Imperialism

The Old Imperialism

The New Imperialism

The New Imperialism

• The Profit Motive:– Overseas profits

crucial in imperialist dynamic.

– “Colonial policy is the daughter of industrial policy,” French Prime Minister Jules Ferry, 1884.

The New Imperialism

• Overseas Export Markets, c 1914:– France’s colonies

represented 12% of its foreign trade.

– Britain’s colonies comprise 33% of its foreign trade.

– German colonial trade amounts to less than 1% of its exports.

The New Imperialism

• Places to Resettle the Poor:– Colonies could resolve

social as well as economic issues.

– Places to vent domestic frustrations and disperse the multiplying poor.

The New Imperialism

The New Imperialism

• Continental Envy:– Although the real

source of British power was is industrial base, continental Europe envied the wealth and power its colonies gave it.

The New Imperialism

• Strategic Concerns:– To protect route to

India, in 1882 Britain makes Egypt a protectorate; later they take control over Nile Valley.

– Russia and Great Britain play the “great game” in central Asia.

The New Imperialism

• Dividing rather than Conquering:– Rivalry among Great

Powers keep some regions from falling under a single European dominion.

– Britain and France establish Siam (Thailand) as a buffer zone.

– Western powers seize Chinese “treaty ports.”

The New Imperialism

• Rationalizing Conquest:– Technological superiority

convinced many that it was Europe’s duty to develop Asia and Africa.

– Viewed colonial populations as inferior.

– Social Darwinists believe white race destined to succeed, non-whites to succumb.

The New Imperialism

• Rudyard Kipling:– 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.

The New Imperialism

• The White Man’s Burden:– Even as rivalries persisted,

empire building underscored belief in common European destiny.

– Performing feats akin to ancient Rome or medieval Crusaders.

– Colonial acquisitions spark public clamor for further expansion.

The New Imperialism

• Man’s Work:– Literature of empire

building written in masculine terms.

– European women follow the men as helpmates or missionaries

The New Imperialism

The Writing of Mary Kingsley (1862-1900)

The New Imperialism

• Conquest and Administration:– Industrialization give Europeans the means to conquer and the

tools to administer—gunboats and telegraphs.

The New Imperialism

Conquest and Administration

The New Imperialism

• Conquest and Administration:– In 1890s, France to

save administrative costs puts rubber companies in control of large tracts of land in Congo. Local people brutally coerced to collect sap

The New Imperialism

• Conquest and Administration:– King Leopold II of Belgium rules the Belgian Congo as a private domain

without any accountability to domestic parliament.– He brutally exploits the Congolese and is internationally condemned.

The New Imperialism

• Westernization:– Western states build cities modeled on European grid systems; Great

Britain constructs twice as much rail lines in India as existed at home.

The New Imperialism

• Westernization:– European empire builders

create never before seen political units and ignore tribal and indigenous differences.

– Some intellectuals in Europe’s colonies adopt west’s ideologies—particularly nationalism, e.g. Young India and Young Algerians

The New Imperialism:Co-opting colonial culture

The New Imperialism

• Great Britain’s territorial reach:– Although the real

source of British power was is industrial base, continental Europe envied the wealth and power its colonies gave it.

The New Imperialism

Great Britain and Africa

The New Imperialism

England and India

The New Imperialism

The New Imperialism• Europe and the scramble for Africa:

– 1881, French occupy Tunisia.– 1882, revolt in Egypt (against British

and French influence) prompts British occupation.

– 1884, Germany acquires South West Africa, Togo, Cameroon; Berlin Conference.

– 1885, King Leopold of Belgium acquires Congo.

– 1886, Britain and Germany divide East Africa; discovery of gold in South Africa.

– 1889, Italy establishes colonies in Eritrea and Somaliland; British South Africa Company starts colonization of Rhodesia.

– 1894, Britain occupies Uganda.– 1896, Abyssinian (Ethiopean) army

defeats invading Italian army.– 1898, Fashoda crisis.– 1899-1902, Boer War.

The New Imperialism

• Europe and the scramble for Africa:– 1884 Berlin conference

sets terms for African colonization.

– Bismarck doesn’t press German acquisitions; plays British and French ambitions against each other.

– Guns make the (imperial) man.

The New Imperialism

• The Nile and Northeast Africa:– In 1898, the Fashoda Crisis

between Britain and France erupts over influence in the Upper Nile.

– To secure Egypt (and the Suez Canal) Britain seeks control of Nile valley.

– Battle of Omdurman.– French interests overcome,

resentment follows, and results in Entente Cordiale in 1904.

The New Imperialism

• Southern Africa:– Until end of 19th century,

southern Africa (except for the Cape area) largely untouched agrarian territory.

– In 1867, diamonds discovered; 20 years later gold discovered in the Transvaal in the Boer Republic.

– British plans were to absorb Boer territory into a federation; resistance led to annexation.

The New Imperialism

• The South African Gold-rush:– In 1881, gold found on the

Witwatersrand and two years later on the great reef. The rush was on.

– The value of South African exports doubles in three years.

– Cecil Rhodes attempts to topple Transvaal and fails.

– British government presses for federation of south African territories.

The New Imperialism:The Second Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902

(First Anglo-Boer War, 1880-1881)

The New Imperialism:Europe and Asia

The New Imperialism

• France and Indochina:– French presence in

Indochina goes back to Napoleon III and the French colony of Cochin China in Mekong delta.

– In 1863, France established protectorate over Cambodia.

The New Imperialism

• France and Indochina:– Kingdom of Annam

considered most important to French colonial interests.

– In 1883, France dispatches military expedition to Tonkin, and blockade Hue.

– Settlement leads to clashes with Chinese troops

The New Imperialism

• France and Indochina:– French annexation of

Indochina, primarily a matter of treaties and wars.

– Annam court grudgingly accepts French protectorate and military conflict breaks out in 1885, the Scholars Rebellion.

– Conflict in Annam lasts 12 years and causes government of Jules Ferry to fall.

The New Imperialism

• France and Indochina:– Cochin China a colony

governed by colonists themselves.

– Population of Vietnam rose from 10 million in 1878 to 17 million in 1913; by then the country had fewer than 24,000 French inhabitants.

The New Imperialism

• France and Indochina:– Small and concentrated, French population depended on Chinese labor.– Native Christian population fearful and with reason.– Vietnamese upper classes resist French acculturation.– Armed resistance persists.

The New Imperialism