Chapter 32

The Building of Global Empires

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The Idea of Imperialism

What does the term mean? Term dates from nineteenth

century In popular discourse by

1880s Military imperialism of late

19th-century Later, economic and cultural

varieties U.S. imperialism

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Motivations for Imperialism

Military Conquest to bolster national prestige

Domestic Politics Overseas conquests take focus off domestic problems

Economic European capitalism: hope that expansion would help to ease a

nation’s economic health through global cycles of boom and bust Religious Demographic

Ease urban overcrowding Shipping criminal populations and dissident populations overseas

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Economic Exploitation

Exploitation of natural resources: diamonds in gold in sub-Saharan Africa; rubber in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia; bananas and coffee in Latin America

Exploitation of cheap labor: Contracted laborers known as “coolies” sent to colonies as cheap agricultural labor to replace slaves

Expansion of markets: Colonies supposedly new markets for mother country’s manufactured goods The extent that this happened was limited; the colonized

rarely had enough money to buy these goods.

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Geopolitical Considerations

Strategic footholds Waterways: Panama and Suez Canals; city of Singapore

founded to control key strait between Indian and Pacific Oceans Supply Stations: Cape Town in South Africa used as a way

station for ships on their way to India and the East Indies; Hawaiian Islands serve as base for U.S. naval presence in the Pacific.

Imperial Rivalries: territory seized to check the power of nearby areas controlled by imperial rivals across the globe: German Southwest Africa and East Africa were territories taken in the 1880s to counter British presence in South Africa

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The “White Man’s Burden”

Rudyard Kipling (1864-1936) 1899 Poem excerpt:Take up the White Man's burden--

Send forth the best ye breed--Go bind your sons to exileTo serve your captives' need;To wait in heavy harness,On fluttered folk and wild--Your new-caught, sullen peoples,Half-devil and half-child.

French: mission civilisatrice

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The “White Man’s Burden”

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French propaganda poster from the late 1800s

Domestic Political Considerations

Crises of industrialism and growing class consciousess

Global capitalist crashes in the 1870s and 1890s Pressure from nascent socialist movements, such

as in Germany Imperial policies distract proletariat from

domestic politics Cecil Rhodes: imperialism alternative to civil war

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Technology and Imperialism

Transportation Steamships: Quick transport of personnel and goods Railroads: Allow quick deployment of troops to quell

uprisings Infrastructure

Suez Canal (1859-1869) Panama Canal (1904-1914) Both waterways strategically important to respective

empires (British & American)

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Weaponry

Mid-century: breech-loading rifles Reduce reloading time

1880s: Refinement of the machine gun Maxim Gun: American-born

Hiram Maxim invents a gun that can fire 11 rounds per second for the British

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Maxim Gun; England, 1884

Repeating breech-loading rifle; U.S., 1850s – 1860s

Old muzzle-loading muskets take a long timeto reload between each shot.

The Military Advantage

Battle of Omdurman (near Khartoum on Nile), 1898 Five hours of fighting British: six gunboats,

twenty machine guns British force lost a few

hundred men; thousands of Sudanese killed

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Communications

Correspondence 1830 Britain-India: A letter could take two years After Suez Canal: A letter would arrive in two weeks

Telegraph Experiments with submarine cables begin in 1850s Britain-to-India cables are connected in 1870; it then

takes five hours for a message to make its way from London to Calcutta by relays

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British Empire in India

East India Company founded in 1600 Obtains a monopoly on India trade Originally needed permission from the Mughal

emperors to trade The Mughal empire begins to declines after death

of Aurangzeb in 1707 The company begins to assert its own power with

a private army and government

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British Conquest

East India Company: Protects its economic interests through political and military conquest

“Doctrine of lapse”: Between 1848and 1856, any Indian princely statewould be annexed by the companyif its ruler died without a heir orwas judged incompetent.

British use Indian mercenaries who become known assepoys; they are paid poorly and treated poorly

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Sepoy Revolt, 1857

Newly issued rifles had cartridges in wax paper greased with animal fat Problem for Hindus: beef Problem for Muslims: pork

Small-scale rebellion ignites a general anti-British revolution

Company loses control of much of its holdings, but British troops at gain upper hand in late 1857

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British Imperial Rule

In response to the rebellion, Britain: Abolishes Mughal empire Exiles emperor to Burma Abolishes the East India Company Establishes direct rule of India by British government Queen Victoria adds “Empress of India” to her many

titles

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British Imperial Rule

17Queen Victoria, Empress of India, in 1887

British Rule in India

Organization of agriculture Cash Crops: Tea, coffee, opium

replace sustenance crops, leading to horrific famines Stamp of British culture on Indian environment

Common language of English imposed on a land of over 400 different languages

British education system helps to create a class of lower-level Indian civil servants; top tiers of government still occupied by British

British game of cricket becomes a huge Indian pastime

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Indian cricket team that toured England in 1886

Imperialism in Central Asia British, French, Russians compete for influence in

central Asia France drops out after Napoleon falls from power Russia active after 1860s in Tashkent, Bokhara, Samarkand; and approached

India through its machinations in independent Afghanistan

The “Great Game”: Russian vs. British intrigue inside Afghanistan British feared Russians using Afghanistan to stage an invasion of India, the

“Crown Jewel” of the empire. Britain fought two costly wars to bring the nominally independent Afghans

in line and check Russian influence: First Anglo-Afghan War (1838-1842) and Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880).

