Download Nativist Responses to Imperialism

Nativist Responses to
Imperialism
India, China, the Congo, the
Sudan, and Ethiopia
The Sepoy Rebellion
(or the First War of Indian Independence)
Starting in the late 1600’s and going for over
150 years, the British East India Company
(BEIC) was the driving force behind the
colonization of India.
The East India Company had the permission
of the Mughal emperors to build fortified
posts along the Indian coasts.
There, company agents traded for goods and
stored commodities in warehouses, until
company ships arrived to transport them to
Europe.
The Sepoy Rebellion
(or the First War of Indian Independence)
In the 17th century, company merchants
traded mostly for Indian cotton and
pepper, Chinese silks and porcelains, and
spices from the “Spice” Islands.
By the 18th century, tea and coffee
became the most prominent trade items.
After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707,
Mughal power declined as many local
Hindu authorities asserted their
independence.
The Sepoy Rebellion
The BEIC took advantage of the power
vacuum and strengthened and expanded
their trading posts.
By the 1750’s, the BEIC was beginning to
conquer parts of India (through diplomacy or
military force) and by the end of the 18th
century, they had reduced the power of the
Mughals to a small area around Delhi.
The Sepoy Rebellion
Part of the British policy of expansion was
the “doctrine of lapse,” whereby an Indian
ruler of a Rajput (small kingdom) must
produce a biological male heir to his
throne or else his territories lapsed to the
BEIC upon his death.
By the 1850’s, the BEIC controlled large
areas of India, present-day Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Burma, and Sri Lanka.
The Sepoy Rebellion
The British Raj (British India):
The Sepoy Rebellion
In order to
consolidate and
control these
holdings, 200,000
Indian soldiers (the
Sepoys) were led by
40,000 British
officers/soldiers. The
Sepoy were Hindus,
Muslims, and Sikhs.
The Sepoy Rebellion
In India, soldiers
used a newly issued
rifle that had to be
manually loaded. A
soldier had to bite off
the end of the bullet
cartridge, which was
lubricated with a
mixture of pig and
cow fat.
The Sepoy Rebellion
Pig fat is haraam (a forbidden substance) to
Muslims and beef fat was a similar problem
for Hindus. Making oral contact with these
substances was offensive and insulting to
both Muslim and Hindu Sepoy.
This has often been seen as the “last straw”
for Indians who had been the victims of
British cultural and class based oppression
and antagonism.
The Sepoy Rebellion
The growing intrusion of Western culture
became the impetus for rebellious
soldiers, fearful that their culture was
being annihilated. (Christianity, suttee,
infanticide, etc)
At the Cavalry headquarters in Meerut,
many of the Sepoy refused to use the
bullets they had been issued and they
were promptly convicted of mutiny.
The Sepoy Rebellion
The British put these soldiers in chains,
imprisoned them, sentenced them to ten
years hard labor, and stripped them of their
uniforms in public.
The Rebellion began as comrades of the
jailed Sepoy, who thought the punishment
excessively harsh, came to their rescue and
killed several British soldiers in the process.
Anti-British sentiment rapidly spread among
Sepoy regiments, especially in central and
northern India.
The Sepoy Rebellion
Many Sepoy went on a rampage, killing any
European they could find (including women
and children) and burning down their
houses.
Sepoy being hanged at Meerut.
The Sepoy Rebellion
The Sepoy were joined by Indian princes
and their followers whose territories had
been annexed by the British, and people
whose ways of life and sources of income
had been disrupted by British trade,
missionary activity, and misguided social
reform.
What started as a Sepoy rebellion became
a war of independence.
The Sepoy Rebellion
Muslims called for jihad,
and wanted the Mughal
emperor of Delhi
(Bahadur Shah)
reinstated as the ruler
of all India.
Bahadur Shah had little
authority, but since he
was descended from
the great Mughals, he
was respected.
The Sepoy Rebellion
Unfortunately for the rebels, they were
disorganized and had no central command
structure, so they were doomed to fail.
“The Sepoy Storm Delhi”
The Sepoy Rebellion
The Sikhs sided with the British because
they hated the Muslims and didn’t want to
return to Mughal rule.
