6. history of European colonization: chapter 6: tools of empire

1. politics - systems - strategies - actors 2. gender 3. missionary work 4. economy 5. development

power centers

• metropole

  • secretary of state, minister,…

    • councils, lobbyists,…

  • little representation

    • exceptions ex naoroji

• colony

  • governor, viceroy,…

    • large turnover in order to keep link with metropole

    • councils, lobbyists,…

  • armies (important power center): force publique (congo), KNIL (royal netherlands east india company), sepoys,…

  • little representation

    • evolutions ex India

dadabhai naoroji

• 1825-1917

• 1885 co-founder indian national congress

• 1892-95 first asian MP in UK house of commons (very rare representation)

representation in india

started evolving after defeat great mutiny, result of different protests and rebellions

• 1858, 1892, 1909: legislative & executive councils

  • advisory and indirect elections

• 1882: municipal council act

  • elected by landowners and tax payers

  • at least 2/3 indian members

• 1921: provincial governments

  • at least ¾ indian members

• 1935: autonomy to provinces

  • 1937: one on six indians participate in elections => more than in Europe = exceptional

much variety in rule

• direct and indirect rule

  • especially great britain

• assimilation & association (—> lower degree of linking colony to colonial rule)

  • especially france

• military rule

  • especially germany and italy

• segregation

  • especially Belgium and some white settler colonies

indirect rule

• local rulers remain on their thrones (europeans rule indirectly through them)

  • minor competences (administration, jurisprudence, rite)

    • not: army, fiscality, foreign policy,… (core powers)

    • sided and controlled by a european resident

  • mainly in less strategic (land locked,…) and in poorer regions

• advantages

  • power without responsibility

  • cheaper: loyal elite (satisfied with system)

  • legitimation colonial rule

    • european “respect” for local tradition (not imperialists)

    • european sharing of power (european civilization) vs local despotism and decadence (authoritarian governance local princes)

      ==> example majarajas being extremely rich having elephants, rolls-roys,…

direct and indirect rule in british india

• double government under Clive of India (since beginning of british rule in india)

  • mawab: puppet in British hands (had some competences)

  • east india company: army & taxes

• by 1857-58: about 580 princes (wouldn’t change afterwards)

  • mawabs, nizam, raja’s, maharaja’s, rani’s, maharani’s

  • more or less half of british india’s territory

• also in other british colonies

direct and indirect rule in belgian congo

• King Kwet Mabiine

• only symbolical role kings

direct and indirect rule Dutch indies

• Batavia: governor-general

• not all of them were Dutch (belgians)

• provinces (buitengewesten): princes (sultans) and residenten

direct and indirect rule french indochina

• federation

  • one directly governed colony (cochinchina)

    • saigon as a major colonial city

  • four protectorates

    • tonkin, Annam: emperor of Vietnam

    • Cambodia: king

    • Laos: king of Luang Prabang

assimilation french empire

• what?

  • make colonies little overseas frances

  • turn colonized into french citoyens of different colour (should be christians,…)

• why?

  • french revolution: universalism

  • napoleon: institutional centralism

  • hangovers after 1815 and 1870

• when and where?

  • especially in 19th c in vieilles colonies

  • difficult due to enormous variety

==> ex in algeria,…

association french colonies

• what? a step back

  • humanité rather than égalité

  • bilateral relationship with metropole, esp economic = no longer departments of french nation

  • centralization does not change

• why?

  • other colonies didn’t apply assimilation either

  • darwinism and racism

Félix Eboué

• 1884-1944

• born in Cayenne

• 1901 scholarship for France

• 1909-1912 administrateur en chef in oubangui-chari (central african republic)

• 1912-1932 back in french guyana

• 1932-: governor in, subsequently, Martinique, guadeloupe (antilles) and chad

• typical example of product of french imperialism

discussed political strategies

• divide and rule

• violence

• disease

• famine

divide and rule

• enforcing existing inequalities within one colony

  • ex ethnic, religious or social differences

  • not always familiar to the very people classified

  • made absolute by the colonizer

  • ex castes in india registered in censuses

• siding with minority groups (turn them into collaborators)

  • included in governance ex tutsi’s in ruanda (hutu’s and tutsi’s are colonial categories)

