U1 (1857-1890) - Imperial and Colonial policy

Question 1

What does colonial office refer to?

Answer 1

A government department, split into five (North America, Australia, West Indies, Africa and the Mediterranean, and General)

Question 2

Who headed the Colonial Office

Answer 2

A cabinet minister with the title ‘Secretary of State for the Colonies’ / ‘Colonial Secretary’
- role was generally seen as a stepping stone to greater roles

Question 3

What was given to some white settler colonies?

Answer 3

Responsible government - areas had their own government ministers who were answerable to their individual elected parliaments

Question 4

Which areas were given responsible governments and when?

11

Answer 4

1) Canada - 1848
2) Newfoundland - 1855
3) New South Wales - 1855
4) Victoria - 1855
5) New Zealand - 1856
6) Tasmania - 1856
7) South Australia - 1857
8) Queensland - 1859
9) Cape Colony - 1872
10) Western Australia - 1890
11) Natal - 1893

Question 5

Why were West Indian colonies nit given responsible government

Answer 5

the number of voters (who had to be white) was small
- for example white people made up only 1903 of 456,000 Jamaicans in 1864

Question 6

What was the foreign office

Answer 6

government office responsible for the administration of Egypt and treaty ports in Chine

Question 7

How had British influence initially spread through India?

Answer 7

had origionally been overseen by the East India Company

Question 8

When was the first census of the Indian population and what information did it provide?

Answer 8

1871 - at least 236 million lived either directly under British rule, or in states protected by treaties with Britain

Question 9

When was the Indian Mutiny

Answer 9

1857

Question 10

What happened during the Indian Mutiny and why?

Answer 10

Long standing grievances and resentment sparked a sepoy rebellion
- rebellion lasted a year
- caused thousands of deaths
- britain sent troops to support the east india company army, demonstrating India’s importance.

Question 11

What was the ‘doctrine of the lapse’ and when was it abolished?

Answer 11

Policy that allowed Britain to annex princely states when the ruler was without a natural male heir - Britain did not recognise ‘adopted heirs’ which were traditionally accepted
- widely resented policy and a cause of the mutiny
- abolished 1858

Question 12

What became clear following the mutiny and what in turn happened?

Answer 12

A change of rule was necessary to prevent a reoccurrence.
- 1858 the EIC handed control to Britain and the company was dissolved

Question 13

What act solidified British control and when

Answer 13

The Government of India Act 1858

Question 14

What were the terms of the 1858 Government of India Act

5

Answer 14

1) East India Company’s territories were passed to the crown
2) The position of Secretary of State for India was created (held the powers and duties formally held by company directors)
3) A council of 15 members (the India Council) with experience in Indian affais was appointed to assist the SoS for India and act as an advisory body in Indian affairs
4) Crown appointed a viceroy to replace the company’s governor-general
5) The Indian civil service was placed under the control of the Secretary of State

Question 15

What title was Victoria given, when, by who, and why?

Answer 15

Empress of India in 1877, by Disraeli
- served as a reminder and showcase of Britain’s imperial power

Question 16

Indian administration after 1858?

in terms of government

Answer 16

1) Viceroy had a legislative council of 5 members resposible for finance, law, army, economy, and home affairs.
2) Provincial governments represented the viceroy in the provinces and had their own legislative councils
3) District officers oversaw local councils

Question 17

Indian administration after 1858

in terms of civilians

Answer 17

1) 1000 british civil servants were employed in the indian civil service
2) Virtually all senior posts were white
3) Following the mutiny greater respect was shown for traditional practices and customs
4) little change from an indian perspective

Question 18

How many nominally independent princely states were there and what percentage of India did this make up?

Answer 18

• 265 states
• 40%

Question 19

Why was the ‘doctrine of the lapse’ abolished in 1858?