As the British recaptured areas taken by
the Sepoy, they were extremely harsh,
murdering many Indian civilians in
retaliation for the losses of British
soldiers/civilians.
The Sepoy Rebellion
The British captured and
arrested Bahadur Shah,
executed his three sons
(two grandsons are
shown here), and
presented their heads to
their father the next day.
British “justice” was swift
and extremely brutal.
The Sepoy Rebellion
This was soon followed by the Siege of
Cawnpore (modern Kanpur 250 miles from
Delhi), where Sepoy soldiers rebelled and
attacked British soldiers/families of an
important British garrison.
The British (240 men and 375 women and
children) were able to hold out for three
weeks in the summer heat with little food
or water. The commanding general’s own
son was decapitated by artillery fire.
The Sepoy Rebellion
The Siege at Cawnpore (from a British print):
The Sepoy Rebellion
The British waited for help that never arrived
(the nearest garrison was 50 miles away and
also under attack).
The garrison surrendered when they were
told by the Sepoy leader they would be given
safe passage out via the Ganges River.
While boarding riverboats, the Sepoy opened
fire on the British soldiers. Those who tried
to swim for shore were caught and hacked to
death (including the garrison commander).
The Sepoy Rebellion
Four soldiers did escape the massacre. The
surviving women and children (210) were
led back to Cawnpore, to the Bibi-Ghur (the
House of the Ladies).
The Siege of Cawnpour
For two weeks, the women and children were
deprived of food and water in the July heat.
Hearing that there was an advancing British
force, the Sepoy leader panicked. He
believed the British would stop and turn
around if there were no hostages.
The Sepoy picked to murder the women and
children found the job too distasteful, so their
leader went into the local town and hired four
butchers from the local market.
The Siege of Cawnpour
The butchers hacked apart the women and
children with cleavers, hatchets, and swords
(some blades reportedly broke from
“overuse.”
In less than an hour, over 200 women and
children were murdered.
The next morning, three women and three
children (under the age of seven) were
found alive buried under the dead.
They were thrown, one by one, down a 50ft
well shaft with the bodies of the dead
thrown on top of them.
The Siege of Cawnpour
British reinforcements finally arrived (two
days later), but it was too late.
When the British retook the garrison, they
found the grisly scenes of murder at the
Bibi Ghur. They took all Sepoy captives
(whether involved in the massacre or not)
into the Bibi-Ghur and forced them to lick
the bloodstains off of the walls and floor
(each Sepoy had to lick at least 1 square
foot).
The Siege of Cawnpour
This memorial was placed above the well
of the Bibi Ghur in 1860:
The Siege of Cawnpour
Hindu Sepoy were forced to eat beef,
Muslim Sepoy pork. Muslim Sepoy were
then tied up in pigskin before being
executed.
Many inhabitants of Cawnpore who had
played no part in the violence were
summarily executed for having failed to do
anything to prevent the killings.
The Siege of Cawnpour
The British then hanged
some of the Sepoy at
Cawnpore, but to many
that seemed too easy a
death.
For those that were not
hanged, the British used
an old Mughal form of
execution for mutineers.
They were strapped to
the mouths of cannons
and blown to bits.
The End of the Sepoy Rebellion
Other rebellions broke out throughout the
country and all were eventually (and
harshly) put down by the British.
The rebellion ended in July 1858.
The end of the rebellion was followed by
the executions of nearly every Indian
combatant and several thousand civilians
believed to be supporters of the Sepoy.
Whole villages were wiped out for having
pro-rebel sympathies. The Indians called
this retaliation “The Devil’s Wind.”
The Sepoy Rebellion
The rebellion caused the British
government to officially abolish the Mughal
empire (Bahadur Shah was exiled to
Burma).
The British parliament then removed the
BEIC from control of India (through what
was known as the India Act) and power
was transferred to the British Crown under
Queen Victoria.
Aftermath
The British government directly controlled
India until after WWII (1947).
Aftermath
Under the BEIC and direct colonial
administration, British rule transformed
India.
