The Development Of Imperialism 1857-1890 Flashcards
Who were the explorers of Empire?
-David Livingstone
-John Kirk
-Sir Richard Burton
-John Speke
-Sir Harry Johnstone
What was the role and influence of David Livingstone on Empire?
• A Scottish explorer who became his travels as a missionary doctor, after 7 years of missionary work he had little success and instead turned to exploring
• He travelled between 1841-56 and was funded to return in 1858
• He tried to open a path for commerce and Christianity
• He explored in South Africa, the Kalahari Desert, Luanda, Zambezi and tried to discover the source of the Nile
• He discovered Lake Ngami (1849) and Zambezi (later Victoria) Falls (1855)
• He wrote 2000 letters about his exploration of the Zambezi river and conducted a series of celebrated lectures at Cambridge University, recollecting the geography, minerals, disease, languages, and cultures he had encountered
• He conducted missionary work and research in South Africa (1857). His book entitled Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa became an instant bestseller, selling 28 000 copies in the space of 7 months
• He worked well with native people and treated them with respect
• He was determined to end the slave trade in Central and East Africa
• He lost contact with Europe for about 6 years and Stanley was sent to find him
• Dies in 1873 of malaria and dysentery. Once his death was known he quickly became a national hero
What was the role and influence of John Kirk on empire?
• A Scottish physician
• He had a sense of Christian duty and had a desire for a respectable colonial position – he was committed to removing slavery in Africa
• He was appointed the chief medical officer and economic botanist for Livingstone’s Zambezi expedition
• He became a medical officer and vice-consul in the Sultanate of Zanzibar (1868) and lived the rest of his life as a diplomat and eventually ruled the island. He negotiated the handover of control from the sultan to the Imperial British East African Company
• He collected many aquatic specimens which he wrote about and sent his findings back to Britain
• Zanzibar was of commercial interest to Britain because of its clove and ivory exports. It was wealthy and home to East Africa’s first steam railway. Kirk ensured that Zanzibar acted as Britain’s client state, ensured that the slave trade was eradicated there and it gave Britain a toehold in East Africa
What was the role and influence of Sir Richard Burton on the empire?
• A linguistic scholar (spoke 29 languages), explorer, soldier, diplomat, and adventurer
• He wrote about birth, marriage, death, fetishism, ritual murder, cannibalism, bizarre sexual practices, pornography, homosexuality and the sexual education of women. He was involved in various controversies and scandals
• He explored Islamic cities e.g. Mecca, Somaliland (1855) and Zanzibar (1857-8)
• He explored East Africa with Speke and was the first European to see Lake Tanganyika (Speke was temporarily blinded at the time). He debated with Speke about the true source of the Nile
• He wrote 43 volumes on his explorations including travel books, 5 on West Africa, 30 volumes of translations including a 16-volume edition of Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra and works on Muslim life and manners
• He was not known for religious conviction, nor was he a supporter of British imperial policy – his motivation was mostly his spirit of adventure
What was the role and influence of John Speke on empire?
• Joined Burton on the quest to find the source of the Nile
• Was the first European to find Lake Victoria which he argued was the source of the Nile – Burton disputed this. The debate sparked public interest in the area but Speke died in a shooting accident in 1864 the day before he was due to appear in a public debate against Burton
• He explored Somaliland; the East African Coast; Lake Tanganyika; Southern Sudan; Lake Albert and Lake Victoria. He was important in surveying and mapping these areas and accounts of his exploration were published in 1863 and 1864
What was the role and influence of Sir Harry Johnstone on Empire?
• A linguist, painter and botanist
• He was inspired by Stanley
• He explored East Africa, Tunisia, Congo, Angola and Mount Kilimanjaro
• He became a colonial administrator, military commander and negotiator in Cameroon. Uganda and Mozambique
• He made treaties with local chiefs and bought these agreements to the newly formed British East Africa Company. His personal work brought a huge amount of land under British control, more than twice the size of Britain itself- land in Zambia, Rhodesia and central Africa
• He was a clear imperialist and sometimes worked as an agent for Cecil Rhodes and coined the phrase ‘Cape to
Cairo’. He did believe that British culture was superior and that gave them a right to rule others
What was the role and influence of Henry Morton Stanley on Empire?
