Standard 7-3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of independence movements that occurred throughout the world from 1770 through 1900.

7-3.5: Analyze the ways that industrialization contributed to imperialism in India, Japan, China, and African regions, including the need for new markets and raw materials, the Open Door Policy, and the Berlin Conference of 1884.

European Imperialism

Once European countries began to industrialize, a wealth gap was created between industrialized and non-industrialized nations. Industrialized nations (like Great Britain) began looking for 2 things from lesser developed countries: raw materials and new markets for finished products. How did they go about finding those things? By conquering them and colonizing them, of course!

Can you think of an economic system during the Age of Exploration that sounds like what you’ve read so far about imperialism? How is the relationship similar?

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Europe, the United States, and Japan were key imperial powers, while countries in Asia and Africa were the most sought-after areas to colonize. Political, social, and economic forces drove industrialized nations to imperialize. Soon, the race for colonies created a competition among European powers. Feelings of nationalism also drove imperial powers, and each country raced to hold the most posts around the world.

This cartoon depicts Great Britain’s imperialistic nature.

In your own words, describe what you see and how the artist’s depiction represents the idea of imperialism.

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Imperialistic nations in Europe (and also the United States) believed in Western superiority, or the idea that their nations were superior to “lesser,” or unindustrialized nations. Driven by Social Darwinism, they justified their conquests by claiming that Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” rule of nature applied to people and countries. If “lesser countries” could not effectively defend themselves, nature ruled that it was acceptable to conquer them. Another theory that justified imperialism was found Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden.” It became an anthem for imperialism, stating that it was the duty of the Western powers to take their “superior culture” to the lesser nations, despite the resistance they might encounter.

Stop and Think: In your own words, describe the two “theories” European nations used to justify imperialism. Which do you think carried more weight? Why?

Imperialism in Asia

In Asia, India became the “jewel of the crown” for Britain after the British East India Company set up trading posts along the Indian coast. (Stop and Think: What do you think the phrase “jewel of the crown” could mean?) India officially became part of the British Empire and Britain began to exploit India for its raw materials while setting up markets there to sell British manufactured goods. By doing so, Britain crippled Indian industries (such as the cloth industry) that could not compete with British industrialization.

In Japan, the government reopened trade with the West after the United States threatened to attack the capital city of Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. navy was sent with warships to the coast

of Japan with a treaty that the Japanese government was forced to sign in order to avoid attack. As a result of this treaty, Japanese trade closed and Japan returned to practicing isolationism. (Stop and Think: What does “isolationism”

mean? Why do you think Japan returned to it?) Industrialized nations of Europe then began going to Japan to use as a market for their industrial goods as well. As a result of these aggressive actions, the Japanese government decided to industrialize quickly during the Meiji Restoration in order to avoid being imperialized and to begin its own imperialism.

China, like Japan, was forced to open itself to trade by industrial powers. As a result of losing the Opium Wars with Britain (we’ll talk about the specifics of these wars later), the Chinese government was forced to sign a treaty allowing Britain to begin trading and setting up markets in China. Other European industrial nations (like the United States and Japan) also wanted access to China as a source of markets. Soon, Britain and other European nations began carving China up into their own “spheres of influence” where they controlled trade and economic rights within their designated section of China. The United States, wanting access to China as well, therefore created the Open Door Policy, stating that China should be open to all nations rather than just one or a few nations having control of the country.

Think about the “scramble” for European control in Asia.

How is Japan’s reaction to European influence different from India’s and China’s?

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Consider the cartoon to the left. How does it represent the Open Door Policy in China? Where do you see the “spheres of influence” represented here?

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Imperialism in Africa

In Africa, Europeans also began exploring and then eventually taking over land to get more raw materials that were needed as a result of industrialization. This exploration and increasing interest led to a treaty that gave Belgium the Congo. Soon after Belgium claimed that section of Africa, other nations of Europe scrambled to do the same. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 set forth the rules for the division of Africa. Fourteen European nations met, with no African representation, to divide the continent with little regard to the existing differences in African languages, cultures, and ethnicities. With Europe’s advanced technology, primarily in weaponry and steamships, and because Africa was not a “unified” continent, the African nations were easily dominated. Only Liberia and Ethiopia were not imperialized by 1914. Despite the European agreement to peaceful division, conflicts still arose.

How does this political cartoon embody what occurred at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885?

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