empire Flashcards
1
Q
statistics on empire
A
Europe is just 4.5% of the world’s surface area but has control of 85% by 1900.
- From 1790, there is a settler revolution. 60 million leave in 100 years. Chicago becomes a primate city: in 1830s has 100 people, in 1890 it has over one million. Melbourne reaches half a million in 1890.
- In Africa, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained independent in Asia, just China, Thailand, Japan and Nepal.
2
Q
imperialism
A
the sustained effort to assimilate a country or region to the political, economic or cultural system of another power. There is both formal (explicit transfer of sovereignty) and informal (through trade, investment and diplomacy).
3
Q
different types of colonies
A
- Extractive colonies (large areas of Africa, indirect rule)
-Developmental colonies (Settler communities which want to reproduce neo-European communities at a distance - India and French colonial rule ) - Slave colonies and plantations/ exploitative interaction
(import of new population – white European, slaves, indentured labour. )
4
Q
why were there variations in settler communities?
A
- The Iberians, Russians, Germans and British had sufficient people to settle whereas the Neo-French and Neo-Dutch did not.
- The settler divergence stemmed from previous experience with short range migration. British mass migration (Scotland moved to Ulster in the hundred thousand during the 18th century) and this proved that it could work, giving them confidence.
- The Portuguese women who moved to the colonies came disproportionately from Atlantic islands. Women came from a region previously experiencing short range migration, taking the sting away from the decision.
5
Q
how did technological improvements contribute to imperialism?
A
- Better firearms which were harder hitting and had a longer range means that they could use force and makes moving into the interior much easier.
- Steamships and railways facilitated movement.
- Quinine which could cure malaria made them more resilient to disease making the migration process more appealing and ultimately successful.
- The telegraph allowed for effective communication between colonies
- The creation of the inflatable tire in 1890 by Joseph Dunlop. It increases the demand for rubber vine from trees in the Congo.
- it renewed confidence and necessitated access to natural resources.
6
Q
was imperialism flexible and opportunistic?
A
- In 1828, the Gold Coast was given a committee of merchants but after parliamentary pressure the colonial office resumed control in 1842 before pondering complete withdrawal in the 1850s.
- The colonial office opposed the annexation of New Zealand during the 1830s, but this was abandoned in 1839.
7
Q
nationalism and imperialism
A
- No major war was fought in Europe in 1870-1914 so European states asserted economic and political dominance in other parts of the globe instead. Possession of colonies was a factor of world power and increased the standing in Europe of countries that possessed them.
- People were much more aware of their competitors and a central tenant of the nation-state is that it exists within a system of other nation-states. This gave it an international dimension. Imperial expansion forced the leaders of states to consider the substance of the nationality they claimed to embody. It sharpened patriotic identities.
- European power are keen to not let this friction spill over into war and therefore agreements are made to divide regions. For example, during the Scramble for Africa.
8
Q
nationalism in indigenous countries.
A
it encouraged nationalism in indigenous countries. Egypt had always been a distinct province, partly because it had historical authenticity and party because it spoke a unique version of Arabic.
- It had a strong economy and a long history of autonomy (Creole policy). After 1878, Europe took interest and forced them to cut back their armies, raise taxation and accept foreign advisers. This created Egyptian resentment – ‘Egypt for Egyptians’.
9
Q
politically motivated imperialism
A
- French imperialism peaked following periods of political volatility such as the 1848 Revolution when large swathes of SE Asia are conquered and in 1871 after defeat of the Franco-Prussian War when the Scramble for Africa comes to fruition.
- to demonstrate their resilience, European powers projected their reach elsewhere.
- Imperialism was thus used to demonstrate national strength during periods of internal fissure
- The demise of the Ottoman empire which creates a power vacuum. Britain had her eye on Egypt and Italy on Libya.
- Germany wanted to prove its status as the arbiter or Europe and therefore administered the Berlin conference to partition Africa.
- After unification of Germany and war between Russia and Turkey, Bismarck constructed a system of alliances which ensured Germany and security in Europe and forced international conflict to be played out in a wider sphere.
10
Q
Suez Canal
A
- national security was a key factor for Britain’s decision to occupy Egypt as protecting the Suez Canal was important for the British Empire.
