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Chapter 24
Africa, India, and the New British Empire, 17501870
New Africa States
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When a serious drought hit southern
Africa at the beginning of the 19th
century, conflict for grazing and farming
lands led to Shaka creating the Zulu
kingdom
Strict military drills and close-combat
warfare using shields and spears made
them the most powerful and most feared
fighters in southern Africa
New Africa States

Shaka expanded his kingdom by
raiding his African neighbors,
seizing their cattle, and capturing
their women and children
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To protect themselves from the
Zulu, some neighboring Africans
created their own states
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He only ruled for a little more than a
decade but was successful in
creating a new national identity as
well as a new kingdom
New Africa States
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Meanwhile, Islamic reform movements were creating another
cluster of powerful states in the savannas of West Africa
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Islam had been present in this region for centuries, but it had made
slow progress among most rural people
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Most Muslim rulers were tolerant of the older religious practices of
their rural subjects
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They condemned the accommodations Muslim rulers had made with
older traditions and called for a forcible conquest of rural “pagans”
Led to a jihad that added new lands where governments enforced
Islamic laws and promoted the religion’s spread among conquered
people
New Africa States
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The largest of these reform movements occurred in the Hausa states
(in what is now northern Nigeria) and led to the establishment of the
Sokoto Caliphate
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These new states became centers of Islamic learning and reform
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Sokoto and other Muslim states used and sold slaves
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By 1865 there were more slaves in the Sokoto Caliphate than in any
remaining slaveholding state in the Americas
Most of the enslaved raised food
Modernization in Egypt and Ethiopia
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While new states were arising elsewhere, Egypt and Ethiopia in
northeastern Africa were undergoing growth and modernization

Napoleon’s invading army withdrew from Egypt by 1801 but the
shock of this display of European strength and Egyptian weakness
was long-lasting

Bonaparte wanted to seek to protect French trade interests and undermine
British access to India. Egypt at that time was a province of the Ottoman
Empire
Modernization in Egypt and Ethiopia

The successor to Napoleon’s rule was
Muhammad Ali
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Aim was to give Egypt sufficient military
strength to prevent another European conquest
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He began the political, social, and economic
reforms that created modern Egypt
Paid for this by requiring Egyptian peasants to
cultivate cotton and other crops for export
By the end of his reign in 1848, the
modernization of Egypt was well underway

Population had doubled; trade with Europe
had expanded by almost 600%; new class of
educated Egyptians began to replace the old
ruling aristocracy
Modernization in Egypt and Ethiopia
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Ali’s grandson Ismail placed even more
emphasis on westernizing Egypt

“My country is no longer in Africa, it is in
Europe”
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By 1870 Egypt had a network of new
irrigation canals, 800 miles of railroad, a
modern postal service, and the new capital
city of Cairo

All of these projects left Egypt in debt to
France and England when the market for
Egyptian cotton collapsed after the American
Civil War
Modernization in Egypt and Ethiopia

Ethiopian kings reconquered lands lost since the 16th century,
purchased modern weapons from European sources and began to
manufacture weapons locally

Attempted to coerce more technical aid by holding some British
officials captives but that idea backfired and led to a brief British
invasion
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When the British withdrew Ethiopian emperors kept up the program
of reform and modernization
European Penetration
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France was in debt to Algeria after the North African state had
provided it with grain and olive oil
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Failure to repay this debt led to many disputes between Algeria and
France and led to a severing of diplomatic relations in 1827
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The French government thought they would be able to stir French
nationalism by achieving an easy overseas victory and attacked
Algeria

It took the French eighteen years to defeat Algerian resistance and another
thirty years to defeat resistance forces in the mountains. By 1871 130,000
European settlers had taken possession of rich Algerian farmland.
European Penetration
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Meanwhile, more peaceful European intrusions were taking place as
small expeditions of explorers sought to uncover the mysteries of
inner Africa

