notes

Rationales for Imperialism

• Quote from Rudyard Kipling:

  • "Take up the White Man's Burden - Send forth the best ye breed - Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives' need; To wait in heavy harness On fluttered folk and wild - Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child." (1899)

Essential Question

• What ideologies contributed to the development of imperialism between 1750 and 1900?

Overview of Rudyard Kipling

• English writer who spent youth in British colonial India

• Urged whites to establish colonies for the good of the "inferior" peoples

• Poem used to justify European colonization

Justifications for Imperialism

• Beliefs included:

  • Nationalism

  • Desire for economic wealth

  • Sense of religious duty

  • Belief in biological superiority

• Motives led to conflicts in Asia and a scramble to colonize Africa

Nationalist Motives for Imperialism

• Western Europe in the 1800s:

  • Characterized by revolutions and the rise of nationalism

  • Asserted authority over other territories to build an empire

• Countries Involved:

  • Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands

  • Post-American colony loss, Britain sought new lands (e.g., New South Wales, India)

  • France expanded territories after Franco-Prussian War, acquiring Algeria and Indochina

  • Italy and Germany sought colonies for prestige from mid-1880s

  • Spain's power diminished, playing a lesser role in this era

Japan in East Asia

• Asserted nationalist pride through incursions into Korea

• Resulted in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), leading to control of Korea and Taiwan

Cultural and Religious Motives for Imperialism

• Kipling's quote reflected condescension from imperialism proponents

• Belief in a civilizing mission rather than invasion

Racial Ideologies and the Misuse of Science

• Colonial powers viewed themselves as superior

• Pseudoscientists claimed proof of nonwhite racial inferiority

  • E.g., phrenologists studied skull sizes

• Misinterpretation of Darwin's theory of evolution to support Social Darwinism

  • Used to justify imperialism and further European dominance

Cultural Ideologies

• Belief in technological superiority justified cultural imposition

• Colonizers introduced language, political, educational, and religious institutions

• Josiah Strong (1885) expressed belief in Anglo-Saxon superiority and its global implications

Religious Motives

• Missionaries as civilizing forces akin to earlier Spanish/Portuguese efforts

• Critiques of missionaries supporting imperialism by converting locals to Christianity

• Missionaries' actions led to significant changes in traditional beliefs

  • Combined religious with humanitarian efforts:

    • Set up schools

    • Provided better medical care

    • David Livingstone's work in ending the slave trade in Sub-Saharan Africa.