how imperial states expanded 6.2

Shifts in Imperialism (1750-1900)

• Geographical Focus: Imperial expansion shifted predominantly to Africa and parts of Asia, moving away from the Americas. Previous focus was mainly on the Americas and coastal Africa for trade.

• Decline of Spain and Portugal: By 1750, Spain and Portugal lost importance while Britain, France, the Netherlands, and newly emerging powers like Germany, Italy, Belgium, the USA, and Japan began expanding.

Methods of Imperial Expansion

Four major methods of state expansion during this period:

1. State Takeovers of Private Colonies

• Definition: Transition of control from private individuals or businesses to state governance.

• Example:

  • Belgian Congo: Was a private colony of King Leopold II, who exploited the region for resources (particularly rubber). This resulted in high human costs and violence.

  • Consequences: Public outrage led to Belgian state taking control of the Congo in 1908.

  • Also applies to other cases like the Dutch government taking control of Indonesia and British governance in India.

2. Diplomacy and Warfare in Africa

• Diplomatic Expansion:

• diplomacy: building and maintaining relationships between nations groups or individuals through negotiation, and peaceful means

  • Berlin Conference (1884-1885): called by otto van bismark of germany, Established European claims to African territories. No African leaders were invited, leading to arbitrary borders that split ethnic groups.

  • Significance: It underscored the competition for empire building.

• Warfare Expansion:

  • Example: france in debt to algeria thst supplied its wheat-French cent diplomat to negotiate more time to pay back but refused. French expansion into Algeria triggered by diplomatic tensions (e.g., an insult to a French ambassador).

  • Result: Military invasion led French dominance in parts of North Africa despite local resistance.

3. Establishment of Settler Colonies

• Definition: A colony in which an imperial power claims and already inhabited territory and sends its own people to set up an outpost of their own society.

• Examples:

  • Australia and New Zealand: British settlers established societies and introduced neo-european society and decimated local populations (e.g., Aborigines, Maoris) due to introduced diseases and conflicts.

4. Conquering Neighboring Territories

• US Expansion: Manifest Destiny drove American ambition to conquer territories from East to West; notably through:

  • Louisiana Purchase (1803)

  • Wars with Mexico and Spain

  • Forced displacement and assimilation of Indigenous peoples onto reservations and into schools and americanize them

  • manifest destiny: was a calling from God to possess all the territory from the Atlantic to thePacific Ocean

• Russia's Expansion:

  • After the Crimean War, the ideology of Pan-Slavism to unite all slavic under russian authority drove Russia to expand its territory into Ottoman and Austrian regions, including the establishment of Vladivostok treding post and further claims in Central Asia.

• Japan's Expansion: Post-Meiji Restoration, Japan industrialized rapidly and expanded into Korea, Manchuria, and parts of China as a non-Western imperial power.

Conclusion

• The period between 1750 to 1900 marked a transformation in imperial strategies among states, with significant consequences for global politics and the affected regions' populations, evidenced through various forms of expansion and control techniques.