1. The Development Of Imperialism c1857-c1890 - Relations With Indigenous

Question 1

Who were the Boers?

Answer 1

They were descendants of the 17th Century Dutch settlers. They had moved away from the administrative centres, were fiercely independent and didn’t accept any outside rule

Question 2

What did the British authorities do towards the boers?

Answer 2

They began to follow the Boers and hostilities developed such as the development of new laws - in 1823, English was to be adopted as their official language & the emancipation of British slaves in 1833

Question 3

What effect did the laws enforced by the British have on the Boers?

Answer 3

a large number of Boers to move away from the cape colony on a trek north, known as the ‘great trek’

Question 4

Who are the Bantu people?

Answer 4

Bantu peoples is used as a general label for the 300-600 ethnic groups in Africa who speak Bantu languages. They inhibit an area stretching east and southward from central Africa across the African Great Lakes

Question 5

What increased tensions between Britain and the Boers?

Answer 5

The 1867 Europeans discovery of diamonds in West Griqualand, bordering the Orange free state. The discovery triggered a ‘diamond rush’ which attracted white settlers and indigenous Bantu people

Question 6

Where did British annex in 1868 and 1871 and what did they say the indigenous Africans wanted?

Answer 6

In 1868 The British annexed Basutoland, claiming the indigenous Africans were seeking protection from the Boers. And in 1871, the British also took west Griqualand

Question 7

What happened as a result of the 1871 annexation of west griqualand?

Answer 7

2000 Griqua people wanted to live outside the boundaries of colonial society to escape racial prejudice and so trekked eastwards to establish Griqualand east in 1873

Question 8

What happened to Griqualand east in 1874

Answer 8

It was annexed by the british

Question 9

When did Britain propose a federation of the British-Boer territories and what was the response?

Answer 9

In 1875 but the Boers gave a firm rejection

Question 10

How did Boer failures allow Britain to annex the Transvaal in 1877?

Answer 10

the Boers were unsuccessful against the pedis who managed to maintain their independence in the eastern Transvaal and upon this failure, Britain announced the annexing of it in 1877 claiming they needed to defend the white European settlers against the pedis and Zulus

Question 11

How did the Boers respond to Britain annexing the Transvaal?

Answer 11

They reluctantly accepted British aid and Britain intern launched and invasion of zululand in jan 1879

Question 12

What happened in 1879 for relations between Britain and the Bantu?

Answer 12

The Zulu army defeated the British at Isandlwana. However reinforcments were sent and the British army defeated the zulus at their capital, Ulundi

Question 13

In 1880, what did the Boers do after the Zulus were defeated?

Answer 13

They declared independence from Britain

Question 14

What happened in the first Boer war in 1880-81?

Answer 14

The Boers rejected British control, attacking the British army garrisons across the Transvaal - 150 Britons were killed at Majuba hill in February and were forced to sign the convention of Pretoria

Question 15

What was the convention of Pretoria?

Answer 15

It recognised Boers self government in Transvaal

Question 16

What impact did Germany have on British-Boer relations and how did Britain respond in 1885?

Answer 16

German presence raised British fears that Boers might form an alliance with Germany and consequently Britain annexed a section of territory between German south west Africa and the Transvaal, called beauchanaland - as a strategic attempt to prevent the combining of the German-Boer colonies

Question 17

When were the gold discoveries at Witwatersrand and what was the impact?

Answer 17

In 1886, they caused tensions and gold was sought by trading companies and traders and brought a mass of non-Boer Europeans there known as Uitlanders

Question 18

What was Cecil rhoades’ aim?

Answer 18

He sought to extend the British empire - he aimed to create a continuous british land route from cape to Egypt which had come under British control in 1882

Question 19

What was the Indian rebellion and why did it begin?

Answer 19

It was an attempt to fight back which had begun among sepoys serving in the Bengal army. They were mainly peasant soliders and were proud of their military. However in 1857, grievances about pay and changes to their condition of service exploded.

Question 20

What was the traditional explanation for the rebellion outbreak?

Answer 20

It was said that cartridges in rifles they had been given were greased in animal fat which offended religious sensibilities for Muslims and Hindus

Question 21

What was the real trigger of the rebellion?

Answer 21

• Landlords and nobles felt anger towards those who had been deprived of their lands by governor general Dalhousie
• social and cultural grievances from British rule
• forced hardship on Indian people

Question 22

What were the reasons for the rebellion?

Answer 22

• the policy of westernisation created resentment
• sepoys in the Indian army were mutinied in 1857
• India was progressively swamped by cheap, british goods
• economic grievances - British property developers imposed high rents and introduced a landlord system
• territorial expansion resented
• lots of Indians felt they were being forced to accept an ‘alien culture’
• 90% of all men in the British Indian army were Indian
• 270000 men - 40000 of British origin

Question 23

What happened in the Indian rebellion?

Answer 23

Sepoys in meerut rose against their English officers in may 1857 and took control of many northern cities (Cawnpore, Agra, lucknow). The sepoys were joined by rebels such as disconnected landowners who lost out to British rule and peasants who resented taxation. The Emperor’s sons were executed so that the rebels lost hope of restoring the Mughal dynasty. Delhi and lucknow were devastated as villages were burnt, rebels were tortured and officers, wives and children were killed.

Question 24

What was the impact of the rebellion?

Answer 24

India was passed into the direct rule of the British crown and the internal wars under east India company rule came to an end

Question 25

What were the challenges of traditional views of Indian historians towards the rebellion?

Answer 25

The mutiny was increasingly seen as backwards looking - with the mutineers, focusing their dislike of British rule on the policy of westernisation.

Question 26

What was society like in india after the rebellion?

Answer 26

The british grew more aloof despite trying to act in a more religiously sensitive way, after 1858 there was greater separation between indian and british culture, the legal systems imposed favoured the british more and were too complex and expensive to help the poor and even the educated found it difficult to obtain promotion beyond the low ranks in society

Question 27

What were the benefits of the British Raj?

Answer 27

• the british built railways for trade
• offered markets for indian agriculture produce
• britain developed schemes for irrigation and land improvements
• cheap british manufactures provided to india
• british provided school and university and jobs

Question 28

what were the setbacks of the British Raj?

Answer 28

• railways were strictly for trade and villages didn’t even have mud roads
• higher value cash crops
• india became dependent on food imports and consumption per head declined
• irrigation and land improvements only took place where they supported british commercial interests - affected 6% of land
• india was unable to develop viable industries of its own
• only the privileged could benefit from school
• poverty continued and death rates from famine were high

Question 29

What evidence is there to show that education expansion was prominent after the Raj?

Answer 29

30 years following 1857, 60000 indians entered universities and by 1882, over a third of Calcutta graduates entered government service and slightly more went into legal profession. Graduates of the three universities by 1882 accounted for 1100 appointments to government service

Question 30

What was the impact of Viceroy Canning?

Answer 30

From 1859-61 He made a tour of India designed to win back those who dispossessed or alienated by British rule and as a result: some land and titles returned to Indians, star of India medals were introduced, positions in the imperial assembly or statuatory civil service were shared amongst Indian nobility and there were more education establishments opened

Question 31

What economic benefits were there in India under the British Raj?

Answer 31

As well as railways, European style factories were built to aid manufacturing, subsistence farming prevailed, the number of tea plantations increased from just one in 1851 to 295 by 1871 and there was an increase in the domestic production of raw cotton for export to Britain

Question 32

How did Britain describe their rule in India?

Answer 32

‘Benign rule’

Question 33

Paul Kruger: