12: Relationship with Indigenous People

Challenges to British Rule in India - Press

Opposition grew amongst the educated Indian professional classes. An outlet for protest was founded in the emergence of the growth of nationalist newspapers. Both Bal Tilak, editor of Kesari, and Shivram Paranjee, founder of Kaal (in 1898) were imprisoned for stirring up hostilities. Tilak was the first leader of the Indian independence movement, and was known as 'the father of the Indian unrest'. He formed a close alliance with many Indian National Congress leaders and was accused of inciting the murder of a medical officer. The popularity of Kaal led to Pranjee's arrest for sedition in 1908. He served 19 months imprisonment and hard labour - released in 1910. The British authorities banned the paper and confiscated his writings.

Young India

The Abhinar Bharat (Young Indian) organisation, founded by brothers Vinayak and Ganesh Damodar Savarkar in 1903, became the home for several hundred revolutionaries and political activists. Vinayak wrote regular newsletters to his counterparts in India as well as carrying out revolutionary propaganda in London. It established branches in several parts of India and carried out assassinations of British officials, including the district magistrate, Arthur Jackson, and a London based military advisor, Lieutenant-Colonel Curzon-Wyllie in 1909. Vinayak was charged with the Jackson murder and imprisoned in 1910. The society was formerly disbanded in 1952.

Partition of Bengal

The partition of Bengal prompted the most vociferous opposition. Tilak was at the forefront of a swadeshi, or self-sufficiency, campaign designed to undermine British rule. Petitions, protests and public boycotts of British goods took place. The 6-year campaign was successful in as much as Bengal was reunites in 1911. Its methods and principles greatly influenced the later campaigns of Gandhi

Challenges in Somaliland

Sayyid Hassan, a self-styled Somali religious warrior known as the 'Mad Mullah' by the British, built a force of c20 000 Dervish forces, armed with weapons from the Ottoman Empire, with the aim to halt Ethiopian, Italian and British gains in Somalia. From c1900, his forces mounted raids on British Somaliland, antagonising local communities. To counter him, the British conducted joint military action with Ethiopia's emperor Menelik, although without conclusive success. The Dervish secured a somewhat hollow victory over the outnumbered British 'camel constabulary' at the Battle of Dal Madoba in August 1913 and were never fully supressed until after WW1

Challenges in Zanzibar

British control was challenged briefly by Khalid bin Barghash who assumed power in 1896 following the suspicious death of the pro-British Hamound. Khlahid commanded 3000 men but he quickly fled following heavy bombardment from the British. The challenge lasted less than 2 days.

Challenges in West Africa

In 1898, the British governor of Sierra Leone, Colonel Cardew, introduced a new sever tax on dwellings, known as the 'hut tax' and also insisted that local chiefs organise their followers to maintain roads. These demands were met with resistance, one in the northern area of the Temne, led by Bai Bureh and the other in the southern area by the Mende, led by Momoh Jah. Cardew responded militarily and eventually deployed a 'scorched earth' policy, which involved setting fire to entire villages, farms and crops. This tactic secured surrender from Cardew's primary adversary, Chief Bai Burch, in November 189, although 100s had been killed in the process. Despite the British government's plea for leniency, Cardew had 96 of the chief warriors hanged

Challenges in Sudan

Kitchener conquered the Egyptian Sudan - culminating in the Battle of Omdurman and the fall of Khartoum in 1898. Many of the Sudanese did welcome the downfall of the Mahdist regime, which had severely damaged the Sudanese economy and seen a population decline of 50% through famine, disease, persecution and warfare. However, the arrival of the British meant little more than exchanging one oppressor for another. It took Britain more than 30 years to subdue the tribes in South Sudan. Britain attempted to create a modern government, introduce new penal codes, establish land tenure rules and a system of taxation for the first time in Sudan which incensed the Sudanese people. Tribes refused to renounce their customs and pay taxation; inter-tribal feuds persisted, bringing down the heavy hand of British law. A total of 33 punitive expeditions were mounted to force tribesmen to accept the new order and rebellious natives were often brutally treated. There were further Mahdist uprisings in 1900, 1902-3, 1904 and 1908. A series of swift public hangings accompanies the last as the British sought to make an example of the rebels - not even affording them a trial.