- it opened in 1869 and shortened the sea route from Europe to South Africa and East Asia. It was therefore a lifeline to India.
- Britain established a protectorate over Egypt making government leaders officials of the Ottoman Empire
11
Q
economic motivations for imperialism
A
- population growth threatened their state of autarky; new territories were required for new materials; global trade; broaden culture; the expansion and development of the people
- Ground nut oil and palm oil exported from Senegal, raw milk from Saigon, Suez Canal built in 1859 and until 1869 was a largely French enterprise.
- Great Britain – protectionist system meant colonies provided reserved markets for British exports and exports from colonies were admitted at lower customs rates.
- The British monopolised Bengal’s infamous textile monopoly. Here, the British also grew opium cheaply and abundantly and this helped to counteract the chronic trade imbalance which had previously existed between coveted Chinese materials, such as silk, and the correspondingly low demand for European goods
- rubber vine in the Congo
12
Q
slavery as a motivation
A
- during French occupation of Vietnam, the trading of girls and women increased exponentially.
- this wasn’t necessarily a motivation but an unfortunate side effect. The technological development that they presided over facilitated the trading process and the export agricultural system that was set in place required significant manpower and this meant that more people migrated to the northern border where it was easier to kidnap colonial subjects.
- anti-slavery rhetoric grew
- In 1887, l’avenir du Tonkin, a colonial newspaper, reported that French troops had resisted Chinese attackers and liberated 200 women and children held captive. In 1895, a joint police force was created and tasking with manning the border.
- In 1904 in Paris, the White Slave Traffic was signed, calling for the coordination of all information relative to the procuring of women and girls for immoral purposes abroad as well as trafficking within national boundaries
- 833, before the height of imperial expansion, Britain passed the Abolition of Slavery Act. They got involved in the scramble for Africa to stop other nations.
- The British policed African slavery and outlawed it. People would swim out to British ships to be freed from slavery in the Ottoman empire.
- Leopold was so successful as IAA had anti-slavery philanthropists involved. It was simply about getting money and this is seen by his redraft go Stanley’s contracts which were not lucrative enough.
13
Q
how did racial theory motivate imperialism/ humanitarian causes
A
- many saw imperialisms as a process of civilisation. As western nations it was their duty to educate the benighted people of the colonies.
- Rudyard Kipling in his The White Man’s Burden expressed this mission in the 1890s when he argued it was a moral obligation of Europe.
- this also stemmed from social Darwinism when Herbert spencer applied the theory of evolution to social environments. It posited the idea that some people were more advanced than others and therefore it was only natural for white people to conquer the inferior.
- Rudolf Wagner used scientific analysis of skulls to perpetuate ideas of indigenous inferiority
- In the Iliad, the Greeks are presented as a superior culture. for Hegel, world history was European history in its imperialist endeavours.
14
Q
social imperialism
A
- the diversion of internal tensions and forces of change in order to preserve the internal status quo. Bismarck used this as a distraction from German fissures.
- In 1897, for instance, the Tirpiz plan encouraged the expansion of the Germany Navy as an embodiment of the economic and cultural values of empire.
- by 1914, there were some 331,000 fee-paying members and 776,000 affiliated associations all of which staffed central offices, dispatched people to the colonies and published media advocating for imperial expansion.
- This sharpened nationalist identity, keeping the riotous working class both subservient and contended
15
Q
indigenous resistance in the form of war
A
- indigenous resistance was helped by intervention from other western powers
- The USA went to war with Spain on behalf of a revolt against Spanish rule in Mexico. They destroyed the Spanish fleet of Manila and in Santiago Bat in 1898. Ciba were given independence.
- However, they managed to fend of Spanish formal empire but were left with informal empire form the US. The USA was reserved the right for intervention after military occupation ended in 1902
- France had colonised Mexico to access the silver mines. Austrian Archduke Maximillian had been sponsored by Napoleon III as Emperor of Mexico. He was defeated by American-backed Mexican forces in 1867, captured and shot.
16
Q
how was indigenous resistance impacted by the state of industrialisation?
A
-Geopolitical transformation of the late 19th century changed this.
