The role and influence of individuals Flashcards
1
Q
Reasons why individuals went to the British Empire ?
A
- scientific impulse
- pure thrill of exploration
- moral compunction
- belief in Christian duty to ‘spread the word to the heathen’
- desire for wealth and profits
2
Q
What was the order of individuals that came to empire ?
A
- explorers
- traders
- missionaries
- administrators
3
Q
Overall role of individuals in the British empire ?
A
- individuals played a major role in in Britain’s imperial growth
- played a role in the extension of British culture and influence around the world
4
Q
Role of explorers on attitudes to empire ?
A
- their exploits shaped and inspired attitudes towards the Empire at home.
5
Q
Role and influence of explorers on empire ?
A
- explorers shaped Victorian understanding of the interior of Africa, both by lecturing and publishing their findings and, not least, by producing maps
- their expeditions lent traders and Christian missionaries alike the opportunity for action and gain
6
Q
Who was the most famous and influential explorer ?
A
- David Livingstone
7
Q
Where did David Livingstone start his travels ?
A
- Livingstone started his travels as a missionary doctor In South Africa in 1841, but he was soon exploring previously unchartered territories
8
Q
Influence of David Livingston on knowledge about empire ?
A
- he conducted a series of celebrated lecturers at Cambridge University, recounting the geography, mineralogy, diseases, languages and cultures he had encountered in Africa.
9
Q
What was Livingstone’s most known exploration ?
A
- After being given the title of Consul for the East Coast of Africa, he began an exploration along the Zambezi river with his team of Africans, Indians and formerly enslaved people.
- His 200 letters back to Britain thrilled the public imagination.
10
Q
Impact of the Livingstone’s disappearance ?
A
- His dramatic disappearance and rediscovery by Henry Stanley in 1971 cemented the public’s image of Livingstone as a martyr who sacrificed his life for empire.
11
Q
Who was John Kirk ?
A
a Scottish physician whose career embraced the spirit of adventure, science, Christian duty and desire for colonial position
12
Q
Influence of Kirk as an explorer ?
A
- Part of Livingstone’s Zambezi expedition.
- he discovered not only waterways with Livingstone but also collected many aquatic specimens, notably mussels which be both sent back to Britain and wrote about.
13
Q
Influence of Kirk on British administration ?
A
- Was Vice Consul and lived out the rest of his career as a diplomat
- Kirk ensured that Zanzibar operated as a British client state.Kirk’s efforts thus gave Britain a toe - hold on Africa’s east coast which was grown into British East Africa in 1895
14
Q
Were missionaries active in the 19th century ?
A
- Missionaries were extremely active overseas in the nineteenth century
- Anglicans, Roman Catholics and particularly non conformist groups all sought to spread the Christian faith among the non- Europeans
15
Q
Role of Evangelical missionary societies ?
A
- Missionaries helped to open up territories to British rule by penetrating beyond colonial frontiers ( for example into the Congo in Africa or inland China in the 1880s) , establishing links with indigenous communities and seeking imperial protection.
16
Q
Influence of Methodist missionaries ?
A
- Methodist missionaries from Australia prepared the ground for the establishment of British rule in Fiji in 1884
- A South African Conference was similarly established in 1882 and in 1883 the missionary put pressure on the British government to establish a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
17
Q
What did missionary groups do in these countries ?
A
- Missionary groups established compounds, set up churches and typically provided housing and farm work in return for conversions to Christianity.
- Converts were made to conform to Western cultural practices, such as monogamous marriage, British gender norms, and Western clothing and housing
18
Q
Impact of missionaries on British administration ?
A
- missionaries advanced imperialism not only by staking a claim to ( or consolidating ) territorial control by extending Britain’s commercial reach, and enforcing consumption of Western materials through cultural influence and imperialism
19
Q
Did missionaries run into problems with indigenous people ?
A
- Conflicts could arise between the missions and indigenous peoples. White missionaries hoped that Christian bases would become self - financing, self - governing and expansionist in their own right but this was difficult to achieve
20
Q
How did missionaries conflict with one another ?
A
- In the 1880s, the Anglican Church Missionary School clashed with the first Anglican African bishop in the NIger region - Samuel Crowther, a former enslaved person who had been ordained into the Church of England in London. Crowther was forced to resign amidst accusations he was too lax towards so called ‘heathen’ practices.
21
Q
Weakness / Limitation of missionaries on British administration ?
A
- it delayed annexation and colonisation and challenged imperial authority
- Sometimes Christian missions provided a focus for local resistance and opposition to colonial rule. Sometimes missionaries lobbed for equal rights for indigenous people ( like in the Cape Colony in the early 19th century )
22
Q
Role of traders in empire ?
A
- Once commercial enterprises had established a foothold somewhere, British administration followed
23
Q
Why did traders go to empire ?