• Born in Wales but emigrated to the USA in 1859 and fought on both sides in the American Civil War. He was raised in a workhouse and never really knew his parents
• He was a journalist for the New York Herald
• He worked as an agent for Leopold II of Belgium, helping set up his own personal colony in the Congo – he had originally intended to established British interests in the area but the Belgians moved faster
• Unfortunately, the native ruler of Zanzibar learned from Stanley’s journeys that the Congo was accessible and entered it to finds lots of new people to enslave
• He went on an expedition in 1869-71 to find Livingstone. He published a book entitled How I Found Livingstone in Central Africa. After he found him he joined him to explore the area around Lake Tanganyika
• His work publicised Africa and opened up the Congo basin for colonisation
What were missionary societies?
• Missionary societies had existed ever since the end of the 18th Century and shared a common conviction that world-wide conversion was a duty
• Their belief in Christianity and belief in the worthlessness of other faiths gave them courage to do their work
• Anglicans, Roman Catholic and particularly non-conformist groups such as the Methodists all sought to spread the Christian faith
• Some examples are: The Baptist Missionary Society; The London Missionary Society and the Church Missionary Society
What role did missionary societies play in promoting missionary work?
• Conferences were set up to oversee missions in different parts of the world
• They recruited people from Britain to do missionary work
• They produced pamphlets to relay stories and gain more financial backers for their work
Why did people become missionaries?
• The work of missionaries was often hard and unrewarding, many did not return as they were killed by natives of disease
• Missionaries hoped to create Christian bases that would become self-financing, self-governing and expansionist in their own right
• They went out of a sense of moral compulsion and deep religious conviction
What did missionaries do in the field?
• Missionary societies sometimes helped to open up territories to British rule by penetrating beyond colonial frontiers, establishing links with indigenous communities, seeking imperial protection, acting as local trading agents beyond the colonial frontiers and sharing their geographical, linguistic and strategic knowledge with the authorities
• Methodist missionaries from Australia prepared the ground for the establishment of British rule in Fiji in 1874
• John Mackenzie put pressure on the British government to establish a protectorate over Bechuanaland. He then became the Deputy Commissioner there
• Missionaries saw Africa as ‘virgin territory’ because the beliefs and cultures there was seen as primitive, India, by contrast, has a much more sophisticated civilisation with an entrenched set of beliefs, however, missionaries in India expanded rapidly from the 1850s. They were partially blamed for the mutiny and after the mutiny, Christian evangelism was discouraged there
• Many women were particularly concerned about the rights of women and children. Many learned local languages and assimilated the local culture to win the local’s respect. Mary Slessor, Amy Carmichael, and Mary Carpenter are some examples. They were responsible for the educating of women in India as well as introducing social reforms such as preventing girls from being used as temple prostitutes in India and getting the practice of Sati (widow burning) banned
• Missionary groups generally established compounds and farms to keep them safe. They set up churches and provided housing and farm work in return for native conversion
• They offered them material gain and education as well as Christianity
• Sometimes they met hostilities to the Christian message and were killed
• Anglican Henry Williams worked in New Zealand from 1823, building the first church as Paihia and
translating the Bible into Maori
Who were the key traders in Empire?
-Cecil Rhodes
-William Mackinnon
-George Goldie
What was the role and influence of Cecil Rhodes on empire?
• Sent to South Africa for his health and worked on his brother cotton farm. He moved to the diamond fields of Kimberley when the farm failed in 1871
• He borrowed money from N M Rothschild and Sons to buy up diamond mining operations in Kimberly
• He annexed territory around the Zambesi river through concessions and treaties which brought a large area of land under British control. It was called Rhodesia from 1895
• He was known to force indigenous tribes out of their land to make room for industrial development
• He also invested in fruits growing in the Cape from the 1880s which began the modern-day fruit industry
• He played a key role as a colonial administrator in South Africa, was the Cape Colony PM from 1890-96
• He amassed an enormous personal wealth from diamond mining and created the De Beers Consolidated Mines Company in 1888
• He formed his own company - The British South Africa Company, which got a charter in 1889
• In 1890, he attained a partnership with the Diamond Syndicate which meant he had a monopoly of the world’s diamonds supply
• He persuaded the government to invest in the area
What was the role and influence of William Mackinnon on empire?