Britain constructed warships at half the cost and double the speed of Russia. Their financial resources could fund a long war and informal imperialism during times of peace
17
Q
boxer rebellion
A
- the Boxer rebellion in China in 1900 was a popular uprising against imperialists who were partitioning the country.
- It attacked the houses of Chinese people who had converted to Christianity as it undermined the traditional confusion school of beliefs.
- the Boxer rebellions were backed by the Manchu government but were eventually defeated.
- This was partly because between 1870 and 1914, the Western nations carved China into spheres of influence (France in SW, Germany in the N and Britain in the Yangzi river
18
Q
Japanese resistance
A
- the Meiji restoration began in 1867.
-They wanted to increase the power of the emperor and to make it strong enough to compete with Western powers.
-The adopted a constitution based on the Prussian model with the emperor at the head and strengthened the military and industrial sectors of the country (based on a draft and the construction of iron steamships).
This allowed them to defeat Russia in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904.
19
Q
African resistance
A
- in 1904, a well organised rebellion broke out in the Congo under king Kwet aPe and groups of people overrun European enterprises on the Niger.
- They were defeated but the TongaTonga rebellion eventually led to negotiations and the transferral of the Congo from privately owned hands to the Belgian government.
20
Q
cooperation with colonisers
A
- many Princely states in India were governed independently by natives. the ICS required an education in England and the sepoys were better than agricultural jobs.
- Many Europeans put off settling in parts of empire with infectious diseases, unfamiliar climates, alien local culture so these jobs fell to occupied people. Colonisers therefore relied on intermediaries such as chiefs, clerks, interpreters
- 1914 the first African had joined French National Assembly and by the late 1890s there were two Indian members of parliament in Britain.
- In China, the currency and difficulty of penetrating the China market without an acceptable Chinese intermediary made western traders dependent upon the comprador (a Chinese agent who acted as an agent for a foreign firm).
21
Q
what made resistance less successful?
A
- Africa was a patchwork of tribes operating somewhat as a federation. The Kuba was just one of the Conog regions made of 20 Bantu ethnic groups. This meant that European powers could resort to a policy of divide and rule pitting chieftains against one another and making it easier to penetrate.
- There was a lower level of state building and cultural unification making it more easily penetrable. The low population density in certain regions reduced the manpower needed to overcome the locals.
- divide and rule. Hindus and Muslims had different priorities and princely states also had vested interests in the country’s administration.
- Geopolitical transformation of the late 19th century changed this. Britain constructed warships at half the cost and double the speed of Russia. Their financial resources could fund a long war and informal imperialism during times of peace.
22
Q
how did geography influence colonialism and the success of resistance?
A
- Until the development of quinine which made it safer for European troops to penetrate the African interior, countries like the Congo had not be colonised.
- This became particularly important during the Berlin Conference where effective occupation had to be proved. Those which had been able to delay colonialism did not have treaties and infrastructure to support this premise and therefore could be less easily acquiesced.
- inaccessible. European powers had lacked the firepower, the mobility and communications to pacify the interior. It was only when the steamship and railway had been developed which allowed for greater mobility that these forces could travel up the rivers and into the interiors. This allowed for the relative delay of imperialism until the end of the 19th century.
- Egypt’s location on the north of Africa also made it the locus of British attention. Had it not been positioned so close to the Suez Canal.
23
Q
economic motivations for the scramble for Africa
A
- Leopold set up the IAA which was a privately-owned company committed to exploring and exploiting the country for economic benefits. People who worked for Leopold’s company were paid in francs and then taxed by the Belgian government. when rubber prices plummeted in 1903 as did wages taxes did not reflect this. it became far more exploitative.
- Britain wanted to have access to the Suez canal as it ensured faster access to South Africa and East Asia. This could protect their interests in India and preserve the textile and opium trades already established here.
- Great Britain – protectionist system meant colonies provided reserved markets for British exports and exports from colonies were admitted at lower customs rates.
- Cecil Rhodes involvement in South Africa was for access to Gold and therefore this motivation went beyond states and included personal enterprises.