The British cleared forests, restructured
landholdings, and encouraged the
cultivation of valuable trade crops (tea,
coffee, opium).
They built extensive railroad and telegraph
networks that linked India to the global
economy.
Aftermath
The British also constructed new harbors,
canals, and irrigation systems to support
agriculture and trade.
The British didn’t actively promote
Christianity, but they did establish Englishstyle schools for the children of Indian
elites, whom they hoped would grow to be
supporters of their rule and way of life.
China and Imperialism
In Asia, the powers of the world
nibble away at China’s edges.
From the late 1850’s through WWI,
French power was concentrated on
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
(collectively known as French
Indochina).
China and Imperialism
Britain took Burma (to protect its
interests in India).
Russia moved on northern China
(Manchuria).
Japan emerged as the only nonEuropean power as it took the Korean
peninsula away from China (1894-95)
and later Manchuria.
China and Imperialism
China remained politically and
socially independent as it was not
directly ruled by Europeans.
But China, like so many others, lost
its economic independence as it was
drawn into the European dominated
world economy.
China and Imperialism
Further away and stronger than Africa
or India, China was able to keep the
West at bay until the late 1830’s.
By the 1830’s, Europe’s desire to get
into China was unstoppable…
especially the British who were too
strong to be kept out…they wanted
new markets and more Chinese
products.
China and Imperialism
The British wanted
Chinese tea, silk,
and porcelains.
They tried to use
raw Indian cotton
as payment but the
Chinese
refused…they
wanted cash
(silver).
China and Imperialism
As the demand for
Chinese tea skyrocketed
in Britain, more and more
British sterling (silver)
headed to China.
The British were
extremely unhappy with
this unbalanced trade
situation so they looked
to reverse it.
China and Imperialism
The Qing (Ching)
maintained the Ming
policy of restricting
foreign trade.
In 1792, the British
sent a diplomatic
delegation led by Lord
Macartney to establish
better trade relations
with the Chinese.
China and Imperialism
Lord Macartney left Britain in September
1792 with an entourage of scientists,
servants, artists, guards, and translators
on a heavily armed man-o-war
accompanied by two support ships.
The support ships were loaded with 600
boxes of gifts for the 82 year old emperor
and high Chinese officials, designed to
impress and show the sophistication and
quality of British manufacturing.
China and Imperialism
The British arrived in June 1793.
The Chinese thought British goods
were crude products and merely gifts
of tribute to the emperor.
China and Imperialism
Macartney insisted on
an audience with the
emperor and was told
he would have to
perform the traditional
kowtow (touching his
head to the ground to
show respect for the
emperor).
China and Imperialism
Macartney refused, and further insulted the
Chinese by speaking of the “natural” superiority
of the British.
The negotiations went nowhere and Lord
Macartney returned to Britain without a deal.
Emperor Qianlong wrote a letter to King George
III denying Britain’s request for more trading
rights and permanent ambassadors. How does
his language express his view that China is
superior to Britain?
China and Imperialism
“As to what you have requested in your
message, O King…this does not conform to
the Celestial Empire’s ceremonial system,
and definitely cannot be done…How can
we go so far to change the regulations of
the Celestial Empire…because of the
request of one man—of you, O King?
We have never valued clever articles,
nor do we have the slightest need of your
country’s manufactures…You, O King
should simply act in conformity with our
wishes by strengthening your loyalty and
swearing perpetual obedience so as to
ensure that your country may share the
blessings of peace.”
China and Imperialism
For the 82 year old Chinese emperor,
nearing the end of his long reign (59
years), the concept of permanent
representation by a European power at the
Chinese court was inconceivable.
His letter expressed the emperor’s
continuing belief in China’s central position
in the world, and his lack of understanding
of the changes taking place in the West
during the early industrial revolution.
China and Imperialism
Macartney’s mission failed and SinoBritish relations continued to
deteriorate until the Opium War of
1839-42.
The “Opium War” will be the first
clash between China and the West.
The Opium Wars
Opium, a drug with a long
history as a pain killer,
became popular for
another reason. The
British found in opium
something the Chinese
wanted-- more like
craved –and it was
grown in their colony of
India.