• A self-made ship-owner and businessman from Scotland
• He established British control in East Africa by founding the Imperial British East Africa Company, which was given a charter in 1888, with a view to opening up new markets
• He founded the Calcutta and Burma Steam Navigation Company which was later renamed the British India Steam Navigation Company – a very large trading business in the Indian Ocean (especially in Zanzibar)
• He helped to found the Free Church of Scotland East African Scottish Mission in Kibwezi (now Kenya)
What was the role and influence of George goldie on empire?
• From a family with a palm oil business in the Niger Basin, established in 1875
• He formed the central African Trading Company in 1876
• He united all trading firms on the Niger River by securing over 450 local treaties to create a single company, the United African Company, however, he couldn’t get a royal charter for it at first. Eventually, it was granted one and it became known as the Royal Niger Company in 1886
• He became a colonial administrator and brought the land around the Niger under British Influence. Britain won the right to proclaim a protectorate over both northern and southern Niger at the Berlin Conference thanks to Goldie’s efforts. It later became the colony of Nigeria
• He established coffee and cocoa plantations and traded palm oil and kernels
What was the role and influence of colonial administrators on the empire?
• The British Empire was typically run by ‘men on the spot’ – directors, governors, high commissioners and consuls who found themselves in positions of control in the colonies and were crucial in extending British interests
• Although formal governors were appointed by the Colonial Office, they often had considerable discretion to interpret instructions as they saw fit
• Some ‘men on the spot’ started as explorers, missionaries or traders e.g. William Mackinnon, Cecil Rhodes, George Goldie and John Kirk
• Administrators often had contacts and had good links to government which allowed them to persuade the government to take more of an interest in certain areas
What was the role and influence of Sir Evelyn Baring on the empire?
• Became Earl of Cromer in 1901
• Began his career serving in India as a private secretary to his cousin, Lord Northbrook, who was Viceroy between 1872-6
• He had high levels of efficiency and had an arrogant rather patronising manner
• He was the ‘typical’ Victorian colonial administrator: hard-working, fair and a believer in liberal reform but also inflexible and with a sense of British superiority which made him condescending towards his inferiors
• He was sent to Egypt in 1877 to help Isma’il Pasha out of his financial difficulties. His advice was ignored so he returned to Britain
• In 1882 he returned to Egypt as Consul-General. He approved the Dufferin Report of 1883 which established an Egypt ‘puppet’ parliament with no power and asserted the need for British supervision of reforms in what
was then a bankrupt country. This established the ‘vailed protectorate’ in Egypt
• As Consul-General he opposed General Gordon’s mission in the Sudan from the onset
• He remained the real ruler of Egypt until 1907
Who were the colonial administrators in empire?
-Sir Evelyn Baring
-Sir Bartle Frere
What was the role and influence of Sir Bartle Frere on empire?
• Began his career in the India Civil Service. His support in the crushing of the Indian Mutiny in 1857 won him a knighthood and a place on the Viceroy’s council at Calcutta
• He became the Governor of Bombay and a member of the India Council (in Britain) between 1867-77
• In 1877 he was appointed the High Commissioner and Governor of the Cape Colony
• He was chosen by the conservative colonial sectary, Lord Carnarvon, to carry out a planned confederation in the area, merging British South Africa with the Dutch Republic of the Transvaal
• Frere found that the South African colonists were hostile to Carnarvon’s plans and the Transvaal Boers wanted independence
• Frere deliberately provoked a war with the Zulus whom he considered an obstacle to the federation (a union of stats with a central authority but some independence) in December 1878
• The war ended with a British victory, by the shocking defeat of the British forces at Isandlwana in January 1879 and the high cost of the war led to an official reprimand and Frere was withdrawn from South Africa by Gladstone’s liberal government in 1880 and denounces for acting recklessly
How did the British government view the empire in the first half of the 19th century?
