Download Imperialism Mid-19th century to 20th c.

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Imperialism
Mid-19th century to 20th c.
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The world before WWI
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Remember to answer the questions thoughtfully!
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1/1/2012
Orzoff-Baranyk
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Imperialism really began in the age of exploration. Imperialism is “Empire Building.”
1. Think back to our unit on Exploration. Starting in the 15th century, which European countries were
involved with Empire building? What parts of the world did they establish colonies in?
Reasons Europeans thought Imperialism was the right thing to do
In the middle of the 19th century Charles Darwin published his book on Evolution.
This work about the biological evolution of species gave rise to new theories.
o Social Darwinism: Theory that applied “survival of the fittest” to society and
social classes by Herbert Spencer
"Society advances, where its fittest members are allowed to assert their fitness with the least
hindrance." He went on to argue that the unfit should "not be prevented from dying out."
2. In your own words, what was social Darwinism? Why would this new theory make
Europeans believe they could take over countries in South America, Africa,
and Asia?
3. What is the chart on the right trying to show? Is it accurate?
Read the following piece by Jules Ferry, former prime minister of France.
Underline or highlight ALL of the reasons he gives to explain why Imperialism was
seen as necessary.
Jules Ferry (1832-1893): On French Colonial Expansion
The policy of colonial expansion is a political and economic system ... that can be connected to three sets of ideas: economic ideas; the most farreaching ideas of civilization; and ideas of a political and patriotic sort.
In the area of economics, I am placing before you, with the support of some statistics, the considerations that justify the policy of colonial expansion, as
seen from the perspective of a need, felt more and more urgently by the industrialized population of Europe and especially the people of our rich and
hardworking country of France: the need for outlets [for exports]. Is this a fantasy? Is this a concern [that can wait] for the future? Or is this not a
pressing need, one may say a crying need, of our industrial population? I merely express in a general way what each one of you can see for himself in
the various parts of France. Yes, what our major industries [textiles, etc.], irrevocably steered by the treaties of 18601 into exports, lack more and
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more are outlets. Why? Because next door Germany is setting up trade barriers; because across the ocean the United States of America have become
protectionists, and extreme protectionists at that; because not only are these great markets ... shrinking, becoming more and more difficult of access,
but these great states are beginning to pour into our own markets products not seen there before. This is true not only for our agriculture, which has
been so sorely tried ... and for which competition is no longer limited to the circle of large European states .... Today, as you know, competition, the law
of supply and demand, freedom of trade, the effects of speculation, all radiate in a circle that reaches to the ends of the earth .... That is a great
complication, a great economic difficulty; ... an extremely serious problem. It is so serious, gentlemen, so acute, that the least informed persons must
already glimpse, foresee, and take precautions against the time when the great South American market that has, in a manner of speaking, belonged to
us forever will be disputed and perhaps taken away from us by North American products. Nothing is more serious; there can be no graver social
problem; and these matters are linked intimately to colonial policy.
Gentlemen, we must speak more loudly and more honestly! We must say openly that indeed the higher races have a right over the lower races ....
I repeat, that the superior races have a right because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races .... In the history of earlier
centuries these duties, gentlemen, have often been misunderstood; and certainly when the Spanish soldiers and explorers introduced slavery into
Central America, they did not fulfill their duty as men of a higher race .... But, in our time, I maintain that European nations acquit themselves with
generosity, with grandeur, and with sincerity of this superior civilizing duty.
I say that French colonial policy, the policy of colonial expansion, the policy that has taken us under the Empire [the Second Empire, of Napoleon 1111, to
Saigon, to Indochina [Vietnam], that has led us to Tunisia, to Madagascar-I say that this policy of colonial expansion was inspired by... the fact that a
navy such as ours cannot do without safe harbors, defenses, supply centers on the high seas .... Are you unaware of this? Look at a map of the world.
Gentlemen, these are considerations that merit the full attention of patriots. The conditions of naval warfare have greatly changed .... At present, as you
know, a warship, however perfect its design, cannot carry more than two weeks' supply of coal; and a vessel without coal is a wreck on the high seas,
abandoned to the first occupier. Hence the need to have places of supply, shelters, ports for defense and provisioning.... And that is why we needed
Tunisia; that is why we needed Saigon and Indochina; that is why we need Madagascar... and why we shall never leave them! ... Gentlemen, in Europe such
as it is today, in this competition of the many rivals we see rising up around us, some by military or naval improvements, others by the prodigious
development of a constantly growing population; in a Europe, or rather in a universe thus constituted, a policy of withdrawal or abstention is simply the
high road to decadence! In our time nations are great only through the activity they deploy; it is not by spreading the peaceable light of their institutions
... that they are great, in the present day.