24
Q
bribes from colonisers
A
- King Lobengula accepted bribes of guns, alcohol and opium drugs in return for inviting Rhodes’ company into Matabele
- King Mwanga of Uganda collaborated with European colonial forces in order to gain victories against rival local rulers
25
how did Joseph Conrad shape colonialism?
- Joseph Conrad shaped public opinion through his novel writing such as the Heart of Darkness. Through the character of Marlow he describes colonists as ‘weak-eyed devils’ and is overwhelmingly critical.
- It was published in 1902 and was very successful. reports such as ED Morel in British papers pressurised the British Foreign Office to Act. Morel published his own statistics about the economic hypocrisy of Leopold’s business. Eventually the Congo Reform Associaiton was set up in 1903.
26
How did David Livingstone and Stanley shape colonialism?
- Stanley Morton was funded by both the New York herald and the London Daily Telegraph to explore Africa in search of the source of the Nile David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley were marching all over Africa delighting the press with stories of the exports. This showed Leopold that no one is occupying central Africa.
- Given that Livingstone allegedly died on his knees begging the end of slavery and this was captured positively in the media, Leopold acknowledges that to go into Africa, you need to be anti-slavery. Without this, the IAA may not have pioneered anti-slavery to the same extent.
27
popular conception of colonialism
- the colonial adventures of 1880 were not generally popular with public opinion, especially with the political left. It was seen as a waste of resources, provocative of dangerous colonial wars and beneficial only to capitalists.
- Empire Day was created in Britain. Set up by politicians to help people acquire a sense of identity as part of a wider Empire. It had created controversy, celebrating Britain’s strength helped unite people
- the Tunisian expedition contributed to the demise of Jules Ferry’s first ministry in 1881 and the proposed Egyptian one the same for Freycinet in 1882.
28
how did empire impact German citizenship?
- in Germany, those born to married parents received the father’s citizenship in that state. This was different to in France where anyone born on state soil of territory received citizenship.
- in Germany, on marriage, the man’s citizenship erased and replaced that of the women, and this had implications for colonial mixed marriages.
- Men who married colonial women struggled.
- In 1909, a new self-administration charter stripped German men of their municipal voting rights if they were married to or living with a native woman.
- Becker and Panzlaff were German men who had settled and married in the colonies. They protested against the conditions in the colony that prevented his children from being white. this questioned inheritance procedures and meant that they suffered discrimination
29
why would women become concubines?
- Few women left Europe for the colonies until well into 20th century. Dutch colonial East Indian authorities banned European wives until 1920s – colonial policy was to encourage new arrivals to take a ‘bed servant’ and in India during 19th century European men outnumbered women three to one.
- local women often voluntarily became concubines as they could often bring advantages for women. It was believed that former wives of Europeans could go on to make good marriages with locals.
- Wide practice of allowing those born to slave mother and white father to be freed from field labour for domestic work or freed entirely along with their mothers
30
how did women impact colonialism?
- people saw inter-marriage as a dilution of European cultural hegemony and therefore women were encouraged to migrate to the colonies in order to counteract this decline. They could help to maintain racial purity.
- They were seen as spreading European values to the colonial children – a mother- and this gave them a role in the public spheres of life.
- Th German Women’s Colonial Association used this to encouraged people to move to the colonies
- Whatever men did, there was a strong desire for women to do the same as endogamy would allow people to sustain Europeanness.
- These cultures back home is disproportionately female run (e.g. businesses) and illegitimacy rates are very high. This is seen as more socially acceptable than it was before. This is not classical feminism but folk feminism. People are not interested in the vote and equal rights per say.
- mixed marriage in the colonies could affect gender relations in Germany. colonial women were cheap and unable to place many demands on their husbands or sexual partners. They were worried that mixed marriage would throw German marriages back into a state of primitive male brutality. Indeed, explorer Carl Peter used the analogy of going native to explain his murders.
31
how did colonialism modify Chinese culture?
- Confucianism is adapted. Modern versions of the ancient texts combined religious determinism with reforming vigour.
- Under emperor Zai Tian three policies of reform were introduced: the modernisation of the traditional examination system, the elimination of sinecures and the creation of a system of modern education and the introduction of a constitutional monarchy.
- The abolition of the eight-legged essay as a system of examination had been in the works for a longtime. People still had to study four out of the five classics.