• Before the mid-1800s the British government did not peruse a very active or interventionist role in Empire
• This was partly because of slow communications, lack of institutions to deal with Empire and from a general lack of commitment to intervention itself
• The Empire was bound up with a sense of nationalist prestige and identity but it was the freedom to trade and access markets that concerned Britain most
• Successive governments had resisted calls to secure new territories by, for example, withholding charters from commercial colonising companies that they didn’t think were viable
• Both Disraeli and Gladstone were against Empire at this point believing it unnecessary and financially counter-productive. Disraeli believed that colonies were a drain on British resources and Gladstone believed that the priority should be with those in Britain
Why did the British government view of empire begin to change from 1870?
• In the 1870s, there was a shift in attitude and a new interest in Empire, partly as a response to the concern about the ambitions of other European powers
• Other nations grew stronger industrially and Britain now found greater economic competition. Britain’s economy was relatively unsophisticated as it was based on earlier industrialisation than its rivals
• European and American protective tariffs made it harder to flood the western hemisphere with British manufactured goods
• The industrialisation in Britain had generated an enormous amount of surplus capital which could not find investments within the country, therefore, sought outlets overseas
• There was an increase in interest among the working-class and within popular forms of entertainment and literature
Who was Benjamin Disraeli?
-A Jew by birth but became a Christian
• Conservative party leader and Prime Minister in 1868 and between 1874-1880
• He maintained a friendship with Queen Victoria, flattering her with the Empress of India title in 1876. In the same year, she bestowed upon him the Earldom of Beaconsfield
Who was William Gladstone?
• Gladstone served as both Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer on four occasions
• He attended Oxford University before being elected to Parliament in 1831
• He served as colonial secretary (1845-46) in a conservative government before becoming the leader of the newly formed Liberal Party from 1868
• He was influenced by his other’s commitment to Scottish non-conformism
• It was argued that Gladstone was, at heart, a domestic politician whose views were anti-imperialist and non- interventionalist – he had little enthusiasm for colonial expansion
What were Disraeli and the conservatives attitude towards the empire?
• Disraeli began to assert that the conservatives were the party of Empire and that the liberals would allow it to crumble
• He presented this new perspective in his Crystal Palace speech in 1872 – arguing that it was the government’s duty to reconstruct the colonial Empire
• His new-found enthusiasm was partly to try to win support from the enlarged electorate (1867 reform act) The conservatives hadn’t won an election since 1841 and this was a sure way to win support – he won in 1874
• The liberal leader, Gladstone, never tried to disassociate the liberals with Empire, so the differences were not as great as Disraeli argues
• His aim was specifically to develop the commercial and strategic empire with the focus on the east rather than in Africa, where most of Gladstone’s’ annexations occurred
• As PM, Disraeli established the conservative party’s imperial attitudes and agenda by buying £4 m worth of Suez Canal shares in 1875. This gave Britain a permanent strategic interest in the area
• Disraeli steered the Royal Titles Act through the House of Commons in order to bestow the title of ‘Empress of India’ on Queen Victoria in 1877 which was a means to establish British control over India
• Disraeli and his Viceroy sought to consolidate and expand the Raj and respond to the Russian threat, by attempting to turn Afghanistan into a client state. Lytton launched an invasion of Afghanistan in November 1878. A conflict followed which as British-Indian troops suffer a series of setbacks, and almost 10 000 losses, before eventual victory secured British control over Afghanistan and the strategically significant north-west frontier. Disraeli also supported the Ottoman Empire against the Russian threat
• Disraeli’s government annexed the Boer republic of the Transvaal in 1877 and launched a war on the Zulu and Pedi tribes in the hope of establishing a British confederation over southern Africa
• The initial invasion of Zululand proved a failure, with British troops humiliated as Isandlwana in January 1879 before belatedly securing victory at Ulundi, six months later
• His government actually annexed relatively few areas but he was largely responsible for the profound long- term alteration in the way Empire was viewed. There were no new administrative or economic policies for the Empire enacted by Disraeli’s government and he completely ignored colonies of settlement
• The setbacks in the Afghan and Zulu campaigns contributed to the conservative’ resounding defeated in the April 1880 general election and the return of a liberal government under Gladstone
What were Gladstone and the Liberals attitude towards the empire?