Spreading light without acting, without taking part in the affairs of the world, keeping out of all European alliances and seeing as a trap, an adventure, all
expansion into Africa or the Orient-for a great nation to live this way, believe me, is to abdicate and, in less time than you may think, to sink from the
first rank to the third and fourth.
4. Please list with bullet points all of the reasons Ferry believed imperialism was necessary,
in your own words, below.
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5. What is going on in the
cartoon to the Left? The
Cartoon is called “The
White Man’s Burden.”
What was the “White
Man’s Burden” supposed to
be??
Types of Imperialism
Colony
Economic
Imperialism
Sphere of Influence
Protectorate
A body of people who settle far
from homeland; they remain
citizens of their home state but
employ self-rule.
American Colonies (1603-1776)
The economic control of a
remote area by a state who has
not annexed the territory.
South America’s eventually
dependence on European
factories set up there for cheap
labor.
An area under the economic
and military control of one
imperial power. The land has
not been officially annexed, but
the imperial power controls it
fully.
A state or territory partly
controlled by (but not a
possession of) a stronger state.
The protectorate retains control
of internal affairs, but still must
answer to imperial powers.
South Africa (1652-1931)
•
Dutch then British
China (1851-1912)
Egypt (1882-1922)
6. What do all of these forms of imperialism have in common? Which form of
Imperialism would be the worst for a country being taken over?
,.
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Examples of Imperialism at work!
Africa
•
•
•
•
•
•
Remember, as early as the 15th century,
Europeans had coastal colonies all over Africa.
Eventually, they began to conquer land further
and further inland.
By 1914, Africa had been completely taken over
by European powers. Only Liberia (a tiny
country on the west coast) was still
independent.
Reasons Europeans wanted Africa
• Route to SE Asia (initially around S.
Africa, then through the Suez canal).
• Good land for farming.
• Mineral wealth in Central and S. Africa
(diamonds, copper, gold).
• Tropical products.
• Status among nations.
Egypt
• 1832: Egypt declared independence from the Ottoman Empire.
• 1869: Egypt began to modernize and completed the Suez Canal, connecting the
Mediterranean & Red Sea.
• Egypt borrowed money from England & France and spent it carelessly
• 1878: England & France insisted on joining the government, and eventually
Britain took over making Egypt a protectorate.
Algeria
• 1830: The French invaded to stop piracy in the Mediterranean, collect debts, &
gain ports
• Faced resistance from the Muslim Brotherhood (10,000 well trained
troops)
• 1841: The French won the war. Put down the last revolt in 1871
• French moved in and took over good farm land.
• The beginning of Muslim resistance to European dominance that continues into
the present.
South Africa
• 1652: The Dutch created the Cape of Good Hope Colony
• Dutch farmers were called Boers and came to speak a derivative of
Dutch called Afrikaans.
• Cape of Good Hope Colony became a place to stop on the way to India
& grew slowly
• The Dutch faced some native resistance (1816: Shaka Zulu/ 40,000
troops) but prevailed.
• The Dutch took good farm land, displaced Africans, spread disease, &
took Africans as slaves.
• 1815: The British took S. Africa after Napoleonic Wars.
• There were conflicts with Dutch over British laws
• The British took more land from Africans
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•
•
•
1870: diamonds discovered
1880s: largest deposit of gold found
• Competition between the Dutch & British leads to the 3
year “Boer War” 1899-1902
1948-1994: Apartheid Laws: The legal separating of races in
South Africa.
• The minority white population took away many rights of
the black majority & all other people of color.
7. Which European country had the biggest impact on the African
countries mentioned above?
8. Overall, what was the impact of Imperialism on the native people of Africa?
The Berlin Conference
• 1884-1885: Berlin Conference called by Prussian Chancellor, Otto Van Bismarck in order
to avoid further conflicts over Africa between European powers.
