun never sets on the British Empire!
• Under the Conference of Berlin, Great Britain was
awarded a north-south axis of the African continent
(aka control of north-south Africa)
I still
see you!
I see
you!
Here I
am
again!
Japan- with its own sphere of influence…
• Japan was also known as an imperialistic power at
this time.
• Japan’s sphere of influence remained mostly in and
around Asia.
• After victories in the Sino-Japanese War and the
Russo-Japanese War European nations and the
United States recognized Japan as a world power.
Territories held by the Japanese Empire
until 1945 (End of WWII)
A little later…
• We will see the effects that imperialism
had on the world (both short and long
term!).