The Opium Wars
The British began selling
opium to the Chinese in
exchange for silver and
goods in the late 1700’s
(about 1000 chests a
year/135 lbs each).
By 1838, Britain shipped
over 40,000 chests of
opium to China a year
(almost 5 million pounds!).
The Opium Wars
Even though China had laws
prohibiting the importation, sale, and
use of opium, the Chinese
government did little to enforce their
laws.
By the 1820’s, China was purchasing
so much opium that the flow of silver
was going back to Britain.
The Opium Wars
Chinese drug dealers were executed. Addiction
was so rampant (over 1% of the population)
that it began to affect the ability of the military
and government to conduct daily business.
As China became addicted to opium, the
Chinese bought more and more until they
practically ran out of the silver to pay for it (the
flow of silver went back to Britain).
The Opium Wars
The Chinese government wanted to stop
the opium trade but the British refused.
The British insisted on the right of “free
trade.”
The Opium Wars
In 1839, the Chinese
government blockaded
the port of Canton
hoping to force the
British opium traders to
hand over their opium.
The leading English
opium trader was
arrested and 20,000
chests of opium were
confiscated.
The Opium Wars
A group of Chinese men were able to
board a British ship and toss its opium
into the harbor (sound familiar?)
Confiscated opium was mixed with
salt, lime, and water and flushed into
the sea.
What do you think the British response
was?
The Opium Wars
The British responded with
force by declaring war on
the Chinese (to protect
British “interests”). China
was no match for British
firepower as Britain flexed its
new industrial might.
Outdated Chinese weapons
were quickly rendered
useless.
The Opium Wars
British troops landed in southern China
and quickly captured five key port cities
and destroyed several Chinese forts.
In 1842 the British made the Chinese
accept the Treaty of Nanjing which
forced China to open its markets to
European commerce. Christian
missionaries were also permitted to
preach in China.
The Opium Wars
The treaty also gave the British five
coastal ports (the most famous was Hong
Kong).
The flow of opium to China continued.
The Chinese even had to pay the British a
huge indemnity (payment for losses in the
war).
Europeans lived in their own separate
sections of these five port cities and were
not subject to Chinese law
(extraterritoriality).
China under the Manchu
After their crushing
defeat to the British in
the Opium War, the
Manchu’s (or Qing)
tried to westernize by
trying to modernize
their army and by
trying to develop an
industrial base
(railroads, armaments,
shipbuilding, etc).
China under the Manchu
The Manchu were weak and getting weaker.
European traders and missionaries made
inroads for the West.
This interaction with the West, creating both
major economic and cultural pressure on
China, helped create a mass movement
called the Taiping Rebellion (“Heavenly
Kingdom of Peace”) 1850-1864.
China under the Manchu
This pressure was compounded by
widespread poverty, an extravagant royal
court, widespread official corruption, and
tax evasion of the rich.
China under the Manchu
The leaders of the
rebellion promoted
“radical” ideas like
community property
and the equality of
women.
They also wanted
to end the Manchu
dynasty.
China under the Manchu
Hong Xiuquan,
leader of the
Taiping
Rebellion (he
proclaimed he
was the brother
of Jesus).
China under the Manchu
By the mid-1850’s the Taiping controlled
half of China.
The Manchu asked the British and French
militaries for aid in exchange for greater
influence.
China under the Manchu
The Taiping Rebellion (actually it was a
civil war) became the most devastating
peasant revolt in history.
It has been estimated that between 20-30
million died (compared to 625,000 in the
American Civil War).
When the rebellion was finally crushed,
the Manchu were still weak and Western
powers had virtually unlimited access to
China.
China under the Manchu
Several nations developed spheres of
influence (exclusive trading or
mineral rights to a region) in China.
Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and
Japan all had spheres of influence in
China, where they paid a regional
warlord for the rights to his province.
China under the Manchu
China was even forced to lease these
powers land to build naval bases to protect
their “spheres.”
In 1894, the Chinese were crushed by the
Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War.
Japan now controlled the Korean Peninsula
and the Island of Taiwan.