• They made rules for fixing borders of African lands, divided up lands of Africa on
paper & gave Europeans inland areas (not just coastal territories).
• Nations had to establish actual inland settlements to keep the land – This began
the “Scramble for Africa.”
• A rush to get settlers into colonies in order to keep them!
9. Why do you think Europeans felt totally justified in splitting up the
Continent of Africa without a single African representative present?
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Congo
•
•
•
Given to King Leopold of Belgium, as his Private estate at the Berlin
Conference.
• This means it was HIS, not Belgium’s.
Congo was 80 times bigger than Belgium & rich in rubber, copper, other
minerals
• These raw materials were mined through enslaving the native
population
• workers were killed or maimed for resistance
1908: the Belgian Parliament took Control of Congo away from the king
because of his cruelty, but it remained one of the most harshly ruled
territories.
King Leopold of Belgium
10. Read the report below on Belgian Congo, and underline/highlight the
injustices that the author, Roger Casement, saw there.
Report of the British Consul, Roger Casement, on the Administration of the Congo Free State
. . . the region visited was one of the most central in the Congo State . . Moreover, I was enabled, by visiting this district, to
contrast its present state with the condition in which I had known it some sixteen years ago . . and I was thus able to
institute a comparison between a sate of affairs I had myself seen when the natives loved their own savage lives in anarchic
and disorderly communities, uncontrolled by Europeans, and that created by more than a decade of very energetic European
intervention . . by Belgian officials in introducing their methods of rule over one of the most savage regions of Africa.
. . . The population of the Lower Congo has been gradually reduced by the unchecked ravages of this, as yet undiagnosed and
incurable disease, and as one cause of the seemingly wholesale diminution of human life which I everywhere observed in the
regions revisited, a prominent place must be assigned to this malady . . . . Communities I had formerly known as large and
flourishing centers of population are to-day entirely gone . . .
On the whole the Government workmen (Congolese natives) . . struck me as being well cared for . . The chief difficulty in
dealing with so large a staff [3,000 in number] arises from the want of a sufficiency of food supply in the surrounding
country. . . . The natives of the districts are forced to provide a fixed quantity each week . . which is levied by requisitions on
all the surrounding villages . . . This, however necessary, is not a welcome task to the native suppliers who complain that
their numbers are yearly decreasing, while the demands made upon them remain fixed, or tend even to increase. . . . The
(official in charge)is forced to exercise continuous pressure on the local population, and within recent times that pressure
has not always taken the form of mere requisition. Armed expeditions have been necessary and a more forcible method of
levying supplies [ e.g., goats, fowl, etc.] adopted than the law either contemplated or justifies.
The result of an expedition, which took place towards the end of 1900, was that in fourteen small villages traversed
seventeen persons disappeared. Sixteen of these whose names were given to me were killed by the soldiers, and their
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bodies recovered by their friends . . Ten persons were tied up and taken away as prisoners, but were released on payment
of sixteen goats by their friends . . .
A hospital for Europeans and an establishment designed as a native hospital are in charge of a European doctor. . . When I
visited the three mud huts which serve (as the native hospital), all of them dilapidated . . I found seventeen sleeping sickness
patients, male and female, lying about in the utmost dirt. The structures I had visited . . had endured for many years as the
only form of hospital accommodation for the numerous native staff of the district.
… Complaints as to the manner of exacting service are . . frequent . . . If the local official has to go on a sudden journey men
are summoned on the instant to paddle his canoe, and a refusal entails imprisonment or a beating. If the Government
plantation or the kitchen garden require weeding, a soldier will be sent to call in the women from some of the neighboring
towns. . .; to the women suddenly forced to leave their household tasks and to tramp off, hoe in hand, baby on back, with
possibly a hungry and angry husband at home, the task is not a welcome one.
I visited two large villages in the interior . . wherein I found that fully half the population now consisted of refugees . . I saw
and questioned several groups of these people . . . They went on to declare, when asked why they had fled (their district),
that they had endured such ill-treatment at the hands of the government soldiers in their own (district) that life had become
intolerable; that nothing had remained for them at home but to be killed for failure to bring in a certain amount of rubber or
to die from starvation or exposure in their attempts to satisfy the demands made upon them. . . . I subsequently found other
(members of the tribe) who confirmed the truth of the statements made to me.