  • military => overrepresented in colonial armies so became collaboraters in systems of oppression ex ambonese in dutch indies or sikhs in british india (‘martial race’)

  => creating division and weakness (colonized don’t unite against colonizer)

violence

• military superiority

  • from gunboats to maxim gun (1884) = most important innovation that allowed for quick conquest of africa, first automatic rifle

    • matabele war (1893): 5000 matabele against 50 british with 4 maxim guns, 1500 casualties at matablele side, 4 at british

    • omdurman: GB & Egypt lost 40 soldiers, mahdi 11000

• wars and destruction

  • ex Herero rising (south-west africa (namibia) 1904-1907)

    • uprising against land appropriation and bad treatment

    • Lothar von Trotha’s extermination order (october 1904) = vernichtungsbefehl

    • repression: 75-80% of 60-100.000 Herero died

    • German type of military campaign and racism?

• repression = occured everywhere

diseases

• several diseases

  • smallpox in australia, measles in fiji, leprosy in hawaii

• sometimes deliberate genocide

  • hispaniola in 16th c, tasmania in 19th c

• sometimes '‘collateral damage’ (but quite fitted into european agenda)

  • no natural immunity

  • malaria in india facilitated by irrigation schemes

• much amnesia or selective memories

  • pater damiaan

  • spread of aids

famines

• examples in British India

  • Bengal famine of 1770

    • 1/3 of bengal population died

  • great famine 1876-78

  • indian famine 1899-1900

  • bengal famine 1943-44 = deliberate famine, consciously triggered by british

• not only due to climate but also colonialism

  • indifferent attitudes colonial administrators

  • high taxation

  • other priorities ex during war

  • local superstition (ex xhosa sacrificed cattle in 1856)

rulers at home

• colonial party

  • political, commercial, scientific,… supporters of active imperialist policy and lobbying (even leuven professors)

• advocates of colonialism

  • Jules Ferry (1880-81 and 1883-85 PM france)

  • francesco crispi (1887-91 and 1893-96 PM italy)

  • benjamin disraeli (1868 and 1874-1880 PM britain)

  • salisbury (1885-86, 1886-92, 1895-1902 PM GB)

  • joseph chamberlain (1895-1903 secretary of state for colonies GB)

• more reluctant politicians

  • WIlliam Gladstone (1868-74, 1886, 1892-94 PM of GB) = withdrew british indian army from afghanistan, reluctant to colonize egypt,…

rulers oversea

• politicians

  • Lord George Curzon (1859-1925)

    • 1899-1905: viceroy of india

    • 1919-1924: foreign secretary

    • curzon line = between poland and soviet union proposed by him

• soldiers

  • kitchener

    • 1850-1916

    • field marchal

    • command in the mahdist war and second boer war

      • victor of Khartoum

    • 1902-09: commander-in-chief in india

    • 1914-16: secretary of state for war

    • on recruitment poster GB

  • gallieni

    • 1849-1916

    • military commander french colonial empire

    • became minister of war during first world war

  • lyautey

    • military officer france

    • became résident géneral in morocco (ruler)

    • tomb in same palace as napoleon

    ==> all started soldiers and became commanders, all men

masculinity colonization

• a male business

  • moustaches and uniforms

  • safari costumes with pith helmets

  • local dresses (like chinese gordon, kitchener

women colonialism

• female pioneers

  • Mary Kingsley = explorer in south africa

  • Gertrude Bell = author, journalist, administrator, spy, archeologist => “mother of Iraq”

• female colonizers

  • wives, nuns,… —> in belgian congo more than half of missionaries female

• general features

  • greater freedom than at home

  • better contact with indigenous people

• female freedom fighter

  • ex Lalla Fatma N’Soumer (algerian female freedom fighter)

male colonizers heroic individuals?

• individuals?

  • role of indigenous people

    • local geographical knowledge, translators, porters,…

    • ex Stanley 1874: 4 europeans and 356 Africans

• heroic?