China under the Manchu
This war, and the
European
spheres of
influence, has
often been
referred to
“carving up the
Chinese melon.”
China under the Manchu
China under the Manchu
These spheres of interest involved holding
leases for all railway and commercial
privileges in various regions.
The Russians got Port Arthur, the British got
the New Territories around Hong Kong, the
Germans got a leasehold in Shantung, and
the Americans got nothing.
Concentrating largely on the Philippines and
Guam, the Americans had missed the
Chinese boat and so insisted on an "open
door" policy in China
China under the Manchu
The American response to
spheres of influence was
Secretary of State John
Hay’s “Open Door Policy”
(1899).
Hay, who began his career
as Lincoln’s personal
secretary, insisted that the
United States receive the
same commercial rights as
the other foreign powers. It
demanded equal access for
all nations to trade in China.
China under the Manchu
The “Open Door Policy” was meant to
prevent foreign powers from carving China
into colonies.
The “Policy” was sent to the diplomatic
missions of Britain, France, Germany,
Russia, and Japan but Secretary Hay never
received a formal response.
He took that to mean that everyone accepted
his proposal.
The Boxer Rebellion
In reality, the Open Door Policy was an
attempt by the United States to get in on
the Chinese market before it was totally
used up by the European powers.
Chinese frustration with the West
exploded in 1900 in what became known
as the Boxer Rebellion.
The Boxer Rebellion
The influx of foreigners
and foreign ways gave
rise to a nativist group
called the Society of
the Righteous and
Harmonious Fists…
they were commonly
called the Boxers.
The boxing stance was
thought to protect them
from Western bullets.
The Boxer Rebellion
A Boxer, ca.1900
Yu-Hsien, the
Viceroy for the Province of
Shansi (known as the
“Butcher of Shansi”)
The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxers looked to kill all foreigners
and Chinese Christians.
The goal of the Boxers was to rid China of
the “foreign devils” who were polluting the
land with their un-Chinese ways (clothes,
hairstyles, food, etc), strange buildings,
machines (like the railroad), and telegraph
lines.
The Boxer Rebellion
This is an orthodox
These are examples of
icon of Chinese
traditional weapons used
Christian martyrs from
by the Boxers.
the Boxer Rebellion.
The Boxer Rebellion
This English Baptist missionary and his family
were killed by the Boxers in 1900.
The Boxer Rebellion
The home of an English missionary destroyed
by the Boxers in 1900.
The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxers were
aided by a group of
young women known
as the Red Lantern,
so called because
they carried red
handkerchiefs and
lanterns and were
believed to have
supernatural powers
to stop foreign bullets.
The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxers were
secretly favored by
Manchu officials and
the court of the
Empress Cixi who
hoped to use them to
rid the country of
foreigners. The
Empress even
declared war on the
foreign powers.
The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxers moved through north-eastern
China, attacking foreigners and killing
more than 250 missionaries, thousands of
Chinese Christians, and a German
embassy official.
The Boxers derailed railroads, cut
telegraph lines, and attacked anything
foreign.
After foreign powers captured several
Chinese forts, Cixi declared war on the
foreigners.
The Boxer Rebellion
The Chinese gave foreign diplomats 24
hours to get out (safely)…the Europeans
refused to leave.
The Chinese then besieged foreign
diplomats and their families living in the
diplomatic compound of Peking (Beijing).
After several weeks of siege the diplomats
were nearly out of food and on the verge
of annihilation.
The Boxer Rebellion
The “Foreign Pig is Put to Death”
The Boxer Rebellion
An international military force of 20,000 troops
(2,500 American) came in and crushed the Boxers.
The Boxers got pwnd like n00bs (or nub nubs).
The Boxer Rebellion
Humiliated, the Chinese government was
forced to pay the western powers for all
damages. The Manchu government became
even shakier and revolution was in the air.
The multinational force that put down the
Boxer Rebellion was composed of troops from
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, AustriaHungary, Russia, Japan, and the United
States. The indemnity the Chinese were
forced to pay these nations amounted to
$333.0 million (paid over 39 years).
The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion
Of that sum, $24.5 million was to go to
United States.