. . . on the 25th of July (1903) we reached Lukolela, where I spent two days. This district had, when I visited it in 1887,
numbered fully 5,000 people; today the population is given, after a careful enumeration, at less than 600. The reasons given
me for their decline in numbers were similar to those furnished elsewhere, namely, sleeping-sickness, general ill-health,
insufficiency of food, and the methods employed to obtain labor from them by local officials and the exactions levied on
them.
At other villages which I visited, I found the tax to consist of baskets, which the inhabitants had to make and deliver weekly
as well as, always, a certain amount of foodstuffs. (The natives) were frequently flogged for delay or inability to complete
the tally of these baskets, or the weekly supply of food. Several men, including a Chief of one town, showed broad weals
across their buttocks, which were evidently recent. One, a lad of 15 o so, removing his cloth, showed several scars across
his thighs, which he and others around him said had formed part of a weekly payment for a recent shortage in their supply
of food.
. . . A careful investigation of the conditions of native life around (Lake Mantumba) confirmed the truth of the statements
made to me--that the great decrease in population, the dirty and ill-kept towns, and the complete absence of goats, sheep,
or fowls--once very plentiful in this country--were to be attributed above all else to the continued effort made during many
years to compel the natives to work india-rubber. Large bodies of native troops had formerly been quartered in the district,
and the punitive measures undertaken to his end had endured for a considerable period. During the course of these
operations there had been much loss of life, accompanied, I fear, by a somewhat general mutilation of the dead, as proof
that the soldiers had done their duty.
. . . Two cases (of mutilation) came to my actual notice while I was in the lake district. One, a young man, both of whose
hands had been beaten off with the butt ends of rifles against a tree; the other a young lad of 11 or 12 years of age, whose
right hand was cut off at the wrist. . . . I both these cases the Government soldiers had been accompanied by white officers
whose names were given to me. Of six natives (one a girl, three little boys, one youth, and one old woman) who had been
mutilated in this way during the rubber regime, all except one were dead at the date of my visit.
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[A sentry in the employ of one of the concessionary private companies] said he had caught and was detaining as prisoners
(eleven women) to compel their husbands to bring in the right amount of rubber required of them on the next market day. . .
. When I asked what would become of these women if their husbands failed to bring in the right quantity of rubber . . , he said
at once that then they would be kept there until their husbands had redeemed them. -- (Signed) R. Casement
Images from & about the Belgian Congo
11. Below each picture, explain these images from or about Congo.
Harm Done To Africa
o
o
o
Belgian Congo
o “(Leopold) was an Attila in modern dress, and it would have been better for the
world if he had never been born.” - An English Historian.
Stolen Land
o S. Africa,1913: Native Lands Act by the British/South African government closed 87%
of land to African ownership. The leftover land was bad and hard to farm.
o In other African countries land was also taken by force by Europeans.
Stolen Labor & Racism
o Taxes had to be paid in cash by conquered people. Only European mining jobs paid
cash
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o
o
o
This forced Africans to work for the Europeans. It was like slavery
Families were split up – men were forced to live in worker housing.
Men were not paid enough to take care of their families
Better jobs were reserved for whites
In many African countries Europeans also treated light skinned Africans better,
favoring some tribes above others in the same country.
12. Today, the continent of Africa has many countries engaged in Civil Wars, suffering
through poverty, lack of education, etc. Some of you have studied these countries in
geography. How do you think the current situation in Africa is in is connected to
imperialism?
The Decolonization of Africa (1890-1988)
13. The chart to the right shows the colonization and
decolonization of Africa. Why do you think
decolonization really began in earnest after World
War II? How could that war have motivated this
new trend? (look at it on my website to see it in
color)
The End of Apartheid in South Africa.
1960s: The UN and many other western nations started to call for an end to Apartheid in
South Africa.
1960s-1980s: There were many rebellions within South Africa calling for an end to
Apartheid. Some of them resulted in violence and many deaths.
1980s: South Africa’s economy began to suffer because many western countries refused to
trade with them while Apartheid was still in effect.
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1989: South African President F.W. de Klerk called for an end to racism, released Nelson
Mandela (a native South African who had fought for equal rights) from prison after he had
served 27 years, and officially ended Apartheid.
1994: Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black African president of South Africa.