  • violence

    • expedition of voulet & chanoine (1898) = bad reputation, they were even killing eachother, scandal in france

  • drugs

    • most of them some of the time

    • some of them most of the time

  • sexual practices

homo-eroticism colonizers

• stanley’s problems with women

• Rhodes’s notorious homosexuality (only male servants)

• Baden-Powell and Kenneth ‘the boy’ McLarren (close intimate relationship

• Kitchener’s correspondence with his sister

• pederasts: hector macdonald (‘fighting mac’)

prostituion

• widespread in colonial cities

  • “caused by moral corruption of women”

• STDs

  • women saw gynecological examination as indignity

  • colonizers pursued an inadequate policy

fascination with exotic nude

• ex Tahiti and Bali: women legendary for their beauty, praised in books, paintings,…

• photography: showing half naked women

eroticization exotic nude

• wild, primitive and naked => sexually available

  • versus oppressed sexuality in Europe

• polygamy => alleged libertinage & free love

colonizers as male bachelors (initially)

• restriction of emigration of European women

• officially: physical hazards of life in tropics

  • not suitable for european women (not well enough adapted)

• in reality: economic reasons

  • transportation costs

  • women might press for repatriation (paying for transport again)

  • women might engage in private trade and encroach on the company’s monopoly

  • children would become sickly (families would again have to return home)

concubinage (unofficial relations) with local women

• tolerance and promotion of extramarital relations

  • petite épouse, deuxième lit, huishoudsters,…

  • nyai (java and sumatra), congai (indochina),…

• european men in better health

  • vs prostitution causing veneric diseases

  • prevention from unnatural liaisons (homosexual relations)

  • protection against the ill health that sexual abstention, isolation and boredom were thought to bring

• other advantages of local women

  • fewer financial and emotional demands

  • also useful as guides and domestic servants

regulated relations with women

• arguments

  • political and economic

  • male and sexual and racist

• examples regarding (hidden) stimulation sexual relations with local women

  • VOC selected male bachelors for more than 200 years

  • India, 1929: british employees prohibited from marriage for three first years

• examples regarding local women

  • ex prohibitinng european men from returning to the netherlands with native wives and children

  • indies civil code of 1848: native women had no rights over children recognized by a white man

consequences relationships with local women

• for the social structure

  • reinforcement of social and racial hierarchies

  • number of men exceeded that of women

• for the locals

  • women: dependent on their European partners

  • men: competition with european supervisors

  • children: mixed-blood children (not recognized by either societies) = metis,…

white women colonialism

• from late 19th c

• following technological possibilities

• general narrative: women introduced segregation (mainstream narrative)

  • housing, compounds, dress codes, social taboos, education,…

  • women “wanted to be protected from local barbarism”

  • but: adviced by male doctors

• paranoia of the black ‘peril’

  • white men imagined their wives to be desired

  • need of protection from the ‘primitives‘ sexual urges

  • citizen militias and ladies rifle clubs (teach wives to protect themselves)

  • rape laws: race-specific

    • sexual abuse of black women was not classified as rape

beginning of missionaries

• europeans in asia

  • jordanus de severac (1321-1330 in Quilon, India)

  • john de marignolli (1338-53 in china, india & ceylon)

  • saint francis xavier in India and Japan (1541-1552) = close with founders of jesuits

• portuguese in congo

  • 1491: king of kongo converted to christianity

    • his son: king afonso I of kongo (1509-1543)

    • his grandson: bishop henrique kinu a mvemba

• spanish in latin america

• religious emigrants in north america

decline missionaries in 18th century

• general trend: age of enlightenment

  • 1773: suppression of the jesuits (until 1814)

• also in the colonies

  • ex british india: fascination with the local culture

    • colonizers learned local languages

    • respected or re-established ‘traditional’ structures

      • political: maharaja’s and nawabs

      • judicial: code of gentoo laws (hindu and genta)

  • ex rousseau’s admiration of the ‘noble savage’ = untouched, unspoiled,…

    • “discourse on the origins of inequality among men” (1754)

resurrection missionaries in 19th century

• new rise of christianity

  • new devotion, new congregations,…

• commerce and industrial revolution

  • new markets —> free trade(18th century: monopoly, control, bans,…)—> free movement

• abolitionism (movement to end slavery)

  • new aim for mobilization after abolishment slavery

• darwinism and scientific racism

  • hierarchy of races

example from fascination to civilization

• british india 1810s

  —> “to create a class of persons Indian in colour and blood, but english in tastes, opinions, morals and intellect” (1832)

  • not everyone = elite

  • imposed english

    • 1816: hindu college in calcutta (first english language college)