Rudyard Kipling’s vivid novel Kim (1901), about an poor orphan son of an Irish soldier in India, uses the “Great Game” as its backdrop.

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Imperialism in Southeast Asia Spanish: The Philippines

Spanish colonization of these islands began with the Legzapi expedition in 1565; founded Manila in 1571. Ruled from Mexico City until 1821, and then directly from Madrid after that.

Dutch: Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) British establish presence from 1820s

Had conflict with kings of Burma (Myanmar) in the 1820s; established colonial authority by 1880s

Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore for trade in Strait of Melaka Base of British colonization in Malaysia, 1870s-1880s

French: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, 1859-1893 Encouraged conversion to Christianity

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Sir Thomas Raffles(1781-1826)

Imperialism in Asia, ca. 1914

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The Scramble for Africa (1875-1900)

French, Portuguese, Belgians, and English competing for “the dark continent”

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899): promulgates negative stereotypes of the Congo but also a savage critique of imperialism

Britain establishes strong presence in Egypt, South Africa, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia) Suez Canal accounts for strategic interest in Egypt Rhodesia: Cecil Rhodes consolidates diamond mines in

1870s and 1880s

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Rewriting African History Ancient African history is purposefully erased to portray

sub-Saharan Africans as “uncivilized”/“savage” Justification of imperialist rule: bringing “civilization” European “discovery” of great river sources (Nile, Niger,

Congo, Zambesi) becomes a near mania Information on interior of Africa comes from explorers like David

Livingstone, who sought the source of the Nile King Leopold II of Belgium creates his personal fiefdom, the

“Congo Free State” in 1885, along the Congo River, opening up the area to commercial ventures, like rubber cultivation. Slave-like labor conditions and abuses lead Belgian government to take control of colony in 1908, and renamed it Belgian Congo

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Rewriting African History

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“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

Welsh journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) was paid by the New York Herald to find the Scottish explorer and missionary, David Livingstone (1813-1873), who had been in the African interior for years without being heard from. Stanley found him near near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania in November 1871. Newspaper accounts of the meeting in 1872 disseminated the famous question, which was likely journalistic fabrication.

Colonizing South Africa Dutch East India

Company establishes the colony of Cape Town in 1652

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Farmers (Boers) follow to settle territory fertile farmlands, later call themselves Afrikaners

Competition and conflict with indigenous Khoikhoi and Xhosa peoples as Boers push eastward (Nelson Mandela is an ethnic Xhosa)

South African (Boer) War 1899-1902 British take over the Cape Colony in 1806 British ban slavery in 1833; this causes a conflict with Afrikaners

who rely heavily on slavery Afrikaners migrate north-eastward in the Great Trek in the 1830s and

1840s, overpower Ndebele and Zulu resistance with superior firepower; known as “Voortrekkers”

Establish independent republics British tolerate Boer republics until “mineral revolution” of 1870s:

gold and diamonds discovered and mined White-white conflict, black soldiers and laborers Afrikaners concede in 1902; 1910, their republics are integrated

into Union of South Africa

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South African (Boer) War 1899-1902

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South Africa in the late 1800s, before the outbreak of the Boer War

The Berlin West Africa Conference (1884-1885) Fourteen European states and the United States

No African states present Rules of colonization: any European state can take

“unoccupied” territory after informing other European powers

European firepower dominates Africa Exceptions: Ethiopia fights off Italy (1896); Liberia

protected by the U.S.

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Imperialism in Africa, ca. 1914

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Systems of Colonial Rule

Concessionary companies Private companies get large tracts of land to exploit

natural resources Companies get freedom to tax, recruit labor: horrible

abuses Profit margin minimal

Direct rule: France “Civilizing mission” Chronic shortage of European personnel; language and

cultural barriers French West Africa: 3,600 Europeans rule 9 million

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Indirect Rule Frederick D. Lugard (Britain, 1858-1945)

The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (1922)

Argues for the use of existing indigenous institutions to consolidate and maintain power: co-opt local leaders into colonial rule.