• According to Gladstone, Britain should concentrate on developing existing colonies, helping them towards self-government. He distinguished between ‘imperialism’ which he opposed and ‘empire’ which he supported
• Gladstone developed a way of looking at Empire positively as having the potential for a larger community of sovereign states. He became aware of the importance o Empire and managed to line it with his principles
• He saw the Empire in largely economic terms – as a trading Empire This may explain why he admitted self- governing colonies
• Gladstone had been highly critical of Disraeli’s foreign and imperial policies and he had to pick up the pieces of the conservative actions in South Africa when the Transvaal Boers mobilised the throw off British control and declare their independence in December 1880
• The Boer’s civilian militia besieged British garrisons across the Transvaal – starting the first Boer war of 1880- 1881 which was now like a series of half-hearted skirmishes. Following the British forces’ defeat at Majuba Hill in February 1881, Gladstone declined to commit further troops, lives or money to British hegemony over Southern Africa
• During the Mahdist Rebellion in the Sudan in 1884, Gladstone urged the withdrawal of Anglo-Egyptian troops and reflected that the Sudanese were ‘rightly struggling to be free’
• Despite his principles, Gladstone became embroiled in Egypt, not for its own sake but for the sake of safe passage to India but also as a result of public and press pressure. Arabi Pasha’s uprising of 1881 threatened the security of the Suez Canal, European lives and British investments (he himself had a large personal investment there) in Egypt. Once order was restored in 1882, Khedive Tewfiq was installed as a ruler in Britain’s newest occupies territory
• Gladstone broke the link Disraeli had established with Turkey and instead became more involved in Africa
• Gladstone also became more involved after the Berlin Conference of 1884-5 which officially started formal land-grabbing across Africa. This resulted in the conversion of Somaliland and Bechuanaland into protectorates. However, the local Tswana rulers were left in power in Bechuanaland which suggested that Gladstone was reluctant to take on further management or costs
• The same hesitancy was evident when Germany claimed the Pacific Island of New Guinea in 1884, renaming it Kaiser Wilhelmsland: Gladstone resisted intervention and the prospect of direct confrontation with Germany. Instead, the Premier of Queensland ordered the occupation of the island’s south-eastern zone to establish British control there. Australia subsequently financed the development of British New Guinea
• An off-shoot of Gladstone’s support for colonial self-government was his sympathy for the cause of Irish nationalist who had long campaigned for Irish independence
• Gladstone resigned as Prime Minister in June 1885 having overseen the 1884 Parliamentary Reform act which further extended the vote to 5.5 million men. Promoting imperialism for popular support returned under the conservative Lord Salisbury
• Gladstone returned as Prime Minister in 1886, he introduced a Home Rule Bill for Ireland, confirming his reluctant imperialistic status and ignited further debate in parliament and across Britain
• Although the most extensive acquisitions came under Gladstone, they were often the result of actions by Disraeli. Both reacted to local threats in a way which would protect Britain’s key trade routes and strategic interests
How did the empire influence British attitudes a and culture through popular press?
• Reporting in the growing popular press saw the value of stories of the exotic, of heroism and of national one- upmanship
• The Times – suffered in the period 1857-1890 as circulation declined, almost to the point of collapse but then revived. It tended to represent traditional wealthy views and promoted an imperialist agenda
• The Daily Telegraph – Began in 1855 and was not especially successful early on so had limited influence. Right-wing tendencies only really emerged later
• The Manchester Guardian – In 1872 it got a new editor and it became more liberal and supported Gladstonian ideas e.g. it opposed the decision to begin a second Boer War which contradicted most public opinion at the time. It was initially seen as a regional newspaper so its influence was limited
• The Morning Post – A daily conservative newspaper that had a real interest in foreign affairs including Empire. It was absorbed by the Daily Telegraph in 1937 which resulted in it becoming more right-wing
• The Pall Mall Gazette – A London evening newspaper that started in 1865, despite the reach being limited it did have an important influence in London. It was conservative at first but became liberal in 1880 due to a change of ownership
• Punch – A magazine which influenced the middle classes, cartoons did create an impact and it tended to feature lots of imperial news, especially linked to India
• The Daily Mail – Began in 1896 and tended to be a cheap paper appealing to current issues. It tended to have a jingoistic approach to many foreign and Empire issues. It appealed to a new class of reader – the lower middle class
• The Illustrated London News – It was the world’s first illustrated weekly news magazine. It was primarily a conservative paper, the publication of choice for the Victorian middle classes. By 1863, the magazine was selling more than 300 000 copies every week which was enormous figures compared to other newspapers at the time. It contained a rich collection of world news and it presented a visual link between the colonies and Britain, and it prided itself on its large colonial following e.g. it was the most widely read publication in the Australian colonies
• After the fiasco at Khartoum, newspapers such as the Times, the Daily Telegraph and Punch turned sharply away from Gladstonian liberalism
How did the empire influence British attitudes and culture through education?