    • 1835: english replaced persian (moghuls) as official language

    • 1857: universities in Bombay, calcutta & madras

  • fought barbaric customs

    • sati: widow-burning

    • thugs: ritual killers of travelers in the name of kali (religious+economic reasons) => strangled

    • not: more widespread customs

  • missionaries allowed from 1813 onwards

missionaries active in many places example Belgium

• across the world

  • not only in belgian colonies

  • not only spreading christianity but also had individual initiatives

  • belgian missionaries in India: jesuits, capucines, carmelites, filles de la croix, ursulines of tildonk, zusters van liefde, sisters of de jacht

new catholic institutions

• society for the propagation of faith (lyon 1822)

• scheut (congregation of the immaculate heart of mary)

  • established in 1862 by théophile verbist

    • 1862: belgian mission to china

    • 1863: scheutveld college

    • 1865: died in inner mongolia (north china)

  • later also to mongolia, philippines, the congo,…

• pères blancs (white fathers) (algiers 1868)

  • lavigerie: archbishop of algiers and carthage, primate of africa

new protestant institutions

• britain (end 18th c beginning 19th c)

• germany (19th c)

• denmark, sweden, norway, US,…

women and missionary

• wives of (protestant) missionaries

  • domestic, medical, educational,… roles

  • acces to places and communities not accessible to men

• missionary nuns

  • soeurs de st-joseph de l’apparition (tunis, 1843)

  • soeurs blanches (algiers 1870)

  • de jacht sisters (india 1879): de meester & devos

• women gradually majority of foreign missionaries

  • british india: 1840s onwards

  • belgian congo: 1930s onwards

activities missionaries

1. religious

   • build churches (chapels, bigger churches, cathedrals)

2. social work

   • hospitals, leper houses, dispensaries (pharmacy)

   • orphanages, beggars’ homes, vagrants’ colonies

3. science and education

   • village schools and boarding schools

   • industrial schools and teaching of handcrafts

   • agricultural and horticultural projects

   • printing and publishing ventures

varieties between missionaries in different colonial empires examples

• state or church?

  • france: public instructional system

    • separation of church and state in france

  • GB, Belgium, germany: only subsidies to missions

    • congo 1941: 5252 mission schools & 6 state schools

• mass or elite?

  • India: anglicisation of indian elite

  • congo: widespread primary eductaion

• european or indigenous languages?

  • france: assimilation, later association

  • belgium: more local languages and no flemish

positive or negative effects missionaries?

• social and economic upheaval

  • humanitarian and philantropic motives and outcoms

  • health care, education,… (not very much: 20 doctors in all of congo)

  • against inequity, poverty and discrimination

• BUT: impact on local culture

  • motives and outcoms? religious - conversion

  • education? spread of european languages and views

  • discrimination? racism and complex of inferiority

  • inequity? sexual abuse

    • also existent in Western Europe but possibly more in the colonies

    • problematic clergy sent to colonies?

    • difficult to make over statements about the extent of abuse

were missions monologue or dialogue

• unilateral imposition of eurocentric values

  • destruction of indigenous cultures

• but: outcome of complex negotiations

  • accommodations

    • 2-way influence

    • religious figures, customs,… adapted to local communities

  • syncretic religions = new religions as result of dialogues

    • ex voodoo, santeria,…

    • resurgence of non-christian religions after 1815

      • competition with christianity

      • new technologies: easier travel, spread of printed texts

      • Ram Mohan Roy: one of first Indians who learnt English and applied new knowledge into spreading hinduism

      • Swami Vivekananda = important in spread of hindu sympathies to western world => yoga

mission imperial or not?

• co-ordinating imperial government policies

  • from spanish conquistadores to education in congo

• but: not always closely linked with states

  • before and after imperial processes

    • ex germans: 1828 gold coast (generations before they joined scramble for africa), 1834 India, 1842 Namibia, 1951 nigeria

  • outside of impreial territory

    • ex belgians in china and the philippines

  • subjects of non-colonial nations

    • americans (congo), swedes (congo),…

trade dominated by metropolitan centres

needed colonial commerce:

• growing industrialization (started in Britain)

  • greater demand for resources (cotton,…)

  • greater need for overseas markets (selling industrial products)

• growing population (along with industrialization: drop of mortality and high natality)

  • greater demand for food & luxuries

drain of wealth

• by indian minister in britain

• 18th c: export of indian advanced textile to britain

• 19th c: import of british industrial textile to india

variety chronology and geography

• early modern age: aspiration for monopoly (portugal!)