14. Why do you think the white minority in South Africa created the Apartheid laws?
Why did they end them?
Asia
Remember, Europeans had started
setting up colonies in Asia in the 15th
century.
This map shows Asia by 1914. Look at
in on line before class. While China was
independent by 1914 – it wasn’t always.
European countries began to take over
lands in Asia, just as they had in Africa
in the 19th century.
Burma, Singapore, & Malaya
Taken over by Britain for tin, rubber,
rice, teak, timber, and oil.
Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia)
Taken over by France to protect French
missionaries, and to get rice & rubber.
The Vietnam War, fought by the USA
from 1955-1975 began with the French leaving Vietnam.
Indonesian Archipelago
The Netherlands expanded from Java to take over the entire region.
They wanted the oil, tin, tobacco, sugar, indigo, and good farm land.
The crops produced on these islands provided 25% of the Dutch economy.
India
The British East India Company established the first permanent colony in 1612
o For the next 150 yrs. They established trading posts with the permission
of the Mughal emperors.
o The Mughal Empire went into decline in the 18th c. leading to the East
India Company taking over further control of the country.
1858-194: India came under the control of the British Government, instead of
the East India Company.
o Some areas called “British India” were directly controlled by the British –
about 54% of India, including 77% of the population. Other areas, “the
Princely States” were ruled by Indian Rulers.
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Recent research indicates that a series of famines in the 19th century may have been
due to British policies. Between 6-10 million people died.
Became a “Model Colony”
o Imported manufactured goods from England – exported raw
materials. 2/3 of imports were from Britain
o It was a Model because it made Britain RICH!
Became biggest provider of tea
Indian taxes paid for Railroads to be built in India
o 1915: 35,000 miles of track
India started its own Industrial Revolution
o Cotton textile mills, coal mining, steel mills
o By WWI – over 1 million worked in factories
British Rule Influenced administration, education, political
philosophy of India
o There is still debate about the economic impact of Britain on India.
Did it cause the immense poverty seen throughout India today, or
was wealth always concentrated in the hands of an elite few?
1947: the British were forced out of India.
o
15. What benefits did European countries get from having colonies in Asia?
16. Why do you think they were reluctant to give them up even though the native
populations were agitating for them to leave in the early 1900s?
China (came to be controlled gradually by European powers due to the Opium Wars of the 19th c.)
The Opium Wars
19th c. Opium was grown in the British colony of India. Opium is a hallucinogen made of the
same chemicals that heroin is made from! It was Illegal in Britain, but used as a valuable
trade good in China. Eventually, more opium than cash flowed into
China from Britain.
1836: Opium was made illegal in China by the Qing Dynasty
1839: The Chinese begin to crack down on British traders. They
destroyed warehouses with Opium. They asked British queen Victoria
to stop the trade. And finally, they turned away British merchant
ships
1840: England sent warships to force China to allow the trade of
Opium & won. Chinese war technology was outdated when
compared to European technology at this time. The Industrial
Revolution had not come to China.
The Treaty of Nanking (to end the Opium War)
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This was the most humiliating treaty in Chinese history, and is still a source of national
shame in China.
o Hong Kong given to the British.
o The British got a right called "extraterritoriality"
 All British citizens would be subjected to British, not Chinese, law if they
committed any crime on Chinese soil.
o The British would no longer have to pay tribute to the imperial administration
o Britain gained five open ports for British trade where foreigners could live and
conduct business with extraterritoriality
o No Restrictions could be placed on British Trade. The Opium trade more than
doubled in the next 3 decades
o England got "most favored nation" status when trading with China; this clause
granted to Britain any trading rights granted to other countries.
Two years later, China, against its will, signed similar treaties with France and the United
States.
o Foreign establishments became centers of new industry, education, and publishing.
16. Think about China’s long, rich history. Why would this treaty, and what followed,
be considered the most humiliating treaty in Chinese history? Why do you think this
treaty is still a sore spot for China today?
