IMPERIALISM in ME and India
THE BRITISH TAKE INDIA
BACKGROUND: In early 1600s, the British East India Company built trading bases in India
By 1756, the British used its bases to force all rivals out, especially the French
By mid 1800s, Britain controls 3/5 of India British use a policy of “divide and conquer” to
take over
THE BRIGHTEST JEWEL IN THE BRITISH CROWN As Mughal power declined, British played off of the
diversity (many languages and customs) and rivalries of princes to gain control, also had superior weapons
1857 Sepoy Rebellion – armed Indian soldiers (sepoys) helped to protect British holdings, revolted when Brit. violated their religious beliefs
Bloody revolt until British crush rebellion and make India a colony in 1858 taking it from the British East India Co. ----”Brightest Jewel in British Crown”
SEPOY REBELLION
EFFECTS OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA POSITIVES: New roads and RR link ports of India Telegraph and postal systems unite people Irrigation systems improve farming New laws bring justice to all classes British schools offer education Customs that threaten human rights ended,
(sati, slavery, caste)
EFFECTS CONT.
NEGATIVES Indian resources go to British British made goods replace local goods Farms grew cash crops rather than food
crops, famine results for many Indians Top jobs go to British Indians treated as inferiors British try to replace Indian culture with
western ways
RESISTANCE
1885 Indian National Congress formed, many upper class Indians had gone to school in Britain, learned about democracy
Early 1900s, self-rule demanded, but Muslims and Hindus divided and Muslim League formed in 1906
EUROPEAN CHALLENGES TO THE MUSLIM WORLD BACKGROUND: In 1500s, 3 great Muslim empires ruled:
Mughals in India, Ottomans in Middle East, Safavids in Iran, all declining by 1700s
Napoleon attacks Egypt 1798
BY 1830S
European powers try to gain Econ. Control in region
Ottoman Empire becomes a pawn in balance of power struggles between European nations
France – Algeria Russia – Turkish Straits (Dardanelles &
Bosporus)
TURKISH STRAITS
EGYPT
1869 – Suez Canal
completed by French 1875 – British gain
control of Suez Canal
in Egypt (access to India) 1882 – Egypt becomes
British protectorate
SUEZ CANAL FROM OUTER SPACE
THE ARMENIAN MASSACRES 1890s – WWI periodic waves of violence
against Christian Armenians by Turkish Muslims
Muslim Turks believed that the Armenians supported Russia and were plotting against the Ottoman Empire
When Armenians protested the oppressive Ottoman policies, they were massacred
GENOCIDE – over 1 million killed
20th CENTURY
1900 – Oil discovered in Iran, Russian, British, and Iranian nationalists all set out to control oil fields
1912 Italy – Libya Post WWI – Europeans gain more spheres of
influence in region (Ottoman Empire on losing side)