Answer 19

to ensure the princes’ loyalty

Question 20

What was Britain forced to rely on in India and what did it lead to

Answer 20

Indian bureaucracies: bilingual indians were recruited as low-level clerks
- led to a growing middle class that demanded a greater say in adminstration of the country - Britain refused

Question 21

What did Britain’s refusal of Indian influence in administration lead to?

Answer 21

• greater nationalism
• the development of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885

Question 22

What did Britain do following the mutiny to increase military control?

10

Answer 22

1) EIC armies brought under control of crown
2) Proportion of British to Indian troops raised to 1:2
3) Native indian troops deliberately seperated to prevent unity
4) Deliberate mix of different classes and religions
5) Enlisted greater Gurkhas and Sikhs (who had been loyal) to replace Bengali troops (disloyal)
6) All field artillery in British hands
7) Occasionally sent abroad to reduce rebellion risk
8) growth of railway for swift deployment
9) Armoured gun train introduced
10) Garrison built in every major city

Question 23

How many miles of railway added from 1857-67

Answer 23

3000 miles

Question 24

What force was set up in 1858 and why?

civilian control

Answer 24

The Imperial Police Force, to reduce over reliance on the army

Question 25

Which countries were a threat to Britain

Answer 25

France, Germany, and Russia

Question 26

What was the German threat?

Answer 26

- united in 1871 - powerful military (had just defeated France) - by 1890, controlled a colonial area amounting to 5x the size of Germany itself - expansion into SW Africa a threat to Cape Colony - Took Cameroon, Togo, 1/3 New Guinea, most of Solomon Islands, German East Africa, and the Marshall and Caroline Islands (in the pacific) - growing industrial strength (overtook britain in 1900s) - British merchants feared being squeezed out of markets by Germans (particularly in EA) - German merchant ships threatened British dominance.

Question 27

Why was the German threat limited?

Answer 27

- gained lots during 1884-85 but was mostly deserts and dry river beds that no one else wanted - kept friendly with Britain as main priority was keeping France diplomatically isolated - Bismarck liked Disraeli and suggested an alliance but disliked Gladstone (breif excursion into imperialism taking place while he was PM) - German public was not interested in having an empire (only 25,000 based in their empire by 1914 - some of which were temporary)

Question 28

What was the French threat?

Answer 28

- New found stability after political upheavals - Determined to recover prestige after Franco-Prussian war - Had a naval building programme - established a foothold in indo-china in the 1860s and began to expand north - seen as a threat to the eastern frontier of British India in Burma, with only Siam as a buffer state - Threatened british trade in the far east - threat to britain in West Africa - French became resentful after British took Egypt and retained their ambitions in Sudan, which would threatened Egypt as they would control the headwaters of the Nile

Question 29

Why was the French threat limited?

Answer 29

- France was unlikely to want a full scale war with Britain over its empire - German anger was more of a concern for France

Question 30

What was the Russian threat

Answer 30

- Gained large areas of territory in central Asia in the 1870s which brought Russia closer to Afghanistan (threat to India) - Pursued diplomatic relations with the Amir of Afghanistan - British and Russian empires barely 20m apart - Russia planned to conquer parts of the Ottoman Empire - threat to Egypt and Suez - Defeated turkey in a short war (1877-78) - Disraeli worked with Bismarck to limit russian gains - Undertook railway projects (Trans-Caspian Railway) - seen as being primarily for military reasons - Feared an attack on India would encourage rebels and weaken position

Question 31

Why was the Russian threat limited?

Answer 31

- Tsarist government was too badly organised to take full advantage of vast resources and manpower available - Mountains, difficult Afghan conditions, and Himalayan mountains blocking routes in India limited the intensity of the threat - After Alexander II's assissination (1881), Alexander III concentrated on avoiding wars so Russian threat reduced

Question 32

What was Britain's response to the threats?