Wanted to…
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learn more about the course of Africa’s rivers
assess Africa’s mineral wealth
convert millions of Africans to Christianity
Interestingly, most of these explorers were able to move through
Africa without being bothered and frequently received warm
hospitality
Abolition and Legitimate Trade
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Following slave revolts like the one in Saint Dominique,
humanitarians and religious reformers called for an end to the trade
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It was widely believed that African-born slaves were more likely to
rebel than those born into slavery. This led to support for abolition
of the slave trade even amongst those wanting to preserve slavery
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In 1808 both Great Britain and the U.S. made carrying and
importing slaves from Africa illegal for their citizens
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Once the greatest slave traders, the British became the most aggressive
abolitionists spending millions on enforcing the end of the slave trade
Abolition and Legitimate Trade

Africans had become dependent on the cloth, metals, and other
goods brought by the Europeans during the slave trade
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To continue receiving these items, Africans expanded their
“legitimate trade”
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They revived old exports or developed new ones as the slave trade was
shut down. The most successful was palm oil from West Africa
Another effect of the suppression of the slave trade was the spread of
Western cultural influences in West Africa
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British established Sierra Leone as a base for their anti-slave-trade
naval squadron. Missionaries converted these recaptives and set up
churches and schools
Freed black slaves from America returned to Africa and spread western
culture throughout
Secondary Empires in Eastern Africa
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When British patrols hampered the slave trade in West Africa,
slavers moved southward and then around the tip of southern Africa
to eastern Africa
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There the Atlantic slave trade joined an existing trade in slaves to the
Islamic world
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“Secondary empires”
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Europeans supplied the weapons and were major consumers of ivory
and cloves that led to the building of trading empires throughout inland
Africa
Egypt’s expansion southward can also be considered a “secondary
empire.” The reason for Ali’s invasion was to secure slaves for his
army
India Under British Rule

