Monday: Empires and Imperialism

Modernity: Refers to both a set of interconnected economic, political and social changes, and to the experience of those changes as ‘newness’.

A: Exploration, Empire and the conquest of the ‘New World.’

1492: ‘The Columbian contact’ - Christopher Columbus
1494: Division of the World by the Catholic Church at the Treaty of Tordesillas

Impact of the Spanish and Portuguese empires on South America and the Caribbean,
‘New Spain’ v. Inca and Aztec civilizations
Conquest and disease (Spain and Portuguese brought disease in which the local population did not have immunity to)
Stock raising and mining: Cleared current infrastructure and replaced it with current mining and cattle ranching instead of being of fields of maize etc.
Sugar and plantation agriculture = The local population is used basically as slave labour

Perhaps 55 million decline in population from a pre-Columbian population of 60 million but estimates vary (90% decline within 100 years after contact)

B: Slavery, Migration and Empire

• Slaves as a key ‘commodity’ in an emerging global economy

• The transatlantic slave triangle

  • 6-10 million African slaves transported

  • Up to 2 million killed in transit (‘the middle passage’)

• Sugar and Cotton - an emerging global economy powered by Atlantic slavery

• Revolution in consumption to Europe

• Provided capital (money) that was invested in other spheres - industry, infrastructure, cities - and Stately Homes.

C. The Age of Empire and the ‘Scramble for Africa’
1876-1915

Most of Europe had some stake in Africa → Africa was brutally carved up for Europe

Reasons for European expansion:

• Military competition and advantage

• Control of raw materials

• Empire and the growth of mass consumption:

• Empire growth could also be argued to have been caused because of the search for markets

Cities and sites of Empire:

New Delhi: Building to show off the strength of the Empire a symbol of power, now centre of goverment for India

London Docklands: Used to be the biggest trading port in London
Early 1900s, new buildings were made in London to suit its position as the capital of the empire.