the age of imperialism

imperialism was only truly new ______ years ago

4,500

what was the world like in 1880?

• made up of nation-states and empires

• idea of sovereignty became popular

• people were increasingly driven by a nationalistic feeling to have their own countries → empires slowly breaking up

• imperial powers still held onto colonies (South Asia + Caribbean)

• most industrialized states stopped expanding, content w/ what they had

nation-states

countries

what suddenly happened in 1880 that changed the world?

New Imperialism

• empires started growing again

• vast regions of the world were becoming colonized

how did the political structure of the African continent change between 1880 and 1914?

In 1880, Africa was mainly made up independent states and societies. By 1914, Africa there were only two independent states left: Ethiopia and Liberia. The rest of Africa was colonized by and divided amongst European countries.

what happened in southeast Asia, many Pacific Islands, and Korea in the 1880s?

• mainland southeast Asia → conquered, mainly by France

• Pacific Islands were occupied by U.S., Japan, and European countries

• Korea → conquered by Japan

subjugated

another word for conquered

New Imperialism

rapid expansion of colonization around 1880

imperialism

a term used to describe the ideas, beliefs, and actions that one group uses to justify and hold control over the others

colonialism

the experience of the other groups who are being ruled

empires

states made up of many communities, where one community has control over, and more rights than, the others

• divided people → citizens w/ rights or subjects w/ little to no rights

• divided territory → states/regions

• one ruler/ruling body

what were the empires of the “New Imperialism” era based on?

they were partly modeled on earlier empires

how did the British Empire build off of old ideas/empires?

• ran new African colonies in the same way they ran their older colony in India for a century

• policies/procedures for managing India (a very large region, bigger than Britain) were based on the Mughal Empire’s strategies they used to control India a century earlier

• model of “indirect rule” in their new African colonies → based on practices they learned from the mughals

• methods of ruling were influenced by old policies they made to rule their North American + Caribbean colonies (16-17th century)

indirect rule

how many European powers managed their colonies and people; finding local allies and paying them to do most of the governing, ruling through native intermediaries

what created motives/justification for constructing empires?

new technologies, ideas, and beliefs and a new combination + interaction of these factors

what happened in 1865 in Britain?

a British parliamentary committee recommended that Britain pull back from some of its colonies (rather than expanding)

• by 1880, however, this stance had been reversed and Britain was expanding rapidly + competing w/ other industrialized powers

what caused/impacted New Imperialism? why did countries suddenly want more colonies?

1. technology

2. industrialization and capitalism

3. racism

4. nationalism

5. men-on-the-spot

6. local factors

how did technology provoke New Imperialism?

before, imperialist powers couldn’t conquer much of the tropical world

• disease

• large + organized + armed societies in these areas

• slow communication → hard to rule

w/ new tech

• medicine → fight disease (malaria)

• machine gun + new weapons → military advantage

• telegraphs/trains/steamships/etc. made communication and travel easier → easier to rule

how did industrialization and capitalism provoke New Imperialism?

• industrialization gave many countries big advantages

• did create problems that fostered a need to expand:

  • factories → businesses needed raw materials (Korea, Africa, Southeast Asia) + markets/customers to buy their products

• conquered territories w/ raw materials + people to buy their goods

how did racism provoke New Imperialism?

• misconceptions about race continued forming → segregation within societies (Jim Crow)

• big imperial powers believed it was their right to rule over “inferior people”

• superiority complexes → justified invasions (doing a favor)

• viewed empire expansion as a “civilizing mission” to improve the lives of “uncivilized/inferior” people

how did nationalism provoke New Imperialism?

• changed meaning: all people should have the right to rule themselves through govt. → some natios are more superior than other and had the right to rule over them

• created competition between nations → pushed imperialist govts. to compete to take new colonies before others did

how did men-on-the-spot provoke New Imperialism?