A
- traders seeked new markets and materials
24
Q
Examples of administration following commercial enterprises ?
A
- East India Company led the way towards British control in India
-Commerical exploits of Cecil Rhodes, William McKinnon and George Goldie helped ensure that the British flag followed British trade in Africa in the 19th century.
25
Who was Cecil Rhodes ?
- a diamond magnate ( owned 90% of global diamond production ) and Cape Colony politician
26
Impact of Rhodes' South Africa Company ?
- Rhodes' British South Africa Company of 1889, came through concessions and treaties, to control a large area of land in the interior of Africa.
- This territory previously known as South Zambezi was changed to Rhodesia in 1885 after Rhodes, its colonial administrator
27
What was Rhode' moral view of Empire
he said "We are the finest race in the world and the more we inhabit, the better it is for the human race" reflected the Victorian age
- He had a Social Darwinist view of the world as a 'hierarchy' of races.
28
How did William McKinnon make his fortune ?
- Began in the coasting trade around the Bay of Bengal and in 1886 he founded the Calcutta and Burma Navigation Company which became the Burma Steam Navigation Company.
- grew int a huge business organisation, trading through the Indian Ocean, Burma and the Persian Gulf and extending its reach to Zanzibar and along the coast of East Africa.
29
How did Mackinnon help British administration ?
- H founded the Imperial British East Africa Company which received a royal charter in 1888. This was supported by the British government as a way of establishing influence in the region
30
What happened to the Imperial British East Africa Company ?
- despite its official privileges, the company was rapidly bankrupted.
31
How did George Goldie make his wealth ?
- his family bought a palm oil business in the Niger basin in 1875
- Palm oil proved a particularly adaptable product not only did it serve as an industrial lubricant
32
What company did Goldie form ?
- Goldie formed the Central African Trading Company in 1876
33
How did Goldie create a trading firm /
- In 1879 he persuaded all the British trading firms on the Niger River on the Niger River to join forces with family firms to create a single company, the United African African Company
34
Did Goldie receive a Royal Charter ?
- his application for a royal charter in 1881 was refused because of competing French interests in the Niger region.
35
How did Goldie influence control of areas ?
- Goldie secured concessions from tribal chiefs, he signed treaties obliging them to to trade solely with the company's, in return for a commitment to buy all the local products.
- His efforts meant that he won the trade war with rival French companies and bought them too.
36
How did Goldie help British in getting control ?
- As a result of Goldie's efforts, Britain successfully asserted its right to proclaim a protectorate over both Northern and Southern Niger at the Berlin Conference.
37
Role of administrators ?
- took important decision on how territories should be administrated and developed
38
How was Evelyn Baring the 'typical' Victorian administrator ?
- hard working, fair and a believer in liberal reform
- inflexible and the sense of British superiority which made him condescending towards his inferiors
39
Why was Evelyn Baring sent to Egypt ?
- sent to help Isma'il Pasha out of financial difficulties
40
Work of Evelyn Baring as Consul General ?
- He approved the Dufferin Report of 1883, which established an Egyptian puppet parliament with no power
- asserted the need for British supervision of reforms in what was then a bankrupt country which established a 'veiled protectorate'.
41
What title did Evelyn Baring have ?
- Consul General
42
What title did Battle Frere have ?
- High Commissioner and Governor of Cape Colony
43
What task was Battle Frere given ?
- chosen to carry out a planned confederation in the area, merging British South Africa with the Dutch Boer Republic of the Transvaal
44
Did Frere succeed in his plan to merge British South Africa with the Dutch Boer Republic of the Transvaal ?
- South African colonists were hostile to these plans
- Frere provoked war with the Zulus, whom he considered an obstacle to federation
- Although it ended with a British victory, the shocking defeat of British forces by the Zulus at Isandhlwanna in January 1879 and the high cost of the war led to an office reprimand.
45
By who and why was Frere dismissed from South Africa ?
- Frere was hastily withdrawn from South Africa by Gladstone's liberal government in 1880
- denounced after acting recklessly
46
how did the role of traders grow the British empire ?
- Once commercial enterprises had been established somewhere, administration followed
47
Case study - Cecil Rhodes?
- Rhodes owned all South Africa's diamond mines ( some 90% of global diamond production).His wealth allowed him to pursue his ambitions of bringing the world under British rule.
He formed his own company, the British South Africa Company, which received a royal charter in 1889.Rhodes became prime minister of the Cape Colony from 1890- 1896
48
Rhodes impact as Cape Colony politician ?
- He forced indigenous peoples from their lands to make way for industrial developments and amassed huge fortune and wielded political power in SA asa result.
Rhodes' British South Africa Company of 1889 came, through concessions and treaties, to control large areas of land in the interior off Africa.