• Britain: commitment to free trade

  • british india: already in 1813 and 1833 (certain domains of economy)

  • britain: 1846

• 1870-1895: stagnation and depression

  • Britain: non-interventionism (-thomas malthus) => had same approach to the famines in India (demography)

  • other metropoles: protectionism

  • all: imperialism to stimulate overseas demand (and solve economic depression)

atlantic triangular trade

• europe-africa: copper, cloth, glass beads, guns

• africa-america: slaves

• america-europe: sugar, rum, cotton, gold, tobacco

numbers of slaves traded

• about 11 million slaves shipped from africa to the western hemisphere

• especially by portugal and britain

• especially to brazil and the caribbean (plantations)

sources abolitionism

• religious minorities such as Quakers

• enlightenment & french revolution

• american independence war

first mass movement abolitionism

• clapham sect (William Wilberforce), 1783

• first modern pressure group (mobilizaiton of masses)

  ==> Britain: 1807 Slave Trade Act; 1833 Slavery Abolition

  ==> France 1848 (had already tried to abolish it after french revolution but it restarted), Netherlands 1863, US 1863, Brazil 1888

2 new states after abolition movement

• sierra leone: a colony (-britain)

  • 1787: Freetown for escaped american slaves

  • 1791: sierra leone company

  • 1807: given to british government

  • many thousands of slaves freed from captured vessels released into sierra leone

• liberia: an independent country (-US)

  • 1821: Monrovia by freed american slaves

  • helped by American Colonial Society

  • 1847: republic of liberia

different views on the right of land

• europeans: terra nullius => right to occupation and ownership

• indigenous: custodians and users instead of owners

different uses of land by colonizers

• taxes (on yields of agriculture)

• gathering of naturally occuring products

• cultivation on plantation

different systems of land use

• indentured labour

• the culture system in the dutch east indies

land tax systems in british india

• zamindari system (north 1793)

  • mughal tax (zamindar) collectors were given property right => as if they were respecting local culture and practices

  • aim: loyal landowners (to british) paying taxes

  • but: misuse and oppression

• raiyatvari system (south, early 19th c)

  • peasants pay taxes directly

  • aim: create closer connection with british

  • but: oppression by tax collectors

• sedentarization for tax revenues

  • nomads as ‘criminal tribes’ = very difficult to control

  • campaign against thugs: civilization or land revenues?

gathering of naturally occuring products

• especially in the beginning and in Africa

• ivory, timber, …

• rubber: invention of rubber tyre (1888) by John Dunlop

• palm oil: soap, lubricants, lightning fuel, margarine,…

plantations

• early modern age: Caribbean and Guyana’s

• french Indochina: rice, maize and rubber,… (Michelin 1889)

• dutch east indies: coffee, indigo (color fex cloth), cane sugar,…

• british india: tea and opium

• kamerun, kenya,…: cocoa, bananas, tea,…

new systems for labout migration after abolition of slavery

• day labourers

• indentured servants

  • contracted labour without (or low) salary ex for five years

  • were “payed” in accommodation and living

  • breach of contract falls under criminal law

  • poor living circumstances = on paper free but in reality many similarities to slavery

• migration of Chinese or Indian ‘coolies’

  • population increase

    • ex java 3,5 mil 1800 → 40,9 mill 1930

  • ethnic diversity

    • ex suriname

the culture (cultivation) system

• dutch east indies 1830-1870

  • financial losses following java war and belgian independence

  • boosting dutch east indies’ export

• what?