• sometimes, one person/small group leads to a power shift

• sometimes rich businessmen/generals just went out and got more territory (had weapons, employees, and money)

• they got territory for greed, glory, land, resources, etc. (no one to stop them)

how did local factors impact New Imperialism?

• imperialist countries had to consider:

  • how resistive/reactive were the locals?

  • what was the environment?

  • what did the people choose to do?

• had to conquer and defeat the people there

what made “New Imperialism” new?

• industrialization → technology, capitalism

• more nationalist beliefs and pride

• concept of racial superiority/racism

• based off of strategies and ideas of older empires

how did racism contribute to imperialism?

justified invasions and labeled them as favors/duties of the “superior”

What is economic imperialism? Why did some empires use this method?

Economic imperialism is when an empire has indirect control/influence over another country. Empires used this for many reasons:

• protecting their existing colonies

• expanding economic reach

• the places they wanted control over were too difficult to conquer through military advances

which two forces were pitted against each other in the Opium Wars?

the British Empire and Qing Dynasty China

what 2 drugs changed the world in the 19th century?

caffeine (in tea) and opium

what gave Britain lots of influence over global trade in the early 19th century?

• rapid industrialization

• powerful navy

• control of India

who stood in Britain’s way, preventing it from completely dominating the world market and economy? what made them a threat?

China

• much older empire

• dynasties were some of the most powerful on Earth

• industry fueled the world economy

where did China mainly trade?

Silk Roads and Indian Ocean

at the start of the 19th century, who had the world’s strongest economy?

China

what industry did China dominate in the early 1800s? what were the impacts of China being such a key player in this industry?

the global tea industry; high demand from Britain’s consumers led to a massive trade imbalance with China and dependence on/addiction to tea

• average person in London spent 5% of budget on tea

• EIC spent 19 million pounds on Chinese goods (90% was tea)

trade imbalance

imports > exports

what was the only British good the Chinese wanted before opium?

silver; Chinese used it to make coins, pay taxes, and support their large economy

• British had nothing else China wanted (they had cotton, silk, spices, etc.)

what was a key result of Britain’s trade imbalance?

British reserves of silver were depleted as British consumers demanded more tea, silk, porcelain, and other consumer goods

• needed silver to keep up trade w/ China

what did the Qing Emperor do in the 1750s?

restricted the activities of foreign merchants, making it difficult for Europeans to access Chinese consumer goods

how did foreign merchants trade from 1760-1842?

only allowed to do business in the port city of Guangzhou (Canton)

in the late 18th century, what key discovery did the EIC make?

they found a good that Chinese consumers wanted: opium

opium

• a drug made from the seeds of the poppy plant (British and EIC grew this in their colony in India)

• very addictive

impacts of Britain exporting opium to China

• drug addicts (10% of Chinese population was using it)

• strained relations

  • Chinese govt. repeatedly outlawed opium

  • British wouldn’t stop trading (finally found something they could exchange for tea) despite it being illegal and harming Chinese citizens

what did the EIC do when the Chinese govt. outlawed the opium trade? what was the impact of this?

hired Chinese smugglers to sneak opium into China to sell it for silver

• used this silver to buy tea, silk, and other goods to sell to British consumers

led to a reversal of the trade imbalance between China and Britain

• silver flowed out of China, opium was imported

from 1730-1830, the volume of opium entering China increased by _____ percent.

20,000

what did the Qing Emperor do in 1838 in response to the British smuggling in opium?

sent Lin Zexu, an official, to Guanzhou to end the trade

• Zexu punished and executed many addicts and opium dealers

• destroyed 20,000 chests of British opium (burned + dumped into sea)

• banned Chinese merchants from selling food to the British

• refused to pay British merchants for the destroyed opium

impact of Zexu’s mission

• British sailors murdered a Chinese man and officials refused to hand over the murderers to Chinese authorities

• negotiations w/ foreign merchants were a challenge

• fighting started in Sept. 1839, and in 1840, the British ordered a fleet to China

