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World Politics in a New Era
Imperialism and Its Victims
Origins of Imperialism
• Definition of imperialism
• Three foundations of European imperialism
– The search for trade routes to Asia
– Strengthening the European home country
– European superiority in technology (Example:
Seafaring)
• Some emphasized territorial conquest,
whereas others concentrated on control of
trade routes
Spain and Portugal:
Dividing the World
• Avoid conflict over their competing expansion
• Spain and Portugal established an imaginary
line in 1494
• The Treaty of Tordesillas
– Spain was granted possession of all lands to the west of
this line
– Portugal was granted all the lands to the east
– Spain had authority in the New World except Brazil
– Portugal gained supremacy over Africa and the Indian
Ocean
Spanish Colonial Administration
• Emphasized the acquisition of territory
• Aided by a number of factors
– Gunpowder and muskets
– Native Americans had less immunity to diseases
– Foreign intervention was often welcome by the
people
• Large bureaucracy in the Spanish territories
Portuguese Colonialism
• Based on trade
• Content to establish trading ports
• In Brazil, the Portuguese turned to growing
sugarcane
– Large plantations
– African slaves were imported to compensate for
the lack of indigenous labor
Independence from Spain and
Portugal
• Spain
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The Napoleonic Wars
Proscription on free trade
Independence encouraged by Great Britain
Fight for independence: 1810 through 1825
Simon Bolivar
• Portugal
– Brazil gained its independence with relatively little conflict
– Colonies in Africa would wait until the 1970s
Dutch Empire
• Founding of the Dutch East India Company—
1602
• Controlling key strategic trading ports, straits,
and coasts
• Spices of the Dutch East Indies
• Tea plantations on the island of Ceylon
• Impact of the Napoleonic Wars
• Lost the Dutch East Indies during World War II
but retained some Caribbean islands
Anglo-French Rivalry
• Principal colonial competition for most of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
• Different strengths and weaknesses
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The British Isles made foreign invasion unlikely
British trade for raw materials and food
France had to devote large resources to its standing army
France was more inward-looking in economic matters
British population pressures encouraged emigration
Britain had consistent advantages over France
France’s Bid for Empire
• Areas in North America, the western half of
Hispaniola, and other Caribbean islands
• Established trading posts in the Indian Ocean
• Never attracted a great number of French
settlers
• Early empire collapsed as a result of the
Seven Years’ War
• France rebuilt an empire after the Napoleonic
Wars in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific
France’s Bid for Empire
• Saw role as bringing culture and civilization to
backwards people
• Decolonization was a particularly difficult
ordeal for the French empire
• Precipitated by the disastrous results for
France in World War II
• Only a few Caribbean and Pacific islands
remain “overseas departments” today
British Empire
• Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries
• Jamestown, Virginia (1607)
• Additional colonies in North America and the Caribbean
• English hegemony in North America lasted only a few years
• Nineteenth and twentieth centuries
– Burma and Malaya; Australia and New Zealand
– Self-government in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
– Britain used its superior naval and strategic resources to secure
the proverbial “lion’s share”
– The Boer War (1899-1902)
– By the eve of World War I, the “sun never set” on the British
empire
Twilight of the British Empire
• The world wars
– Independence by Ireland, Arab states, India,
Burma, Ceylon, and Israel
• In Africa, most colonies gained independence
in the mid-1950s and early 1960s
– Followed by most of the Caribbean and South
Pacific island territories over the next decade
• Decolonization was generally peacefully
achieved
The Russians
• Relentless expansion (Sixteenth and
Seventeenth centuries)
– East across Siberia and toward the Baltic Sea
– Trade and contact with Europe remained limited
• The reign of Alexander I (1801-1825)
• Influence peaked during the Cold War
– Massive military spending
– Continued inability to compete
• The Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991
– Collapse was rapid but mostly peaceful
The United States
• Expanded westward through North America in
the nineteenth century
• In 1898 entered the ranks of the overseas
imperialist powers
– Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam, and
other Pacific islands
– Major power in the Pacific
• Informal control
• “Friendly” governments in Third World
countries often led to disaster
Ottoman Empire
• Major force for more than 500 years
• Fourteenth through eighteenth centuries
– Conquered Constantinople, the rest of Turkey, Greece, parts of
Albania, and the Balkans (See Map 5.3)
– Neutralized Persia and conquered most of the Middle East
– Consolidated the claim to be the protector and benefactor of Islam
– Brought economic gains
• Nineteenth and twentieth centuries
– Increasingly came under attack from Russia and Austria
– The “sick man of Europe” deteriorated
– Chaos sparked World War I and the end of the Ottoman Empire
German and Japanese Empires
• Produced numerous bloody wars between
1860 and 1945
• Neither was effective in creating permanent
structures
• Consequence of defeat by other countries
Decline of Imperialism
• Most empires were unable to survive the two
World Wars
– Fragmenting pressure from the peoples subjected
to their rule
– Costs of long-distance administration
– cCompetition from each other
– Nationalism and political sovereignty
• Empire became politically incorrect
Social Impact
• Two forms of colonialism
– Settler colonialism
• Examples: North America, the Caribbean, Australia
– Elite colonialism
• Example: South Asia
• Role of geography and climate
• East Asia avoided direct colonial rule
– Japan
– China
Economic Consequences
• Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific
– North America: furs, timber, fish, tobacco, and cotton
– South America: gold, silver, corn, and potatoes
– Africa: slaves, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, tea, cotton, ivory,
tropical hardwoods, copper, and gold
– Australia and New Zealand: sheep and dairy
• In Asia, the purpose was to control overseas
trade routes
• Create a degree of political and economic
predictability
Cultural and Ideological Impact
• Colonialism and culture
– Traditions of rule of law, private property, and
individual rights
– Divide and conquer in areas of elite colonialism
– Creation of countries in Africa and parts of Asia
that made little if any political sense
• Colonialism and ideology
– European notions of liberty and democracy
– Anticolonialism