  • peasants compelled (by force) to cultivate government-pwned export crops on a fifth of their land, or to work 66 days a year on government estates or projects

  • single-crop plantations (sugar, coffee, indigo) => single-crop economy

• extremely lucrative

  • batig slat (‘yielding treasury’)

criticism culture system

• imposed by force and much misuse

• stagnation since no incentive to innovate (among peasants in dutch indies)

• native population had no access to capital market

=> Max Havelaar - Multatuli

liberal period (1870-1901) dutch indies

• successor to culture system

• agriculture open to private and corporate plantations

• new crops: tea, tobacco, rubber, cocoa and palm oil

criticism more liberal period

een ereschuld - Conrad theodor van deventer

ethical policy dutch east indies (1901-1930/42)

• successor liberal period

• moral obligation to increase dutch indies’ wealth (local population)

• social (education & health), economic (irrigation & communication), political (local responsibility),…

• failed

mining

• making quick fortunes

• means of payment for infrastructural development (in service of economic development of mining industry)

little industry in colonies

colonies rather markets for finished products

varieties in mineral extraction among colonies examples

• gold rushes in white settlers’ colonies

• minerals in the belgian congo

• minerals in british india

• petrol in the dutch indies and the middle east

gold rushes

• US: california (1849), colorado (1859-65)

• Australia (1850s) and New Zealand (1870s)

  • increase of white population

• south africa

  • diamonds in Kimberley (1867)

  • Gold in witwatersrand (1884)

• mechanised gold mining in the gold coast

  • 1877 following the third ashanti war (1873-74)

minerals in the belgian congo

• extremely rich soil (especially katanga)

  • initially thought to be poor and isolated

  • copper, cobalt, diamond, uranium and other ores

• huge mining companies

  • forminière: société internationale forestière et minière

  • UMHK: union minière du haut-katanga

• also built infrastructure

  • including hospitals and schools

  • political administration and police force

  • —> state in a state

minerals in India

• no interest from European investors

  • focus on trade, taxes, opium and tea

• long indian tradition of artisan skills

  • development stimulated by british

  • profited from infrastructure (rail network)

• indian plants

  • tata iron and steel works

    • Jamsetji Tata: indian man who created it himself, tata dynasty => now also cars and phones, hotel (the taj in mumbai)

    • WWII: largest steel producer of British empire

petrol in the middle east

• discoveries in the mid-19th century

  • 1850s: galicia (poland), romania, baku (azerbajan); 1860s: united states

  • refining paraffin and keresene from crude oil

• discoveries at the turn of the century

  • 1885: sumatra; 1908: persia (petrol discovered in colonies)

  • internal combustion engine

• oil companies

  • anglo-persian oil company (1908), —> British Petrol (1954)

  • royal dutch petroleum company (1890) —> royal dutch shell (1907)

  • other seven sisters: american

mutual effect colonization and transport

• transport on colonisation

  • arteries of empire

  • shrinkage of imperial distances

  • greater homogenization of colonial empires

• colonization on transport

  • impetus to development

  • competition in europe

waterways

• rivers as the first ‘highways’

  • mekong, zambezi, congo,…

• many new river canals

  • ex ganges canal (1854): transport and irrigation

• important sea canals

  • suez canal (1869): french (ferdinand de lesseps)

    • london-bombay: almost half the distance

    • ex suez about 20.000 egyptian labourers died

    • massive financial burden for egyptian people

  • panama canal (1914): US

    • 1880-1900: French but fraud and mismanagment so Americans took over

    • -1999 US territory of the canal zone

railways

• much variety

  • Brits built very dense network of railroads in India

  • Congo: short railways to bypass difficult river sections

• great investment

  • originally funded by private companies

    • India: railway guarantee scheme (1849): 5% return rate

    • often lacked the means

  • physical obstacles —> control of the state

    • mountains (darjeeling and Shimla = summer capitals)

  • railway stations: palaces (temples of modernity)

    • most famous one in Bombay (mumbai)

• unfulfilled projects

  • cape-to-cairo

  • trans-saharan: from dunkirk to brazzaville

colonies as laboratories

experiments with fex gyrobus

air transport

• colonization fueled/triggered development of airplanes

• imperial airways (1924, after merges)

  • 1927: cairo-basra, 1932 cairo-cape town (no longer need to cape-to-cairo railway)

  • 1938: british airways as a separate european carrier

• KLM (1919)

  • 1924: amsterdam-batavia (20 stops, 1 oct - 24 nov)

  • 1930: passenger service

  • 1940: six days; after WWII: less than 24 hrs

• Sabena (1923)

  • flights to confo cf SN brussels airlines today

communication

• post

  • 1840: penny post in the UK (send a letter for just one penny)

  • 1854: penny post introduced in India

• telegraph

  • 1837/44: morse telegraph in line in Bengal

    • decisive in Great Mutiny (1857)

