Imperialism

In Search of Natural Resources:

Stealing is Cheaper than Dealing

• The factories of the Industrial Revolution created useful products, but to do so they needed natural resources. Europe had its share of coal and iron ore used to provide power and make equipment for the factories, but raw materials such as cotton and rubber had to be imported because they didn’t grow in climates of western Europe.

Money!• Industrial nations amassed incredible

wealth by colonizing regions with natural resources, and taking those resources without compensating the natives. The resources were sent back to Europe, where they made the finished products.

More Money!• Then the industrial nations sent the finished

products back to the colonies to trade with anyone else. In short, the colonial powers became rich at the expense of the colonies. The more colonies a nation had, the richer it became.

Clearing House• Europe became the clearing house for raw

materials from around the globe while the rest of the world increasingly became

exposed to Europe and European ideas.

The European Justification: Superiority is a Heavy

Burden • Two ideas contributed to this mindset

– Social Darwinist– Moral Obligation

Darwin• Social Darwinism applied Charles

Darwin’s biological theory of natural selection to sociology. In other words, they claimed that dominate races or classes of people rose to the top through the theory of “survival of the fittest.”

“Civilized”• Moral Obligation• Dominate other people or teach people how

to be more civilized- in other words, how to be more like Europeans

• Rudyard Kipling summed it up in his poem “White Man’s Burden.” Kipling characterized the Europeans efforts to advance their economies as a “burden” in which it was a duty of Europeans to conquer each “half-devil and half-child” so that they could be converted to Christianity and civilized in the European fashion. Never mind if the non-Europeans didn’t want to be civilized. The Europeans supposedly knew what was best for everyone.

Why India?·        tea·        sugar·        salt·        silk· jute (strong fiber used for ropes)

• The British East India Company, a joint stock company that operated like a multinational corporation with exclusive rights over British trade with India, then led in India by Robert Clive, raised an effective army that ridded the subcontinent of the French. Keep in mind it wasn’t British troops who conquered the region, but corporate troops!

Punjab Region• In 1798, present day Sri Lanka fell to the

British. In the early 1800’s, the Punjab region in northern India came under the British control, and from there the Brits launched excursions into Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Sepoy Mutiny: Too Little, Too Late

The East India Company relied on Sepoys, Indians who worked for the Brits, mostly as soldiers.

By the mid- 1800’s, the Sepoys were becoming increasingly alarmed with the company’s insatiable appetite for eating up larger and larger chunks of the subcontinent.

• Company did not respect the local customs or Muslim and Hindu religious customs

Pork or Beef Fat Anyone?• In 1857, the Sepoys learned that the bullet

cartridges (which had to be bitten off in order to load into the riffle) were greased with pork or beef fat, thus violating Hindu and Muslim dietary laws, the Sepoys rebelled. The fighting continued for two years and the rebellion failed miserably.

Power in Parliament• The consequences were huge! In 1858, the

British parliament stepped in, took control of India away from the East India Company, and made all of India a crown colony.

• By 1877, Queen Victoria was recognized as Empress of India.

Full Blown British Colonialism: England on

the Indus The upper castes were taught English and

were expected to adopt English attitudes

Christianity spread

Railroads and canals were built

Urbanization increased rapidly

• All of this came at the cost of India cultural and Indian institutions. In 1885, a group of well-educated Indians formed the Indian National Congress to begin the path towards independence. It would take the impact of two world wars before they would get it.

• In the meantime, Indians, especially those that lived in cities, continued to adapt to British customs while trying to hold on to their traditions.

South Africa: Gold Rings, a Diamond Necklace, and a

British Crown • Prior to the discovery of gold and diamonds in

South Africa was valuable for Europeans only for shipping and military reasons. The Dutch first arrived and settled in Cape Town as a stopping point for ships on the way from Europe to India.

Transvaal• In 1795, the British seized Cape Town and

the South African Dutch (Boers or Afrikaners) trekked northeast into the interior of South Africa, settling in a region known as Transvaal.

Boer Wars• When the Dutch discovered diamonds in

Transvaal, the British quickly followed, fighting a series of wars for the rights and resources. After years of bloody battles, known as the Boer Wars (1899-1902), the British reigned supreme, and all of South Africa was annexed as part of the ever-expanding British Empire.

Boer Wars• The Africans were not allowed claims to the

gold and diamonds, and were made to work in the mines as their natural resources were sent abroad.

• Does this remind you of another country?

Union of South Africa• South Africa became a significant British

colony, complete with extensive investment in infrastructure and institutions. In 1910, the colony had its own constitution, and it became the Union of South Africa, still part of the British Commonwealth, but exercising a considerable amount of self-rule.

African National CongressUnder the Constitution

only white men could votenative Africans had few rights

• In 1912, educated South Africans organized the African National Congress in an effort to oppose European colonialism.

Egypt • In theory the Ottomans ruled Egypt from 1517

until 1882, although throughout the nineteenth century, Ottoman rule was very weak. Local rulers, called beys, had far more influence over developments in Egypt than the rulers in Istanbul.

• When Napoleon tried to conquer Egypt, Muhammed Ali defeated the French and the Ottomans, and gained control of Egypt in 1805.

Ali• Egypt technically remained part of the

Ottoman Empire, but as a viceroy, Ali wielded almost exclusive control. During the next 30 years he began to industrialization of Egypt.

Suez Canal• Ali’s westernization attempts were

temporarily halted by his successor Abbas I, but were reinvigorated under subsequent rulers, who worked with the French to build the Suez Canal. The canal, when completed in 1869, connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, eliminating the need to go around the Cape of Good Hope.

Selling Stock• Because the British had a huge colony n

India, the canal became more important to them than anyone else. As Egypt’s finances went into a tailspin because of excessive government spending, Egypt started selling stock in its canal to raise money, stock that the British government eagerly gobbled up.

Protectorate• By 1882, the British had declared Egypt a

protectorate, which was essentially a colony except the Egyptians, remained in political power.

The Berlin Conference: Carving Up the Continent • In 1884, Otto von Bismarck hosted the

major European powers at the conference in Berlin intended to resolve some differences over various European claims to lands in the African Congo.

Carving up Africa• By the end of the conference, the delegates

had set up rules for how colonization rights and boundaries would be determined on the continent. Each country wanted to be the first to establish possession in the various parts of Africa.

• Only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent of European rule by 1914.

What did the Europeans do?

· added infrastructure to the continent by building railroads, dams, and roads

stripped Africa of its resources to profit

treated the natives harshly

Direct Rule• Every colonial power but Britain exercised

direct rule, meaning Europeans were put in positions of authority and the colonies were remade according to European customs.

Hands Full• The British, having their hands full with the

huge colony in India and massive spheres of influence in China and elsewhere, permitted the native populations to rule themselves more directly and to move more freely practice their traditional customs (similar to how the Roman Empire handled its far-flung territories).

Political and Economic Advantage

• Because the Berlin Conference of 1884 encouraged colonialism solely based on bargaining for political and economic advantage, the boundary lines were based on European concerns, not on African history or culture.

Resultstribal lands were cut in half

disrupted the culture (European schools, Christian missionaries, western business practice)

traditional African culture started to break apart (Things Fall Apart)