EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM: 1880-1914

The what, when, who, and why of Imperialism• What is Imperialism?• Economic, political, and social control of one country or territory by another• Similar to (almost exactly the same as) colonization, EXCEPT, in colonization an

“invading country” tries to control a new territory and replace all the native inhabitants with its own people, whereas in imperialism the “invading country” simply tries to control a new territory economically, politically, and socially while leaving the native population in place (can you think of examples of countries that were colonized?)

• When was imperialism?• Europeans had been colonizing places around the world ever since Columbus (1492)

but imperialism didn’t start until the late 1800’s, around 1880 and lasted until the outbreak of WWI in 1914. After 1914 Europeans held on to the imperial colonies they already had, but didn’t add many more new ones

• Who imperialized, who was imperialized?• European countries were the chief imperializing countries, there were only a small

handful of non-European countries that became involved in Imperialism (USA and Japan)

• Not all European countries became involved in imperialism the biggest European imperializing countries were: Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, and Spain

• The areas of the world that were imperialized were principally Africa, southeast Asia, and India

Africa During Imperialism: 1914

Asia During Imperialism: 1914

The what, when, who, and why of Imperialism (cont.)•Why did European countries start imperializing and why did they start in the 1880’s?• Industrialization and Economic Motives• Military motives• Intangible motives• Nationalism• Social Darwinism• New Technologies

Two Types of Imperialism: Direct and Indirect• Direct Imperialism: • Europeans replaced all of the local officials and government of the

areas that they imperialized with European officials• So Europeans made all the decisions/policies AND enforced all

their decisions/policies in their imperial colonies• Pros/Cons for Europeans?• Pros/Cons for the native inhabitants??• Practiced by all European countries (except Britain)• Indirect Imperialism:• Europeans replaced the high ranking officials in the places that

they imperialized with Europeans, but left lower level native rulers in place• So Europeans made most of the decisions/policies, but allowed

native rulers to enforce them• Pros/Cons for Europeans• Pros/Cons for the native inhabitants??

Non-European Imperialist Countries• Japan• Modernized and industrialized very rapidly between 1850 and

1880• Needed natural resources to fuel their economy• Imperialized Korea and parts of China (Manchuria, Formosa)• US• Took over some old Spanish colonies after the Spanish-

American War in 1898 (Philippines, Guam)• Mostly wanted access to trade routes in Asia (Hawaii, Samoa)• Egypt• Very briefly involved in imperializing other parts of Africa

(Sudan)• Ended up getting imperialized by the British after the

construction of the Suez Canal

Putting it All Together• Q: What was Europe like in the early 1900’s?• A: There was an enormous amount of competition between

European Countries• Economic competition due to industrialization• Competition and rivalry due to intense nationalism• Competition to see who could control the most places around the

world due to imperialism• A: There was a lot of tension underneath the surface inside of

European Countries• Nationalism caused fear and rivalry between nations, but also inside of

some countries as well (Britain, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire)• Economic inequality led to calls for socialist policies and even

communist revolution• Political inequality led to calls for increased democracy—voting rights

for the poor, voting rights for women