Legacy of Colonizers: Europeans had difficulty in establishing tribal categories, they imposed arbitrary boundaries, and exaggerated or inflamed ethnic tensions to their advantage. Rwandan Genocide of the 1990s: Belgian colonizers in what is now Rwanda

favored the Tutsi ethnic group over the Hutus, creating animosity that fed the Rwandan genocide: the government-sponsored massacre of Tutsis by the Hutu groups.

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European Imperialism in Australia and New Zealand English use Australia as a penal colony from 1788 Voluntary migrants follow; gold discovered 1851 Smallpox, measles devastate natives Territory called terra nullius: “land belonging to

no one” New Zealand: natives forced to sign Treaty of

Waitangi (1840), placing New Zealand under British “protection”

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European and Native Population in Australia and New Zealand

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European Imperialism in the Pacific Islands Commercial outposts

Whalers seeking port Merchants seeking sandalwood and sea slugs for sale

in China Missionaries seeking souls

British, French, German, American powers carve up Pacific islands Tonga remains independent, but relies on Britain

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Imperialism in Oceania, ca. 1914

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U.S. Imperialism

President James Monroe warns Europeans not to engage in imperialism in western hemisphere (1823) The Monroe Doctrine: All Americas a U.S. protectorate

1867 purchased Alaska from Russia (“Seward’s Folly”)

1875 established protectorate over Hawai`i Locals overthrow queen in 1893, persuade U.S. to

acquire islands in 1898

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Spanish-Cuban-American War (1898-1899) U.S. declares war in Spain after battleship Maine

sunk in Havana harbor, 1898 U.S. takes possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam,

Philippines U.S. intervenes in other Caribbean, Central American

lands; occupies Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti

Filipinos revolt against Spanish rule, later against U.S. rule, under leader Emiliano Aguinaldo

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Spanish-Cuban-American War (1898-1899)

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Lithograph of the U.S.S. Maine explosion in Havana harbor, 1898

Filipino leader Emiliano Aguinaldo around 1900

The Panama Canal President Theodore Roosevelt (in

office 1901-1909) supports insurrection against Colombia (1903); Roosevelt thinks the Colombian price is to high for the land

Rebels establish state of Panama U.S. gains territory to build canal,

Panama Canal Zone Roosevelt Corollary of Monroe

Doctrine U.S. right to intervene in domestic

affairs of other nations if U.S. investments threatened

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Panama Canal under construction in 1907

The Panama Canal

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1909 cartoon from Puck Magazine making fun of Teddy Roosevelt’simperialist tendencies

Early Japanese Expansion

Resentment over unequal treaties of 1860s In the 1870s, Japan colonizes northern regions in

Hokkaido and Kurile Islands; also southern Okinawa, and Ryukyu Islands as well

1876, Japanese purchase warships from Britain, dominate Korea

Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) over Korea results in Japanese victory

Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) also ends in Japanese victory

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Early Japanese Expansion

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Japanese woodblock illustration of Russo-Japanese War naval battle

Economic Legacies of Imperialism Colonized states encouraged to exploit natural resources

rather than build manufacturing centers Encouraged dependency on imperial power for

manufactured goods made from native raw product Indian and Egyptian cotton Iron ore and tin in Southeast Asia

Introduction of new crops Tea in Ceylon Coffee in South America Rubber in Malaysia, French Indochina, and the Congo Cocoa in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gold Coast (now Ghana), Nigeria

and the Ivory Coast

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Labor Migrations

Europeans move to temperate lands Work as free cultivators, industrial laborers 32 million to the U.S., 1800-1914

Africans, Asians, and Pacific islanders move to tropical/subtropical lands Indentured laborers and manual laborers 2.5 million between 1820 and 1914 Chinese laborers in the Caribbean

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Imperialism and Migration during the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

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Colonial Conflict Many insurrections against colonial rule

Example: Tanganyika Maji Maji rebellion against German colonial forces(1905-1906)—Rebels sprinkle selves with magic water (maji-maji) as protection against modern weapons; 75,000 killed.

“Scientific” racism developed Count Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (1816-1882): French diplomat (who was

not really a noble) published An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races in 1850s, which argued for the superiority of northern Europeans. Actually against imperialism since he thought it would lead to race-mixing

Herbert Spencer (1820-1902) combines classical liberalism with theories of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) to form pernicious doctrine of “Social Darwinism”: “survival of fittest.” Darwin was too careful of a scientist to apply his theories of evolution to human society.

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Nationalism and Anticolonial Movements Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1883)

Bengali often called “father of modern India” Sought to eliminate Hindi practices of sati, caste rigidity, polygamy,

and child marriages, which the British used as evidence of European moral superiority

Reformers call for self-government and adoption of selected British practices; looks to Enlightenment thought/Deism

Indian National Congress formed 1885 Founded to discuss ways for educated Indians to obtain a greater share

in government; not initially opposed to British rule and even contained British members

Congress joins with All-India Muslim League in 1916

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Nationalism and Anticolonial Movements

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Indian National Congress in 1885