First Opium War

1839-1842

• Sept. 1839 - fighting starts

• 1840 - British fleet arrived, Chinese vulnerable due to British industrialization (Britain’s weapons + steamships vs. China’s weak ships + bows + flintlock muskets)

• British had many victories and bombarded Chinese port cities

• summer 1842: British fleet approaches Nanjing, Chinese forced to accept a treaty to end the war

Treaty of Nanjing

• started the “unequal treaties” era in Chinese history

• China forced to open 5 ports to British merchants

• China had to pay Britain for the cost of the war + the opium Zexu destroyed

• British citizens didn’t have to obey Chinese law (subject only to British law when in China)

• British seized control of Hong Kong (controlled until 1997)

• British ships could transport Chinese migrant laborers to their colonies + the U.S. (after abolition of slavery, these workers did the work)

what followed the “unequal treaties” era?

“century of humiliation”

“unequal treaties” era

time of unfair treaties, as the name suggests

• started w/ Treaty of Nanjing

• named this way due to how China faced a lot of repercussions, while other countries benefitted

• other nations followed Britain and enforced their own unequal treaties on China

Second Opium War

1856-1860

• China loses again

• Chinese ports further opened

• after this, the U.S., Russia, and Japan increased their influence + military in China

what motivated the Japanese to adopt policies aimed at their own industrialization?

China’s humiliating loss in the Opium Wars

• didn’t want to fall to European control

significance of the opium trade in world history concerning trade balances

first time a European empire was able to reverse the trade imbalance between China and the rest of the world

why did China enter the period often called its “century of humiliation”? what caused this?

conflict caused China to lose the Opium wars → century of humiliation. this conflict started due to…

• industrialization → advantages for Britain (weapons); outmatched anything the Chinese had

• Indian opium → Britain had a trade good that Chinese consumers would buy

differences in how China went about trade + expansion in the 1700s vs. 1800s

1700s:

• powerful Qing Dynasty

• traded w/ neighboring regions

• expanded territory + influence

1800:

• isolationism

• dynastic decline

• weaknesses were made worse due to opium trade + wars

• internal pressures weakened the Qing dynasty

Taiping Revolution

1850-1864:

• sent China into civil war

• 20 million killed

• demands from the revolutionaries included an end to the opium trade

how did the Qing state becoming weaker cause China to become vulnerable to foreign influence?

Qing state became weaker → unrest → more uprisings, political divisions → harder to resist foreign interventions

William Gladstone’s (British politician → prime minister) remark concerning the opium wars and its significance

“A war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated to cover this country with permanent disgrace, I do not know, and I have not read of.”

• everyone involved in the wars + opium tarde knew this was immoral

• widespread criticism of the opium trade in Britain + U.S.

  • Britain → China

  • US bought opium from Ottomans → sold to China

• opium trade was compared to the slave trade (immorality)

Why was tea so important to the relationship between China and Britain?

• Europeans were very addicted to caffeine and would trade with China for it (they controlled the global tea industry).

• China was able to receive silver, which was the only thing they needed from European countries.

• Most of Britain’s money was spent on tea. 

What did the British find to sell to Chinese consumers, and what did the Chinese government do in response?

• The British found opium to sell to China.

• Chinese government responded by outlawing the opium trade

  • the EIC (East India Company) eventually smuggled opium in, where Chinese smugglers would sell it for silver

  • EIC would use silver to buy goods to sell to British consumers

  • led to increased volumes of opium entering China, and lots of silver flowing out of it

What caused the First Opium War?

• Qing Emperor decided to end the trade of opium and stop the drug dealers.

• He sent the official Lin Zexu to take action.

• He destroyed 20,000 chests of British opium (burned them or dumped them into the sea) and attacked drug dealers + addicts.

  • This increased tensions and led to the murder of a Chinese man, further increasing resentment.