Development in Sudan

The region did experience considerable economic development in the hands of the British, particularly in the Nile valley. Telegraph and railway lines were extended to like key areas in northern Sudan and port Sudan opened in 1906, as the country's principle outlet to the sea. In 1911, a joint government/private initiative set up the Gezira Scheme to provide high-quality cotton for British textile industry and there were also improvements in irrigation schemes

The extent indigenous people were a threat to British rule

In India, most of the threat was mild e.g. newspapers, however there was some more active opposition. In other areas of the empire there were some minor uprisings but they were largely dealt with effectively. They weren't a major threat to Britain; Britain, concerned with the threat from Germany were unwilling to commit too many resources to Africa, but they were still able to contain the risings with these limited resources which suggests that they weren't too much of a threat

Causes of the Boer War - Political Factors

The Uitlanders were effectively denied the vote, despite the fact they paid taxes. Over 50 000 Britons were excluded from political rights despite the fact Boers who lived in Cape Colony were granted their political rights. At the Bloemfontein Conference of May-June 1899, Milner demanded the Transvaal granted voting rights to the Uitlanders - Kruger refused. Despite half-hearted attempts to compromise, both sides began mobilising troops. In October 1899, Kruger issues an ultimatum, demanding a British withdrawal from the border of the Boer republic- war broke out when the British stood firm

Causes of the Boer War - Economic Factors

The Transvaal's prestige and power had grown with the discovery of gold on the Rand in 1886. It extended its control over Swaziland by establishing its independent rail networks. Both Rhodes and Chamberlain were worries that British dominance in South Africa was under threat and launched the Jamerson Raid in 1895. High tariffs imposed by the Boers also irritated Rhodes and limited trade

Causes of the Boer War - Social Factors

Kruger's success in securing a 4th term as the Transvaal president in 1898 reflected the Boer's strong nationalist sentiment and resentment of British interference. An English man, Tom Edgar was shoot by a Transvaal policeman in December 1898 which prompted Uitlander outrage and pressure on the British government from the Uitlanders for firm action

Causes of the Boer War - Influence of Individuals

Cecil Rhodes, the Prime Minister of Cape Colony 1890-96, had an overriding aim in South Africa to bring the Boer republics into a South African Federation. Rhodes and Kruger were very hostile towards each other. Chamberlain also supported the federation ideas. Milner, the South African High Commissioner from 1897 encouraged the British to pursue a vigorous policy

Consequences of the Boer War on SA

• The eventual victory in 1902 came at a cost. Kitchener deployed a 'scorched earth' policy which involved incinerating Boer farms and livestock. Boer families and black Africans had been placed in concentration camps and endured horrendous conditions there. Many perished as a result of malnutrition and disease.By the end of the war, about 11500 people were living in these camps and many more had died in them. The camps were not intended to cause deaths - it was more a result of contemporary medical/sanitation ignorance. More than 16 000 British soldiers were also killed by disease, nearly 3x as many that had died from enemy action. In South Africa, the British had not been able to rely on their long-vaunted sea power. It prompted the Boers to develop a more distinctive 'Afrikaner' culture e.g. e.g. formation of the Het Volk Party. The Treaty of Vereening of May 1902 granted the Boers £3m compensation to restore their farms. Milner also worked to integrate the economies of the British and Boer colonies, bringing them into a single customs union and amalgamating their railway systems. The Transvaal was granted self-government in 1906, the Orange River Colony in 1907. However, in 1910 the parliaments of the Cape Colony, the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, as well as the people of Natal, agreed the establishment of the Union of South Africa, as an independent Dominion within the British Empire

Consequences of the Boer War on Britain

Humanitarians, left-wing liberals and socialists thought the use of camps was barbaric. The war highlighted the shortcomings of the British army. It had been anticipated to last 3/4 months, to involve 75 000 troops and cost no more than £10m. Instead it lasted the best part of 3 years, involved 400 000 troops and cost £230m. It also saw 22 000 British deaths, to just 6000 Boer troops. It showed the vulnerability of Britain's imperial control and perhaps made it more aware of its inability to inflict its will on other people without a cost. Britain had had to call on troops from other parts of the Empire (mainly India) to maintain the fight and the danger of leaving other dependencies with adequate armed back up was grave. The war's short-comings dictated the drive for national efficiency and dampened the jingoism that had characterised the 1890s. Thereafter only conservatives still spoke out politically for imperialism

Summary

British rule often showed little regard for indigenous people. They were intimidated, bullied and sometimes physically coerced into an acceptance of British rule. Imperialists were always ready to claim that these actions were in the best interests of the native peoples. The British genuinely believed themselves to be a civilising influence, no matter how different things might look to those on the receiving end