The Education Act of 1870 had increased national literacy rates so more people had access to stories of Empire
How did the empire influence British attitudes and culture through enfranchisement?
• The extension of the vote in the 1867 and 1884 reform acts made the public more politically aware
How did the empire influence British attitudes and culture through imperial heroes?
• The British were horrified by stories of massacres and tortures at Cawnpore during the Indian mutiny Major- General Henry Havelock recaptured Cawnpore in July and Lucknow in September 1857. He was considered a national hero and after his death, the public paid for a statue of him to be erected in Trafalgar Square
• General Gordon was also considered a national hero
• The reporting of Arabi Pasha’s revolt in Egypt told the tale in such florid tones that Gladstone’s decision to intervene was well supported
How did the empire influence British attitudes and culture through literature?
• Such as Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines and She were filled with tales of adventure in the Empire
How did the empire influence British attitudes and culture through youth organisation and magazines?
• The new comic genre told tales of adventure and appealed to younger readers
• The Boy’s Own Paper first appeared in 1879 and featured storied portraying soldiers and bravery across the globe. It included contributions from Colonel Baden-Powell who urged readers to lead ‘manly and Christian’ lives. It had a circulation of more than half a million
• School books also reflected similar themes
• Clubs and associations such as the Boys’ Brigade (1883) reinforced imperialistic values by offering military training and by reminding young men what it meant to be part of the ‘glorious’ British Empire
How did the empire influence British attitudes and culture through missionaries?
• By the 1870s stories of explorer and missionaries were being avidly read in British newspapers and magazines. Heroic tales helped reinforce the idea of benevolence and superiority
• The British saw their empire as an ‘Empire of races’ and believed themselves infinitely superior to other indigenous peoples in everything from their religion and morals to their laws and political institutions
• They also believed that they could ‘civilise’ indigenous people, leading them away from their savage existence and turning them into law-abiding citizens
How did the empire influence British attitudes and culture through science?
• The view that white races were naturally superior was encouraged by the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin never suggested it himself but his idea of natural selection was soon applied to races Quasi-scientists justified their view by pointing to the disappearance of the ‘weak’ North Americans, Maoris and Aborigines, while anthropologists seized on the theory to define racial attributes and categorise different racial groups
How did the empire influence British attitudes and culture through exhibitions?
• They reinforced the British sense of physical and social superiority. They had originally been intended as international and educational but were, by the 1880s, becoming more imperial and entertaining
• The Great Exhibition of 1851 received 6 million visitors
• The International Exhibition of 1862 was held in South Kensington and received 6 million visitors. It featured over 28 000 exhibitors from 36 countries. It represented a wide range of industry, technology, and the arts and displayed 7000 exhibits from India alone
• In 1877, a Nubian Village collected in the Sudan (including both animals and humans) was put on display at London’s Alexandria Palace
• In 1886 the Colonial and Indian Exhibition received 5.5 million visitors and was held in South Kensington to ‘give to the inhibitors of the British Isles, to foreigners and to others, practical demonstration of the wealth and industrial development of the outlying portions of the British Empire’ The buildings that housed the 1886 exhibition were built in an Indian style with a huge princely gateway. Innumerable artefacts were displayed, from ceremonial swords to fly-swatters and native Indians were brought to Britain as ‘living exhibits’
• London also hosted an African Exhibition in 1890. This was to showcase Stanley’s Africa travels. It celebrated explorer and colonisation and provided a display of photographs and maps showing colonial expansion in Africa and the routes of famous British explorers. There was also a trophy display of shields, spears, axes, throwing knives, an African hut and two boys from Bechuanaland. The exhibition stimulated scientific and anthropological interest and appeared to justify the British presence in Africa, bringing the word of the Christian God to the natives
