Imperialism in Asia

Europeans had long been interested in the riches of the Orient, especially after the

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama proved it was possible to travel by sea around Africa to

India.[Image source: http://www.thornr.demon.co.uk/kchrist/vasco.gif]

Sir Robert Clive, an agent of the

British East India Company, was instrumental

in positioning Great Britain to seize all of the

Indian sub-continent.[Image source: http://opioids.com/opium/robert-clive.gif]

His defeat of the French at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 gave the

British a free hand in India.

[Image source: http://www.sterlingtimes.org/clive_of_india.jpg]

Over the next hundred years

the British expanded their

territory in India through

wars and commercial

activity.

[Image source: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/echoes/introduction/0_1.jpg]

Many Englishmen enjoyed a comfortable life as colonial administrators.

[Image source: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~ssen/home.jpg]

[Image source: http://homepage.tinet.ie/~lawe/IMAGES/FORCLUB05.jpg]

The British employed a large number of native troops known as sepoys to control their new realm.

[Image source: http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/images/portraits/1860-2.jpg]

Between 1857 and 1859 the sepoys mutinied and tried to drive the

British out of India.

[Image source: http://165.29.91.7/classes/humanities/worldstud/97-98/imper/india/sepoy.jpg]

British might prevailed, and India remained part of their empire until 1949.

[Image source: http://freespace.virgin.net/andrew.randall1/indiaraj.gif]

[http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/imperialism/images/imperialism.gif]

The British sent out a viceroy to rule as the monarch’s representative in India.

[Image source: http://www.petrafineart.net/catalog/volume6/212.jpg]

Queen Victoria as Empress

[Image source: http://mss.library.nottingham.ac.uk/images/late_news/06_may/portrait2.jpg]

Imperialism in China

China was a powerful empire in her own

right when European explorers arrived

during the Age of

Discovery.

[Image source: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/ralimage/map21chi.jpg]

China was ruled by

emperors of the Manchu

Qing (Ch’ing) Dynasty from 1644 to 1911.

[Image source http://www.chinapage.com/emperor/qing1207.jpg]

The Qing (Ch’ing) emperors were

assisted by a professional

bureaucratic corps of Confucian-

trained scholars known as

mandarins.[Image source: http://www.lcsc.edu/modernchina/images/Linzexu.gif]

The mandarins controlled virtually every aspect of Chinese life.

Ethnic Han Chinese were expected to shave their foreheads and wear their hair in a long queue as a sign of their

subservience to their Manchu overlords.

Europeans initially came to exchange goods with the Chinese.

[Image source: http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/images/chinatea.jpg]

One of the items the British

traded for in large quantity was tea.

[Image source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/765000/images/_767424_tea150.jpg]

Fleets of China

clippers plied the high seas,

bringing the riches of the Orient to the people of the

West.

There was little if anything the peopleof the Middle Kingdom wanted from

the Barbarians of the West.

[Image source: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/btns/zhenjng_banner.jpg]

Since the Chinese bought little from the West, a trade imbalance resulted

between Britain and China.

[Image source: http://www.secure-eleasing.com/testequity/images/balance.gif]

[Image source: http://www.money.org/una/georgeiir.jpg]

British gold and

silver flowed

into Chinese coffers.

In an effort to reverse this trend,the British began to grow Opium

in India for export to China.

[Image source:

http://www.sustainablepetaluma.net/films_may-2002/opium-poppypic.jpg]

Many Chinese quickly became addicted to opium, and money began

to flow back into British coffers.

[Image source: http://opioids.com/opium/opiumsmokers.jpg]

On a number of different occasions, Chinese authorities

seized and destroyed cargoes

of opium in an effort to halt the pernicious trade.

The British responded with force, resulting in the Opium

War of 1839-42.

[Image source: http://opioids.com/images/opiumwar.jpg]

The Chinese were easily defeated, and the British were able to dictate

the terms of the peace treaty.

[Image source: http://www.interbulletin.com/cspecial/his/his1.jpg]

Results of the Opium Wars• first of a series of unequal

treaties between China and foreign powers-five ports opened to British residence and trade-Chinese are treated as second-class citizens in their own country

extraterritoriality

• immunity from local laws

-foreigners had the right to be tried in court by the laws of their own country before a judge from their own country

It was at this period that the British acquired a one-hundred-and-fifty

year lease of Hong Kong.

