Imperialism and the Age of Empire

Imperialism

• The European powers divided up Africa and Asia after 1880.

Reasons for Imperialism

• 1. Competition with other countries (ports and coaling stations for navies)

• 2. Nationalism (perceived weakness if a country didn’t participate)

• 3. Social Darwinism/Racism (only the strongest races survive)

• 4. Religious and Humanitarian• 5. Economic: demand for natural

resources and products (rubber, oil, tin)

Social Darwinist ThinkingSocial Darwinist ThinkingSocial Darwinist ThinkingSocial Darwinist Thinking

The White Man’sBurden

The White Man’sBurdenThe Hierarchy

of RaceThe Hierarchy

of Race

Social Darwinism

• Developed by Herbert Spencer• Argued that human society and

institutions passed through the process of natural selection “survival of the fittest”

• Social evolution implied progress• No governmental regulation because

it would help the “unfit” survive and thereby impede progress

Canada

1867: British North America Act created the Dominion of Canada (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick)

Remained part of British Empire, but with a lot of control over self rule

Canada in 1867

Australia and New Zealand

• 1770: discovered by James Cook• Great Britain began transporting

convicts and petty criminals to Australia

• 1901: formed the Commonwealth of Australia

• New Zealand: 1907: self governing dominion in the British empire

Australia and New Zealand

South Africa

• Boers (descendants from Dutch) settled Capetown as a stop over point in the 1650’s.

• British invited settlers into Cape Colony

• 1835 Boers (Afrikaners) moved to the north of South Africa (Orange Free State and Transvaal) GREAT TREK

Great Trek

Great Trek

Boer War (1899-1902)

• Extremely cruel and brutal• Use of guerilla tactics by Boer

Farmers• Britain with its superior technology

won the war

• 1910: Union of South Africa was a blending of British and Boer republicx

Boer War

South Africa in 1910

Cecil Rhodes

• British entrepreneur who founded diamond and gold companies.

• Founded the territory named Rhodesia

• One of his goals was to create a “Cape to Cairo” railroad

• Rhodes scholarship

Cecil Rhodes

South African flagsSouth Africa flag circa 1940

Current flag of South Africa

African Colonialism

The Scramble for Africa

White Man’s Burden

European players in Africa

• Great Britain• France• Portugal • Germany• Spain• Italy• Belgium

Two countries in Africa remained free

• Ethiopia• Liberia: set up as colony by free

slaves

France

• Direct rule with white French citizens as head of colonial administration

• Wanted to incorporate and assimilate colonial peoples into a Greater French empire

• Imposed French culture onto colonies (language, values, etc).

French Colonial Empire

Great Britain

• Indirect rule• Attempted to keep indigenous

peoples to rule at the local level• Africans were appointed officials

acted as middle managers between British colonial administrators and local ethnic groups

Sun never sets on British Empire

David Livingstone (1813-1873)

• Scottish missionary who traveled throughout south east Africa

• Popular national hero of Great Britain• Searched for source of the Nile River• First European to see Victoria Falls• One of the first westerners to travel

across (east to west) Africa• Lost contact with outside world for six

years• Opened up Africa for colonization

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

• British explorer Henry Stanley found David Livingston in 1871.

Congo

• King Leopold II established a personal kingdom in the Congo

• Cared only about extraction of minerals and raw materials (rubber)

• Cold blooded murder of indigenous peoples during rubber collection

• Between 10 and 15 million Congolese died (most from smallpox and sleeping sickness)

• International outcry forced the King to give up his colony to Belgium

Amputated Congolese

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Germany

• German SW Africa (Namibia0• Dr. Karl Peters secured German East

Africa (Tanzania)• Germans were cruel to Africans• Herero massacre in SW Africa: one of

the first genocides of the 20th century

Surviving Herero: Starvation and poisoning of wells: 50

to 70% of population killed

Herero chained

Von Trotha’s message to Herero

• , the great general of the German troops, send this letter to the Herero people... All Hereros must leave this land... Any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall no longer receive any women or children; I will drive them back to their people or have them fired upon. This is my decision for the Herero people.

Portugal

• Angola• Mozambique

Imperialism in Asia

India

• Britain (India) 18th century• Britain East India Company became

dominant power in India (economic motivations)

• 1857 Sepoy Mutiny (revolt of indigenous Indians) Mutiny suppressed

• Control of India fell to the British government

• 1877: Queen Victoria received the title of Empress of India

British

• Improved sanitation and medical care

• Built roads and railroads• Constructed factories• Modernized the country

China

• Chinese (Manchu Dynasty) closed ports to western powers, except Canton)

• Opium Wars (1840’s) Great Britain and China

Treaty of Nanking

• Treaty between China and Great Britain

• 4 trading ports were open to British• Britain received Hong Kong

Other countries demands on China

• 1. right of Western nations to station their warships in China’s waters

• 2. right of Westerners to extraterritoriality (westerners could be tried in their own court system, not the Chinese)

Sino (China)-Japanese War

• 1894-1895• China lost• Western nations demanded more

trade concessions

China vs. the West

• Secret Chinese societies wanted to eliminate western influences from China

• Boxer Rebellion (1899) “Righteous and Harmonious Fists”

• Western troops needed to intervene to suppress revolt

Japan

• Isolated from west until 1853 and the arrival of Matthew Perry with a fleet of U.S. naval ships

Treaty of Kanagawa (1854)

• Trade treaty between U.S. and Japan

Meiji Period (1868-1912)

• “enlightened rule”Japan transformed from a feudal

society to industrial powerJapan became first industrial power of

Asia

Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

• Japan defeated Russia (Western Power)

• Treaty of Portsmouth (Teddy Roosevelt won Nobel Peace Prize)

SE Asia

• British: Ceylon• Malaya, Burma, and Singapore

• Dutch: Indonesia• Culture system: 1/5 of land and 1/5 of

time dedicated to growing crops for the Dutch

• French: IndoChina (Vietnam and Laos)

Hottentot Venus

Impact of Imperialism• Positives1)Infrastructure: (roads, canals, railways)2)Education: schools3)Health Care: Improved sanitation and

hospitals4)Establishment of “modern” government5) Brought civil order to region6) Technology introduced to Africa7) Introduction of Christianity

Imperialism

• Negatives:• 1) extracted raw materials from Africa• 2) pitted one ethnic group against

another• 3) abuse of indigenous peoples• 4) indigenous culture negatively

impacted• 5) spreading of western diseases