When the U.S. government realized that
this was far more than the expense for its
troops and the damages caused from the
fighting, it reimbursed the Chinese
government $18.0 million.
The Chinese government was so grateful,
Sino-American relations became very
close.
The Boxer Rebellion
The money was set aside to build a
university in Peking (Beijing) and to send
students to study in the United States.
These students would eventually help to
bring Western ideas to China.
The Boxer Rebellion
As a result of the Boxer Rebellion,
China was forced to allow foreign
troops to be stationed on her soil and
to allow foreign naval vessels to
patrol Chinese rivers and coastal
waters.
Before the Boxer Rebellion, the
Empress Cixi (Tz’u-hsi) had resisted
Western influences and change.
Now China was forced to change.
The Boxer Rebellion
Changes came in education,
government administration, and the
law.
An education system, based on the
Western model was established.
Even a regional, ELECTED assembly
was established in 1905. Elections
for a national assembly took place in
1910.
The Collapse of the Old Order
These reforms were not
enough to stem the mounting
discontentment with the
Manchu dynasty. Its days
were numbered.
When the Empress Cixi
(Tz’u-hsi) died in 1908, she
had named a two year-old
prince to become emperor.
Henry Puyi (P’u-yi) became
known as the “last emperor.”
A New China
In 1911, revolutionaries led
by American educated
Dr. Sun Yat-sen overthrew
the Manchu and declared
China to be a republic.
Over 2,000 years of
dynastic rule in China was
over.
A New China
Unfortunately, Sun Yat-sen did not
have the backing of the army and a
civil war ensued.
Sun Yat-sen fled the country but
returned seven years later as the
leader of the “new” China.
A New China
Dr. Yat-sen promoted the ideas
of liberalism, and pushed for a
nationally elected president, a
publicly elected parliament, and
a constitution.
These ideas were new to China.
He also promoted equalizing
land ownership (something not
done until the Communists
much later).
A New China
From before WWI and into the 1920’s,
there was a growing acceptance of
Western culture, especially among the
growing urban (and increasingly educated)
middle class.
A New China
Western hairstyles, western clothes,
western novels, western art, western
music, etc all became very popular with
the growing middle class.
A New China
Traditional Confucian ideals declined
in influence throughout the first
quarter of the 20th century.
But China remained relatively weak
until after World War II.
A New China
Westernization positively affected the Chinese
economy in three ways:
1). The West introduced modern production methods
(the factory system), transportation, and
communications.
2). The West created an expanded Chinese export
economy.
3). The West re-integrated China into the world
economic system.
Unfortunately, the downside was local Chinese
industry was often destroyed and most profits went
overseas.
The Congo
The Congo
The “Scramble for Africa” began with
Belgium’s King Leopold II arranging
treaties with African leaders along the
Congo River basin.
Publicly Leopold spoke of a “civilizing
mission” to carry the light “that for millions
of men still plunged in barbarism will be
the dawn of a better era.”
The Congo
Privately, he wanted
conquest and profit.
Soon, Britain, France,
and Germany were
pressing rival claims to
the region.
This was the backdrop
to the Berlin Conference
(1884).
The Congo
•Not one African nation was asked to
participate in the Conference.
•The European rush to carve up Africa was on,
and by World War I (30 years later), nearly the
entire continent was under European control.
The Congo
Leopold and other wealthy Belgians
exploited the natural wealth of the region,
especially copper, rubber, and ivory.
Head and hut taxes were imposed that could
be paid only in ivory, palm nuts, or wages
earned working on European estates.
Forced to work for almost nothing, laborers
were savagely beaten or mutilated for
disobeying.
The Congo
The rubber came from wild vines in the
jungle, unlike the rubber from Brazil, which
was tapped from trees.
To extract the rubber, instead of tapping
the vines, the natives would slash them
and lather their bodies with the rubber
latex. When the latex hardened, it would
be scraped off the skin in a painful
manner, as it took off the natives' hair with
it. (Ouch!)
The Congo
The Force Publique (FP) was called in to
enforce the rubber quotas. The FP was an
army, but its aim was not to defend the
country, but to terrorize the local population.
