Imperialism Lecture Outline

History M01B – Krister Swanson – Moorpark College

New Imperialism (late 1800’s)

• Iberians, GB, France, Netherlands had all colonized before, but by 1850 - only GB has colonies
• Industrialism creates huge wealth & technology gap
• Late 1800’s: shift in thinking  Imperialism now necessary for power
• Technology allows Euros to use force to subject large native populations
• belief in cultural superiority
• by 1900- Euros control 1/5 of world

Imperial Methods

• invest capital
• build up infrastructure
• exploit local labor & materials
• make deal with existing gov’t (or create puppet gov’t if necessary)

Motives for Imperialism

• raw materials, markets, high profits
• “white man’s burden”
• support missionaries (Church trying to rebound)
• place for your surplus population
• the validity of these motives varies

Areas of Imperialistic Activity

• China and Japan (GB, United States, others)
• South East Asia (GB, France, Netherlands, United States)
• India (Mostly GB)

Africa (Almost every Euro nation except Russia & Scandinavians)

Other Critical Topics

• Latin American nations seek independence (ruled by upper & middle classes), dynamic change in this region
• colonies, trade, nationalism, and industry are creating rivalries & alliances between European nations

China

• high demand for Chinese goods (always more to Europe than from)
• self sufficient, dynasty cycle at low point
• 1840s- Opium Wars (GB ships in Indian Opium for Tea) GB wins open ports, $100m, and Hong Kong
• 1860s- Japanese & Russians start carving at edges others freak
• 1898- US proposes…

Open Door Policy

• outsiders get free trade with small uniform tariff
• not subject to Chinese Laws
• establish settlements with 99 year leases (Hong Kong)
• 1899- Boxer Rebellion against western influenced squashed by powers like U.S. & GB
• westernization (End of Empire & Sun Yat Sen)

Changes in Japan

• 1853- forced “open” by Perry
• 1867- Meiji restoration: add western industry & military, keep Japanese culture
• western Imperialism then becomes way of Japan
• 1895- wins Sino-Japanese War
• then...

Russo-Japanese War (1905)

• Conflict over Manchuria & Korea
• Russia wants war to prove self (Tsar’s having domestic trouble)
• Japanese win (nonwhite over white)  agitation in Russia (Rev. of 1905)

India!!!

• approx. 85% Hindu, 15% Muslim & others
• geographically & culturally diverse
• many exotic goods and products coveted by Europeans (silk, coffee, tea, cotton, indigo, etc.)

GB in India

• GB had gained control in 7 yrs. War, India is the one very successful colony for GB
• 1857- Sepoy Rebellion  rule thru Indian upper classes (direct)
• Build modern infrastructure to help move goods and people, educate in English  growth of westernized ideas
• GB gets agricultural goods from India, sells manufactures to India
• Best jobs for Brits (civil service or East India Co.)
• Indian Nationalism grows in early 1900s

Europeans in Africa prior to 1800

• only contact was with coasts up until 1800
• Dutch Boers “Afrikaners” in South Africa
• France in Algeria (right across Med.)
• Slave trade from west coast - desire for real trade goes up as slave trade declines (outlawed by 1820)

Scramble for Africa

• Egypt starts to westernize in the early 1800s, Suez canal driven by steamships, brings in interest from British, they take over Egypt to protect interest in the canal in 1881
• Mid 1800’s- Livingstone & Stanley create a great deal of interest in the heart of Africa Leopold II & the Congo (rubber and other raw materials)
• France holds Algeria, covers NW Africa
• Bismarck (Ger.) grabs colonies for diplomatic position – just to be in the game
• no borders in interior  negotiate bogus treaties
• Labor problem, Africans  Eur. wage earners  forced labor  class of westernized Africans

1900- all but Ethiopia & Liberia are colonized

Nations Clash over Colonies

• Boer War: British clash with Boers over territory – outcome is combined British/Boer state of South Africa
• Fashoda Crisis: French & British clash over territory in the Sudan (access to the Suez) British maintain control
• Moroccan Crises: Germany threatens GB & French access to Morocco
• Saber rattling & jockeying for position