32
what social change did colonialism bring?
- Christianity and Islam spread rapidly to West Africa.
- ‘English Official Nationalism’ especially in British India – Lord Macaulay headed the Committee of Public Instruction in Bengal from 1834, introduced English educational system to try and create new class of more English Indians
- the passport competitive foreign merchants, it was extended to ordinary citizens. Indian merchants overseas became subjects of British India and this complicated the definition of nationality
- in Congo, many were forced to harvest rubber for King Leopald’s private company, the Compangie du Kasai. People who worked for Leopold’s company were paid in francs and then taxed by the Belgian government. when rubber prices plummeted in 1903 as did wages taxes did not reflect this. it became far more exploitative.
- Between 1885 and 1907, the Congo population declined by 50%.
- In 1896, after being declared a French possession, the chamber of deputies voted the immediate emancipation of all slaves in the new colony. Many were recruited for mass urban construction.
33
what urban change did colonialism bring?
- statistics in industrialisation about improvements to sanitation in India.
- Aesthetic predilections had a political dimension, freezing indigenous economic and political development at an archaic level of the picturesque, in sharp contrast to the visible advances and opportunities available to Europeans.
- - there was a tendency for class and ethnic segregation through zoning policies. the gap between architecture and ordinary buildings grew wider. In Saigon a certain region was reserved for the construction of European type houses – permanent, detached and of minimum size.
- Hebrard incorporated the familiar diagonal boulevard and isolated monuments of baroque urban design looking back to France’s grand siècle into the administrative quarters of Hanoi
- he still spent much time photographing and sketching indigenous architecture such as Angkor Wat or Buddhist Pogodas.
34
what political change did colonialism bring to the host country?
- Boer War recruitment statistics suggests that 50% of the population were regarded as medically unfit and this placed a greater focus on domestic healthcare. It led to the Committee on Physical Deterioration which lobbied the government for improved healthcare measures.
- it led to ideas about national efficiency. We needed a strong workforce at home in order to sustain the colonies in both military and economic terms.
- Fabian Society supported the Boer War, supporting the creation of a citizen army and therefore the need for international healthcare.
- the concentration camps used during the Boer War were documented by philanthropic such as Emily Hobhouse. She drew paralleled between the poor conditions subject to disease and the squalor that the British poor were living in.
35
indigenous collaboration in India
- at first it relied on slave labour and trafficked in slaves from the West and East Africa during the 18th century.
- the EIC had its own army which by 1800 had 200,000 soldiers more than twice the membership of the British army at the time.
- They used this to subdue the Indian people, enforcing unfair taxation policies. For example, during the Indian mutiny of 1857, force was used to suppress the Indian soldiers and this suggests that their relationship was not build on cooperation.
- Overtime, the empire became more about cooperation. Following the effective abolishment of the EIC in 1858, the British raj was set up.
36
the fashoda crisis
- The Fashoda crisis was a turning point in the African ambitions of the Parti Colonial. Territorial exchange started to be considered.
- By the beginning of 1905, the CDAF and its Moroccan offshoot had achieved most of their initiatives. They secured French position in Africa by sacrificing Egypt for Morocco.
- The British and the French came to an agreement over Siam. The Menam valley was neutral but the east and west were French and British, respectively. Japan started to rival control of Siam. This led to a policy of cooperation with England in 1902.
37
how did politics influence French imperialism
- the weak government meant that major decisions could be taken by single ministers and approved by the cabinet without serious discussion.
- The parti colonial was most successful during periods of intense weakness (e.g. succession of ministries during the Fashoda expedition)
- They were angered by the Anglo-French agreement of 1893 which neglected French interests and therefore wanted to contest British interests in the continent. Franco-German rivalry in 1904 had a similar effect.
38
who attended the Berlin Conference?
- the Berlin conference formalised the longer process of colonization that Europeans had been imposing upon Africans throughout the nineteenth century and potentially earlier.
- no Africans present. The paternalism that lurks behind this Is significant. it was good for them and Commerce, Christianity and civilisation would bring salvation.
- the precedent is set by the second British conference of 1880 excluding the ottomans from any negotiations about their own territory – exclusion of Africans in 1884.