• Chinese merchants were told to stop selling food to the British, starting the fight in 1839 + in 1840, when Britain sent a fleet to China and started the wars

FLIP OVER - main dates to know

1750 → G.B. Industrial Revolution

1970s → United States Industrial Revolution

18th century → G.B. and China

• Opium wars

19th century → Europe and Africa

• Africa + Berlin Conference

Berlin Conference

Nov. 1884-Feb.1885; Berlin, Germany

• gathered representatives to figure out how to divide Africa between themselves - PURPOSE

• accelerated process of colonialism

• zero Africans invited (only 2 attendees ever visited Africa)

• European men represented 12 European countries, American representative, Ottoman representative

immediate cause for the Berlin Conference

King Leopold II’s jealousy

• was the King of Belgium, a small country (only territory he had)

• jealous of his cousin, Queen Victoria of G.B.

  • Queen of G.B., Empress of India, had a whole Empire

• considered himself to be very important

what did Leopold do to get himself an empire?

• swindled Europeans and Africans

• pretended to be a humanitarian and abolitionist

• claimed a territory in Central Africa → Congo Free State

  • declared that he would allow free trade + abolish slavery, BUT he actually built a state that would work the population for his own profit

what did people do when they realized that Leopold was a fraud?

• rulers started catching on and worked together

• French sent expeditions to claim territory to the North

• British convinced Portugal (old ally) to expand their claims to the territory to the south, Angola, to block Leopold

what did the race for control in the Congo region lead to?

• Europeans turned their attention to conquering Africa

  • fights w/ each other started

• eventually needed a compromise → Berlin Conference

Otto von Bismarck

German Chancellor

• saw the conflicts caused by the race for control in Africa and believed they would threaten his plans for Europe

• invited European leaders to come to Berlin in 1884 to compromise and work on expansion policies

  • Berlin Conference

what did the act resulting from the Berlin Conference do? what were the 3 results of the conference?

1. recognize the territory that Leopold claimed as his private property

2. recognize some existing territorial claims in different parts of Africa

3. set up a way for Europeans to claim and annex territory in Africa - MOST IMPORTANT RESULT; had 3 steps

   a. European countries would send out explorers to sign treaties w/ local leaders; these leaders would accept the “protection” of the European state

   b. explorers would return to Europe to submit the treaty to their governments

   c. the govt. of each European country would negotiate w/ each other to have them recognize that this “protection” really meant that they now owned that territory

how were the explorer’s treaties ultimately a scam?

• often meaningless

• printed in English/French usually → local leaders didn’t know what they said

  • explorers would get anyone, even people w/o power or authority to do so, to sign the treaties

• based on a racist idea → all this land was “unclaimed” and local societies could not rule themselves

Menelik II

Emperor of Ethiopia

• knew about the conference and realized that the treaties and “protection” was a scam

• wrote a letter to European states @ the conference

  • asked them to take Ethiopia seriously as a military + political power

  • Ethiopia was powerful (wanted to expand their own rule), but feared being divided

what territory did the Ethiopians want?

the headwaters of the Nile River

• wanted this for themselves, but saw how Italy, Britain, and France also wanted it

How did Menelik II resist the decisions made in Berlin? Did he succeed?

he wrote a letter demanded that Ethiopia be taken seriously; he was successful, despite his letter being largely ignored

• Ethiopia escaped “protection” while the rest of Africa was divided

to what degree did the Berlin Conference lead to change? why do we tend to see the Berlin Conference as a significant event in world history?

• established the legal claim by Europeans that all of Africa could be occupied by whomever could take it

• established a process for Europeans to cooperate rather than fight with each other

  • cooperation greatly impacted the division + conquest of Africa

  • form of legal violence practiced upon the whole continent and all of its people

t or f: colonization in Africa only started after the Berlin Conference

f: many regions of Africa had already been claimed by Europeans by 1880, four years before the conference even began

• however, these earlier colonies were very small; after the conference, much more land was acquired and bigger colonies were formed

This article concludes by arguing that the Berlin Conference was a significant world-historical event because it established a process for Europeans to cooperate in bringing “legal violence” to Africa. How did this process transform communities in Africa? In Europe?