  • first submarine cable to India: 1870

• radio

  • from 1912 onwards

mutual effect colonization and science

• science on colonization

  • exploit the resources

    • mining, agriculture,…

    • ex Edmond Leplae (leuven professor) => cash crops suchaas cotton to congo

  • control the colonized

    • expertise, infrastructure, weapons,…

    • also development antropology,…

    • ex Edouard de Jonghe (leuven) => developed african studies, basically trained colonials

• conolization on science

  • new data

    • Alexander von Humboldt => voyaged to discover flora around the world

  • new research questions

    • Eugène Dubois => looking for link between humans and animals (apes)

  ==> institutionalization of tropical sciences

  • botanical gardens

  • geographical sciences

  • Institute of tropical medicine (Antwerp

  ==> universities and the colonial past

  • closely involved with colonies

geography

• acquisition of geographical knowledge

  • need: practical guides

  • capacity: travelling and instuments => possibility to make greater voyages

• mapping the world

  • great trigonometrical survey of India

    • 1802-1841

    • rivers, lands, altitudes

    • a surveyor general of India: George Everest

  • admiralty hydrographer in Britain (1795)

    • fourth Hydrographer (1829-1855): Francis Beaufort (beaufort scale measuring winds)

subjectivity of geography

• metaphores of power

  • ex center (mercator map with Europe in center of the world), color (color all territories belonging to metropole), names (appropriating by naming),…

• instruments of rule

  • ex borders

    • first: drawing lines with limited knowledge

    • then: boundary comissions for adjustment

    • local people not represented

  • vs non-european views

    • fluid borders

    • nomadic peoples being tributary rather than sovereign

place names

• new names

  • places: New York, New Zealand,…

  • royalty and rulers: Montreal, Leopoldville,…

  • Saints: San Francisco, Sao Tomé, Natal,…

  • Colonizers: Pennsylvania, Rhodesia, Brazzaville, Stanleyville…

• old names

  • ex Massachusetts, Delaware,…

• new trends

  • koisan (called bushmen, hottentots), inuits (eskimos),…

  • native americans (US), first nations (Canada), Amerindians (South America),…

anthropology

• knowledge

  • insight into social conditions

• power and control

  • appropriate plans for dealing with population

• classification

  • creating absolute boundaries along ethnic, cultural, regional, linguistic and religious lines

• racism

  • measuring physical appearance (and categorizing based off of measurements)

  • hierarchy between categories

indigenous people on display

• places

  • zoo’s,…

  • shows, circusses,… = performances

  • villages on world fairs

• involved people

  • carl hagenbeck: “father of the modern zoo” => organizer of many of the human zoos

  • saartjie baartman or hottentot venus

    • khoi slave with large buttocks and elongated inner labia

    • 1810-15: exibited as freak show attraction in UK & France

    • -1974: preserved genitals exhibited in Paris Musée de l’homme

    • 2002: remains repatriated to south africa

transformation of the landscape

• ex clearance of forests

  • Australia: 87,6 million hectares cleared before 1920

• several reasons

  • for direct revenues: timber (teak),…

  • for agricultural and pastoral purposes: plantations

• economic progress?

  • profits for Europe

  • focused on the promotion of commercial crops

  • risks of salinity and malaria

hunting

• great numbers

  • 40000-60000 elephants killed per annum in 19th c

  • tiger became an endangered species by the 1930s

• different resons

  • indigenous: food

  • europeans: sport, prestige, masculinity, dominance,…

• changing attitude

  • first: concern for conservation of species and habitat

    • first national parks: 1920s

  • now: indignance about local poachers

cities

• old

  • often deep local roots of urban development

• …and new

  • segregation (civil lines only inhabited by white people)

  • laboratories for experiments on urban modernity

    • new delhi: multi lane highways, great mansions,…

• variety

  • french: less planning and more population mixing

  • british: more residential segregation

  • belgians: ‘most thorough practitioners of segregation’ (ville europeenne and cite indigene

  • but: white cities and african ‘villages’ in most of africa’

architecture

• variety ex within british empire

  • wood in georgetown, guyana

  • saracene (mimic asian/arab style) style in kuala lumpur, malaysia

  • colors and ironwork in Cape Town, south africa

  • grandeur in new delhi

• mixed styles

  • orientalism => “all in the east”

  • ex sfinx in India,..