Armed with modern weapons and the
chicotte— a bull whip made of
hippopotamus hide — the Force Publique
routinely took and tortured hostages (mostly
women), flogged, and raped the natives.
The Congo
The Force Publique
also burned villages,
and above all, took
human hands as
trophies on the orders
of Belgian officers to
show that bullets hadn't
been wasted.
A typical punishment
for the Africans was
mutilation.
Belgian soldiers and sentries
often chopped off the hands
and feet of men, women and
children as warnings and
reminders to others. Pictured
here is a young girl mutilated
by Belgian sentries.
Punishing one's loved ones
was a common Belgian
practice. Thus the price of not
"working rubber" may be the
life or safety of one's relatives,
spouse, or children.
The Congo
Native workers
(or family
members of
workers) who
failed to meet
the rubber
quotas.
The Congo
“In the Rubber
Coils” is a famous
political cartoon
about what was
happening in the
Congo.
What message
does the cartoon
convey to you?
The Congo
It is blood-curdling to see them (the soldiers)
returning with the hands of the slain, and to find
the hands of young children amongst the bigger
ones evidencing their bravery...The rubber from
this district has cost hundreds of lives, and the
scenes I have witnessed, while unable to help the
oppressed, have been almost enough to make me
wish I were dead... This rubber traffic is steeped in
blood, and if the natives were to rise and sweep
every white person on the Upper Congo into
eternity, there would still be left a fearful balance
to their credit.
Belgian Official
The Congo
Stories (and pictures) of atrocities
forced Leopold to turn over his
personal colony to the Belgian
government (becoming the Belgian
Congo in 1908).
Even though the worst abuses were
stopped, the Congo continued to be
considered a possession of Belgium,
to be exploited.
The Congo
Africans were given little or no role in
their government, and the wealth of
their country went to Europe.
It is believed that more than half of all
natives of the Congo died under the
rule of the “civilized” Europeans.
The Belgian Congo didn’t gain
independence until1960.
As Egypt fell under
British control during
the latter part of the
19th century, they (the
British) were drawn
into conflicts with
Egypt’s southern
neighbor, Sudan.
Egypt had tried to
control Sudan since
the 1820’s, and the
Sudanese resisted
fiercely.
The Sudan
By the late 1870’s,
Egyptian oppression and
British intervention had
aroused deep resentment
and hostility in Sudan.
A Sudanese leader arose,
known as the Mahdi, who
claimed to be a
descendant of the
Muhammad (he even had
a mole on his right cheek
and a cleft between his
teeth).
The Sudan
The Sudan
The Mahdi called for jihad as he promised to
rid the land of the Egyptian heretics and the
British infidels.
He led his followers on violent assaults
(usually using guerrilla tactics) on the
Egyptians and British.
Within a few years, his forces controlled most
of Sudan.
But at the peak of his power, he caught
typhus and died.
The Sudan
But rather than collapse after his death,
his followers continued to build a strong
Islamic state.
They outlawed smoking, alcoholic drink,
dancing, prostitution, theft and adultery.
Islamic religious and ritual practices were
strictly enforced.
The Sudan
In late 1896, the British, tired of this activity,
sent an expeditionary force into Sudan to do
battle with the Mahdis and to end the most
serious threat to European domination of
Africa.
At the Battle of
Omdurman (1898),
the spears and magic
garments of the
Mahdis were no
match for the artillery
and Maxim guns of
the British.
More than 11,000
Sudanese Mahdis
were killed compared
to less than 50 British
soldiers. Sudan fell.
The Sudan
Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia was one of two
African states able to
resist colonization.
Surrounded by French,
British, and Italian
colonies, the Ethiopian
emperor Menelik II
attempted to play off all
the European states
against one another.
Ethiopia
He offered territorial concessions to each
in return for modern weapons.
In 1896 Italy launched an invasion of
Ethiopia.
Outnumbered and facing an African army
equipped with modern arms, the Italians
were defeated and forced to recognize
Ethiopia as a sovereign state.
Ethiopia was the only African state to
successfully defend itself against
European colonizers.