Africa:

• lost many resources

• people were used for labor

• lack of independence—had to follow Europe’s orders

• resistance and resentment

Europe:

• more resources—helped businesses

  • land, labor, raw materials

• expanded Empires + increased their power

Sepoy Rebellion

1. 1600s: EIC wins rights to trade w/ India → grew powerful and made own army

2. 1857: 230l Sepoys in EIC’s army, decent relationship between India and Britain (slight resentment towards British rule + skepticism about social reforms)

3. May 1857: rebellion amongst Sepoys → took up arms against British soldiers

   a. in Meerut, Sepoys mutinied against commanders

   b. initial rebellion led to more rebellions in Central India

   c. rebels reached Delhi and captured North-Western Provinces and Awadh/Oudh

4. EIC suppressed rebellion over the next year

5. Nov. 1858: British granted amnesty to any rebel who didn’t murder

6. July 1859: hostilities dclared to have formally ended

Sepoys

the army of the EIC, made up of British and Indian troops

what did the Indians and British trade?

India: exported raw materials, cotton, indigo, spices, sugar, tea

Britain: manufactured goods, built railroads in the region

1853 Enfield musket

rifile that the Sepoys throughout India had

how would one load an Enfield gun?

soldiers had to bite the cartridge open and pour the gunpowder it contained into the rifle’s muzzle, then stuff the cartridge case, which was typically paper coated with grease to make it waterproof

what rumor was spread among Sepoys about their guns and who did this harm? what did the British do to aid these issues?

rumor: the cartridges were greased with lard (pork fat) or tallow (beef fat)

• offensive to Hindu and Muslim soldiers → forbidden to eat beef or pork respectively

British officers dismissed these claims + suggested that the Sepoys make a batch of fresh cartridges, and grease these with beeswax or mutton fat.

• only worsened original rumor

Bahadur Shah Zafar

Delhi’s 81-year-old Mughal ruler who was declared the Emperor of Hindustan

amnesty

a pardon granted by a government to a group of people who have committed a crime or offense

results of Sepoy Rebellion

• forever changed the relationship between Britain and India

• much more suspicion now

• India came under directly by the British government and became known as the British Raj

Boxer Rebellion

1. 1839: First Opium war leads to Chinese resentment against outsiders

   a. North Chinese villagers especially resented Christian missionaries

2. 1897-1898: dought + floods in Shandong → people became desperate for a solution to their problems

3. June 1900: the Boxers converged on Beijing/Peking (felt they were invulnerable to foreign weapons)

4. June-Aug. 1900: Boxers beseiged foreign district of Beijing

   a. killed foreigners + Chinese Christians, detsroyed property

5. Eight Nation Alliance agrees to supress rebellion → Qing Empress declares war on them + supports Boxers

6. Aug. 1900: Alliance troops defeat the Qing Army + Boxers

7. 1901: Boxer Protocol ends rebellion

what was Shandong known for?

social unrest, religious sects, and martial societies

Yihequna

The Righteous and Harmonious Fists (referred to as Boxers by American Christian missionaries)

• religious group in Shandong

• called Boxers due to the martial arts they practiced

• primary practice → spiritual possession involving the whirling of swords, violent movements, and chanting prayers to deities

what was the Boxer’s slogan?

“Support the Qing government and exterminate the foreigners.”

who was in the Eight Nation Alliance?

American, Austro-Hungarian, British, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian troops

Dowager Cixi

Qing Empress who supported the Boxers and issued an Imperial Decree, declaring war on the Eight Nation Alliance

Boxer Protocol

treaty signed in 1901 that ended the Boxer rebellion

• China had to pay $330 million in reparations (more than the government’s entire annual tax revenue) over the next 39 years to the Eight Nation Alliance