Impact of the Opium Wars
o Opium was legalized in China, China was weakened, Other countries claimed land in
China
o Native Rebellions against the Qing Dynasty & European powers began
o The Boxer Rebellion: Chinese nationalists attacked foreigners. The weak Qing
government could not stop them. Britain and the US had to put down the
revolts. China made a Quasi-Colony of Britain.
o Growing Nationalist Movement:
o Sun Yat-Sen
 Educated in Hawaii, Christian, also educated in Hong Kong, became a doctor
 Started a two-fold revolution: against the Qing Dynasty (Manchus not native
Han Chinese, so seen as foreign), and against US, European, and Japanese
powers
 The goal was to get rid of China’s Imperial Gov’t & Foreign powers
o 1911: First revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty
 Elected a powerful military man to be the new Prime Minister, the child
emperor, Pu Yi, abdicated – imperial rule was over in China.
 The new Prime minister eventually named himself emperor, when he died –
China broke into military provinces for a decade.
o 2 strong parties emerged: Guomindang (National People’s Party) and the
Communists.
 Sun Yat-sen was looked at as a leader of both parties.
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
o
o
National People’s Party: Chaing Kai-Shek became the leader after the death
of Sun Yat-sen. Supported by the United States, but greatly weakened
during WWII
 Communist: Mao Zedong became the leader during WWII. The US opposed
Communist influence in China. “Power comes from the barrel of a gun” Mao
The two parties worked together somewhat, in World War II to defeat the Japanese,
but between 1945 and 1949 they fought a vicious civil war.
Mao Zedong emerged victorious, China became an authoritarian Communist nation,
led by Mao until his death in 1976.
18. Explain how a Nationalist movement led to the Chinese becoming Communists.
What about Communism may have appealed to the Chinese people?
A Bit about China today.
Mao Zedong closed off China to foreign countries and focused on building up the internal
economy, although he was mostly unsuccessful. Mao is regarded in China today as the savior of
the nation, even though his programs like the Great Leap Forward (industrialization/
collectivization) and The Cultural Revolution (to remove the bourgeoisie or privileged classes,
including the educated, imperial influence, and ancient Chinese culture which was steeped in
imperial tradition) were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions & the destruction of much
of China’s cultural heritage. China did not begin to really do business with the west until his
death in 1976, when his successor Deng Xiaoping opened the country to trade. However, the
Communist Chinese government still keeps tight controls over the country, and imposes
controls over foreign businesses. For example, Google was forced to block many websites from
their search engines in China even though it was against their internal policies.
19. Is China truly a Communist country today? Is their control over companies like
Google part of Communism or something else? Be sure to go back and review your
packet that introduced you to communism before you decide. Please be sure to explain
your answer!
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o
The Decolonization of Asia.
o Mostly after World War II.
o After defeating the
Japanese Empire and the
Nazi Empire, how could
Europeans justify their
own empires?
The Asian Exception – the impact of Imperialism on Japan – The Meiji Restoration
• Japan had been closed to foreigners since the 17th c. when they kicked out all European
powers except the Dutch who were allowed to trade on a single island.
• 1853: US forced Japan to open with threats of war & superior military technology.
o Extraterritoriality eventually granted
o It looked like it was going to be another China
• To stop the foreign invasion Japan took the Shogun (military
leader, like a top Feudal lord) out of power
o Emperor Meiji was restored to the throne (Japan has
only had a single dynasty throughout all of its history).
o A group of Samurai (military men) took control behind
the scenes.
o They decided to Westernize & Industrialize in order to
be seen as equals in the world.
• 1871: Japanese Ambassadors were sent to Europe, Japanese
students were sent to European schools, foreign instructors were brought to Japan
(farming, science, medicine), & Japan created a
standing army
• 1878: modern military equipment bought
o Army: German model
o Navy: British model
• Improvements to agriculture: New seed, fertilizer,
techniques introduced.
• Railway & telegraph introduced
• Industrial Revolution takes place
o Cities grow & Factory jobs grow
• Western style education for all boys & girls, Western
style clothing and hair cuts for official ceremonies
• Meat eating (Buddhists = vegetarians)
o Sukiyaki, Kobe Beef
• Rights for women (other than education) do NOT improve
• Japan became an imperial power (go back to the map that shows the Spheres of
Influence in China. Japan is one of the imperial powers!)
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o
This is the beginning of the Japanese Empire that will culminate in Japanese
expansion before World War II and end with their defeat in World War II.
20. How did Japan become an imperial power, equal in strength to western nations,
instead of being taken over like other Asian countries?
21. How did Imperialism both HELP and HARM the world? Do you think it was more
helpful or harmful?