1. In defending England's right to colonize Africa, Lord
Frederick Lugard proposed, "I hold that our right is the
necessity that is upon us to provide for our ever-growing
population." Is there an economic justification for
imperialism? Be sure to consider the question from the
position of both the colonizing nation and the colony.
2. When Rudyard Kipling suggested that Americans "Take up
the White Man's Burden" what did he mean? How does this
phrase express the goals of imperialism? Did the Americans
have to be encouraged to become imperialistic?
3. Examine the racist beliefs that played such a central role in
European imperialism. How did racism justify imperialism
and also inspire it?
Chapter 32: The Building of Global Empires
What is
Imperialism?
The domination of European powers
(and US and Japan) over subject
lands in the larger world by
various methods
“Men make their own history but they
do not make it as they please nor
under conditions of their choosing.”
“Whatever happens we have got
The Maxim gun and they have
not.”
- Hilaire Belloc
- Karl Marx
“We are the finest race in the
world and the more of the world
we inhabit, the better it is for the
human race.”
- Cecil Rhodes 1877
Old Imperialism VS
New Imperialism?
Then: Americas (economic/political
often indirect)
Now: Africa, East Asia, South Asia,
SE Asia (economic/political/
military/ COMPLETE/
racist: often direct)
Linked to the pure SURVIVAL of
their states/societies/culture
What are the
motivations for
imperialism?
Think: SPICE
Political and Economic Motivations?
P = strategic positioning, nationalism,
distraction from civil problems,
seize territory, subdue potential
enemies, personal legacy, confirm
military strength
E=
raw materials for
industrialization,
secure wealth (gold,
diamonds), colonies
as markets, ease
economic burden
of growing population,
secure trading ports
“Learning Civilized Ways is Hard Work”
Social Motivations =
The White Man’s Burden
S = spiritual campaigns to “civilize” subject lands,
“White Man’s Burden” was the duty of European and
American people to bring “order and enlightenment”
to non-Christian natives
“Social Darwinism”: Herbert Spencer
encouraged emigration to subject lands
Dr. David Livingstone
Social Motivations =
The White Man’s Burden
•
Became a protectorate of Great Britain from
1883 until 1956
•
British domination of Egypt became the
model for the "new imperialism“
•
Turkish general Muhammad Ali had
established Egypt into a strong and virtually
independent state by 1849
•
Egypt's inability to satisfy foreign investors
led to control of its finances by France &
Britain (GB bought Egypt's debt in 1875)
•
Safeguarding the Suez Canal (completed in
1869) played a key role in the British
occupation of Egypt and its bloody conquest
of the Sudan.
•
(Battle of Omdurman 1898:
11,000 Sudanese dead, 368 British dead)
The British in
Egypt
Great Britain?
Queen Victoria
Benjamin Disraeli
Britain occupied Suez Canal
outright in 1882
European nations
(and later US) used
nationalism and
industrialization to motivate
popular support at
home for imperialism
“doctrine of lapse” and
Company Rule in India?
The Sun Never Sets….
Concessionary Rule?
Where does GB go and why?
Indirect or Direct Rule?
Effects?
Problems or Benefits of each?
The British Empire in India
Mughal decline (1707) provided opportunity for
British expansion: created new economic systems that
fostered dependency on the British
After Sepoy Mutiny: DIRECT Rule by the British
Primarily ECONOMIC and POLITICAL: Left Cultural
Traditions intact (Hindu religion, did outlaw sati)
(DID not try to impose Christainity)
Imperialism Examples……
The Opium Wars, 1839-1842
The French and British gain control of the Suez Canal 1876
British remained in Egypt until 1954
Where else does FRANCE go and WHY? Effects?
Imperialism in Asia ca. 1914
We resent
the unequal
treaties of
the 1860s!
Where does
Japan go and
why?
Effects?
Sino-Japanese
War 1894-1895
Kobayashi
Kiyochika
Russo-Japanese
War 1904-1905
Where does
Russia go and
why?
Effects?
The Great
Game:
Russia and Great Britain
Seek Central Asian
alliance in future war
over India
The Americas:
Where does the United States go to and WHY?
Effects?
Monroe Doctrine 1803
Spanish American War 1898-1899
“A Splendid Little War”
Why does America need to wait
until the late 19th century to launch its
imperialistic quest??
United States and the Caribbean
Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine 1904
Panama Canal 1903-1914
“Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick… You Will Go Far”
USA?
Queen Liliuokalani
(r. 1891-1893)
Sanford B. Dole
United States and Hawaii: annexation ceremony 1898
(statehood 1959)
The Scramble for Africa
Cecil Rhodes
South Africa 1871
King Leopold of Belgium
(Congo Free State 1870s)
“The baskets of severed hands, set down at the feet of the
European post commanders, became the symbol of the
Congo Free State. ...
The collection of hands became an end in itself. Force
Publique soldiers brought them to the stations in place of
rubber; they even went out to harvest them instead of
rubber... They became a sort of currency.
They came to be used to make up for shortfalls in rubber
quotas, to replace... the people who were demanded for the
forced labor gangs; and the Force Publique soldiers were
paid their bonuses on the basis of how many hands they
collected.” - Belgian Commissioner
(Death toll estimates 3-15 million Africans)
African men were murdered, women were raped
and murdered, if they did not fill their quota of
rubber and ivory
The Berlin Conference 1884-1885
•
•
•
•
•
Coordinated by German (von Bismarck), called for by Portugal
14 European nations and the United States were involved: no Africans were
invited
Generally agreed to represent the formalization of the Scramble for Africa
Organized in response to Stanley’s mapping of the Congo Basin and to King
Leopold’s assertion that the Congo region would be a trade free zone.
The General Act of the Berlin Conference proclaimed:
1. The Free State of Congo was confirmed as private property of the Congo Society and
essentially the private property of King Leopold.
(because of the terror regime established, it would eventually become a Belgian colony 1908).
2. The 14 signatory powers would have free trade throughout the Congo Basin and the Niger
and
Congo Rivers were made free for ship traffic.
3. An international prohibition of the slave trade was signed.
4. Any European country could establish colonies as long as they told everyone, and
occupied previously unoccupied territories.
The BoerWar
1899-1902
Great Britain
abolishes slavery
in 1833
The Great Trek
Diamonds 1867
Gold 1886
White privileged
society Vs. black
Africans
As late as 1925 one British official commented
on the process as it operated in central Nigeria:
“I shall of course go on walloping them until
they surrender. It’s a rather piteous sight
watching a village being knocked to pieces and
I wish there was some other way, but unfortunately
there isn’t.”
Indigenous Races
of the Earth,
Josiah Clark Nott
and G.R. Glidden
William Z. Ripley of the cephalic index of
European populations. From his 1899
book, The Races of Europe.
Legacies of Imperialism?
Population migration
Increased global trade
Increased global conflict
Increased sense of difference from one culture to another
Increased racism among Europeans, Americans and Japanese
Stimulated anti-colonialism and nationalism in subject lands
From the 20th C onward: much of global history has revolved
around the new world order created by imperialism
and colonialism
Case Study: India
Roy inspired reform societies
(educated Hindu elite)
that emphasized self-government,
or at least greater Indian
participation in government
(followed ideals of Enlightenment)
• a Hindu Reformer
“Father of Modern India”
• supported some British
colonial policies
(end to sati)
Indian National Congress 1885
(founded with British approval)
Openly sought Indian self-rule
Joined with All-India Muslim League 1909
Independence granted in 1947 (GANDHI)