The people of South Asia felt the impact of European commercial,
cultural, and colonial expansion more immediately and profoundly
than did the people of Africa.
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While Europeans were laying claim to only small parts of Africa between 1750 and
1870, nearly all of India came under Britain’s direct or indirect rule.
During the 200 years after the founding of the East India Company, Britain’s interests
commandeered the colonies and trade of the Dutch, fought off French and Indian
challenges, and picked up the pieces of the decaying Mughal Empire.
By 1763 the French were no longer a problem; in 1795 the Dutch East India Company
dissolved; and in 1858 the last Mughal emperor was dethroned….
… Leaving the vast subcontinent in British hands
India Under British Rule:
Company Men
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As Mughal power weakened in the 18th century, Europeans were not
the first outsiders to make a move
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Iranian armies defeated the Mughal forces and sacked Delhi
Indian states also took advantage of Mughal weakness to assert their
independence.
British, Dutch, and French companies were also eager to expand
their profitable trade into India in the 18th century
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Success depended on “company men,” who used hard bargaining, and hard
fighting when necessary, to persuade Indian rulers to allow them to establish
trading posts at strategic points along the coast
Hired sepoys, Indian troops, to protect their warehouses from attack
India Under British Rule:
Company Men
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In 1691 the East India Company had convinced the nawab of the
large state of Bengal in northeast India to let the company establish
itself at the fishing port of Calcutta
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When a new nawab took over it wanted to claim additional tributes from the
port
The new nawab overran the port and imprisoned a group of EIC men in a cell
so small that many died of suffocation
To avenge their deaths, a large EIC force overthrew the nawab.
This led to the weak Mughal emperor to be persuaded to acknowledge the
EIC’s right to rule Bengal
India Under British Rule:
Raj and Rebellion, 1818 - 1857
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In 1818 the EIC controlled an empire with more people than in all of
western Europe and 50 times the population of the colonies the British had
lost in North America
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The British raj (reign) over India aimed both to introduce administrative
and social reform and to hold the support of Indian allies by respecting
Indian social and religious customs.
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These contradictory goals led to many inconsistencies in British policies
toward India.
India Under British Rule:
Raj and Rebellion, 1818 - 1857
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British goals for India
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Create a powerful and efficient system of government
Disarm approximately 2 million warriors who had served India’s many states
and turn them to civilian tasks, mostly cultivation
Give freer reign to Christian missionaries eager to convert India’s masses
Establish a private land ownership system to ease tax collection
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At the same time, the British bolstered the “traditional” power of princes
and holy men and invented “traditional” rituals to celebrate their own rule.
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British political and economic influence benefited Indian elites and created
jobs in some sectors while bringing new oppression to the poor and causing
the collapse of the traditional textile industry.
India Under British Rule:
Raj and Rebellion, 1818 - 1857
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Displaced ruling elites, disgruntled religious traditionalists and others
staged local rebellions throughout the first half of the 19th century.
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The British were most concerned with the 200,000 sepoys employed in the EIC’s army.
Armed with the latest rifles and disciplined in fighting methods, the sepoys had a
potential for successful rebellion that other groups lacked
Continuing discontent amongst the Hindu sepoys grew into rebellion in
May 1857. Muslim sepoys, peasants, and discontented elites joined in.
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Known as the Sepoy Rebellion
India Under British Rule:
Political Reform and Industrial Impact
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The rebellion was a turning point in the history of modern India
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In its wake, Indians gained a new centralized government, entered a period
of rapid economic growth, and began to develop a new national
consciousness.
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In 1858 Britain eliminated the last traces of Mughal and EIC rule.
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In their place, India would be ruled by London with a government-general in
Delhi acting as the British monarch’s viceroy.
British rule continued to emphasize both tradition and reform after 1857
India Under British Rule:
Political Reform and Industrial Impact
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Indian Civil Service
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Powerful and efficient bureaucracy that controlled the Indian masses
Recruitment to the ICS was by open examinations
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A second transformation of India after 1857 resulted from
involvement with industrial Britain
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Only offered in England so in practice the system worked to exclude Indians
Qualified Indians were denied entry into the upper administration of their country because of
the British racism felt by most British officials
British government expanded the production and export of agricultural
commodities and built irrigation systems, railroads, and telegraph lines.
Freer movement of Indians and the movement of poor Indians into
the cities promoted the spread of cholera
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Disease transmitted through water contaminated by human feces
India Under British Rule:
Rising Indian Nationalism
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Many Indians were upset at not being able to overthrow British rule
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Some reformers sought to…
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Some Indians began to argue that the only way for Indians to regain control of their
destiny was to reduce the country’s social and ethnic divisions and promote Pan-Indian
nationalism (meaning that all Indians would work together towards a common goal)
Reconcile the values they found in the West with the ancient religious traditions of India
They supported efforts to reform Hindu customs, including restrictions on widows and
practice of child marriage
Advocated reforming the caste system, encourage a monotheistic form of Hinduism, and
urged a return to the founding principles of the Upanishads (ancient sacred writings fo
Hinduism)
Remember sati???... It was outlawed in 1829 and slavery was outlawed in
1843. Prohibitions against widows remarrying were revoked in 1856 and
female infanticide was made a crime in 1870
India Under British Rule:
Rising Indian Nationalism
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After 1857, Indian intellectuals tended to turn toward Western secular
values and western nationalism as a way of developing a Pan-Indian
nationalism that would transcend regional and religious differences.
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Indian middle class nationalists convened the first Indian National Congress
in 1885. The Congress promoted national unity and argued for greater
inclusion of Indians in the Civil Service, but it was an elite organization
with little support from the masses.
Britain’s Eastern Empire
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In 1750 Britain’s empire was centered on slave-based plantation and settler
colonies in the Americas. A century later its main focus was on
commercial networks and colonies in the East.
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In 1750 the French and Dutch were also serious contenders for global
dominion. A century later they had been eclipsed by the British.
Britain’s Eastern Empire:
Colonies and Commerce