[Image sourec:

http://home.planet.nl/~pbdavis/HongKong.gif]

British actions highlighted just how weak China was, and soon other European

powers were imposing their will on the Middle Kingdom.

[http://www.historywiz.com/images/china/chinaimperialism.gif]

Taiping Rebellion(1851-64)

• one of the longest, most devastating war in Chinese history

• spread rapidly throughout the countryside

• was an attempt to overthrow the Qing dynasty

Taiping Rebellion(1851-64)

• rebel philosophy a fusion of Christianity and traditional beliefs

• put-down with aid of Western powers

• ravaged country and greatly weakened China

In 1884, the French

inflicted a series of

humiliating defeats on a weakened

China.[Image source:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/multimedia/pictures/asia/vietnam/history/hunghoa.jpg]

France acquired control over the

tributary states of Tonkin, Annam,

and Cochinchina, as well as eventually

establishing a sphere-of-influence

over southeast China proper.

[Image source: http://www.ehistory.com/vietnam/maps/images/018.jpg]

Sino-Japanese War(1894-95)

• war between China and Japan

• hostilities initiated by Japan before war was formally declared

Japan used propaganda in the form of art to unify their people and stir up the martial ardor of the nation in its war with China.

The commander of the IJS Yoshino, Captain Togo, later commanded the

Japanese fleet that defeated the Russian navy at the Battle of Tsushima during

the Russo-Japanese War.

[Image source: http://www.russojapanesewar.com/gallery/images/Yoshino.jpg]

Japan gained influence in Manchuria.

Korea gained “independence” under Japanese protection.

(It was later annexed to Japanese empire).

Formosa

China also lost control of the island of Formosa to Japan.

Formosa

Japanese interests ran afoul of the interests of an expanding Russian

Empire, which was in search of warm water ports in the Far East.

[Image source: http://www.carto.com/maps/02096208.jpg]

Eventually Russia and Japan would fight a brutal war during 1904-05 over control

of Manchuria in northeast China.

[Image source: http://www.russojapanesewar.com/naval_links.html]

During the late-1800s Germany established a sphere-of-influence over

Tsingtao in Shantung Province.

[Image source: http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/Review/2000/winter/graphics/Saxon%20map%201.jpg]

An Outpost of Tsingtao (Qingdao), the German Stronghold in China

[Image source: http://www.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/chinawwi/images/China02.jpg]

Spheres-of-Influence

• region in which an outside power claims exclusive trading rights and privileges (monopoly)

• usually along the coast and/or on major rivers

• a result of unequal treaties

John Hay, the American

Secretary of State at the turn-

of the-century, proposed to level the playing field

when he advocated an Open Door

policy in China.

America’s Open Door Policy

An uprising known as the

Boxer Rebellion erupted in

Northern China in the late-1800s.

[Image source:

http://www.grtc.org/articles/martialcivil/image/BoxerWFlag.jpg]

Fueled by a desire to return to

traditional ways of life, its goal was

to expel the evil influences of

European culture, primarily

Christianity.

The Boxer movement

was particularly

strong among the

rural peasants of

North China.

The Dowager Empress Ci Xi

secretly supported the rebels, while

publicly backing the efforts of the

European powers to suppress the

rebellion.[Image source: http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/images/cixi2.gif]

The Boxer Uprising was ultimately suppressed by the Western powers.

The Western powers battlingthe Chinese dragon.

Republic of China

Established on 10 October 1911 after a brief revolution.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen(1866-1925)

• aka “Father of the Revolution”• first president of China• founded the Kuomingtang Party

Three Principles of the People

1. Nationalism

2. Democracy

3. Livelihood

Yuan Shih-kai(1859-1916)

• Qing (Ch’ing) general who replaced Dr. Sun Yat-sen as president of China in early-1912

• tried to reestablish the monarchy with himself as emperor-was deposed in 1916[Image source:

http://www.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/chinawwi/images/China03.jpg]

Kuomingtang(aka Nationalist)

• led China towards democracy• had little real power outside of

major cities in the south -country slides into chaos