Tools Of Empire Flashcards
Power centers (2)
A) Metropole
Secretary of state, ministers, …
Little representation
B) Colony
Governor
Armies
Little representation
Representation in India (4)
A) 1858, 1892, 1909: Legislative & executive councils
B) 1882: Municipal council act
C) 1921: Provincial governments
D) 1935: autonomy to provinces
1937: one in 6 Indians can participate in elections
Much variety in rule (4)
A) Direct and indirect rule
Esp GB
B) Assimilation & association
Esp France
C) Military rule
Esp Germany & Italy
D) Segregation
Esp Belgium
Indirect rule (2)
A) Local rulers remain on the throne
Minor competences
Not: army, taxes, foreign policy
Sided and controlled by British advisor
Mainly in less strategic regions
B) Advantages
Power without responsibility
Cheaper & loyal elite
Legitimation:
“Respect” for local traditions
Indirect rule in BI
A) BI
Double government under Clive of India -> nawab (puppet)
By 1857: ~580 princes
Indirect rule elsewhere (3)
A) Belgian Congo
Only symbolical
B) Dutch East Indies
Batavia
Yogyakarta
C) French Indochina
Assimilation (3)
A) What?
Turn colonized into French citoyens of color
B) Why?
French revolution: universalism
Napoleon: Centralism
Hangovers after 1815 & 1870
C) When & where?
Esp 19th c vielles colonies
Association
A) What? Step back
Humanité rather than égalité
Bilateral relationship with metropole, esp economic
Still centralized
Association (2)
A) What? Step back
Humanité rather than égalité
Bilateral relationship with metropole, esp economic
Still centralized
B) Why?
Other colonies
Social Darwinism, racism
Divide and rule (2)
A) Enforcing existing inequalities, conflicts within one colony
Eg. Ethnic, religious
Categorization of people, cannot move from one category to another
Created hierarchies of ethnicities
B) Siding with minorities
Governance, eg tutsis
Military, eg Sikhs (martial races)
Violence (2)
A) Military superiority
Gunboats, maxim gum
B) Wars & destruction
E.g. Herero genocide
Diseases (4)
A) Several diseases
Smallpox, measles, leprosy
B) Sometimes deliberate genocide
Hispaniola, Tasmania
C) Sometimes collateral damage
No immunity
Malaria in India facilitated by irrigation systems
D) Amnesia & selective memories
Famines (2)
A) Examples in British India
Bengal famine 1770, 10mio dead
Great famine 1876
Indian famine 1899
Bengal famine 1943
B) Not only due to climate, but also to colonialism
Indifferent attitudes of colonial administration
High taxation
Rulers at home (3)
A) Colonial party
B) Advocates for colonialism
C) More reluctant politicians
Rulers oversea (2)
A) Nobles
Lord George Curzon
Viceroy -> foreign secretary
B) Soldiers career
Herbert Kitchener
Joseph Gallieni
Hubert Lyautey
Masculinity
A) A male business
Moustaches & uniforms
Safari costumes
Local dresses
Men only? (4)
A) female pioneers
Mary Kingsley, Gertrude Bell
B) Female colonizers
Wives, nuns
C) General features
Greater freedom than at home
Better contact with indigenous
D) Female freedom fighters
Lalla Fatma N’Soumer
Heroic individuals? (2)
A) Individuals?
Role of indigenous people
-> Stanley & 350 indigenous
B) Heroic?
Violence
Drugs
Sexual practices
Sexual practices (2)
A) Homo-eroticism
Stanley’s problems with women
Rhodes’ notorious homosexuality
Baden-Powell & Kenneth McLarren
Pederasts: Hector MacDonald
B) Prostitution
Widespread in colonies
STDs
Obsession with the exotic nude (2)
A) Fascination
Role of photography
E.g. Tahiti, Bali
B) Eroticization
Wild, primitive, naked -> sexually available
Polygamy -> alleged free love
Initially: male bachelors (3)
A) Restriction of emigration of European women
B) Officially: physical hazards of life in tropics
C) In reality: economic reasons
Transportation, repatriation, …
Concubinage with local women (3)
A) Tolerance and promotion of extramarital relations
B) European men in better health
Vs. Prostitution
From ill health sexual abstention was thought to bring
C) Other advantages
Fewer financial & emotional demands
Useful as guides & domestic servants
Regulated relations (3)
A) Arguments:
Political & economic
Male & sexual
B) Regarding European women
Bachelors preferred by VOC
…
C) Regarding local women
Prohibiting men from returning with native wives & kid
Consequences of concubinage (2)
A) For societal structure
Reinforcement of social & racial hierarchies
More men than women
B) For locals
Women: dependent
Men: in competition
Children: mixed