Answer 32

- In response to French activity in Indo-China, Britain annexed territory in Malaya (from 1874) - Also took Sarawak, North Borneo (1881), Brunei (1885), and Upper Burma (1885) - Afghanistan invaded (1878) to force the Amir to accept British control - setting up a protectorate whoch reduced Russian influence and secured India

Question 33

Why were most politicians cautious of expansion

Answer 33

Concerned with the cost of expansion - expanded more than origionally planned to avoid losing dominant position in the world

Question 34

What two major conferences happened in this period

Answer 34

The Brussels Conference and The Berlin Conference

Question 35

When and why did the Brussels conference take place? What was the result?

Answer 35

- 1876 - Hosted by King Leopold to discuss the land availability in Africa Concluded that: 1) Africans were incapable of developing their own natural resources and European intervantion was necessary 2) route to Africa's great lakes needed to be developed by builiding roads or railways 3) International African Association should be established to coordinate the European efforts - Was supposed to promote cooperation but actually heightened competition as there was suspicion around Leopold's intentions

Question 36

When and why did the Berlin conference take place? What was the result?

Answer 36

- 1884-85 - Hosted by Bismarck to discuss much needed regulation - attended by 14 European states and the USA Concluded with the General Act: 1) All nations permitted to trade in the base of the Congo and its outlets 2) free trade in all those regions 3) powers in the area should help protect indigenous people and surpress the slave trade 4) powers should support and protect religious, scientific, or charitable undertaking 5) if any power took further land on the Coast of Africa it should notify the signatories of the Act in order to enable them to assert any claims of their own

Question 37

What principle did The Berlin Conference establish | What does it mean?

Answer 37

Effective Occupation - A european power could assert their claim to land that is 'effectively' occupied and notify other powers - its right to colonise was only questioned if another power put in a rival claim

Question 38

What was the impact of the Berlin Conference

Answer 38

- General Act triggered a further scramble for territory across Africa - by 1900, 90% of the continent in European hands - Allowed European countries to expand without risk of conflict with one another - did little for indigenous populations - no african representation at the conference and european ministers mapped out spheres of influence with little concern for natural borders of ethnic, linguistic or religious divison - no concentrated effort to combat the African or Arab slave trade or attend to indigenous concerns - well being and religious customs of locals consistently overlooked

Question 39

What was the informal empire?

Answer 39

Areas where Britain had no legal claim - places influenced by Britain, particularly in economic ways, either through free trade agreements or British investment - often places where trade provided profit for companies, bankers and insurance firms - Allowed Britain to enjoy power without the responsibility - Some of these places include China, East Africa, Middle East, and South America

Question 40

Informal empire in China?

Answer 40

Treaty of Nanking (1842) and Tientsin (1858) gained British trading bases in Shanghai and Hong Kong - settled in by British people and goverend by British laws - influence orgionally a product of needing to finance the British East India Company through the sale of opium to the Chinese - 1863, Robert Heart was appointed 'Head of CHinese Imperial Maritime Customs office' which acted as a branch of the Chi'ing government to protect British interests

Question 40

Informal Empire in East Africa?

Answer 40

- Able to excerise its influence of the Sultanate of Zanzibar in East Africa via trader John Kirk - 1891, a government was established which made the Sultan's first minster British

Question 41

Informal empire in Middle East?

Answer 41

- Iran was brought under British influence through trade treaties - In Afghanistan the threat of a full invasion in 1879 secured the Treaty of Gandamak which provided Britain with the strategic territory gains and control over its foreign policy

Question 42

Informal empire in South America

Answer 42

South America accounted for 10% of British exports and imports in the second half of the 19th century - Mexico under pressure to uphold fair trade treaties in 1861 - The royal navy ensured compliance in Peru 1857 and Chile in 1863 Argentina: - recieved 10% of all foreign investment between 1850-1900, hundereds of miles of railway was constructed with British investment, expertise and hardware - Strong influence on the business aspect of Argentina - Mutton, beef, wheat, and maize were all imported in abundance from here - British financer Charles Morrison acquired the Mercantile Bank of the River Plate (1881) and invested directly in the country's utilities

Question 43

What % of Africa was still under local control at the start of the Berlin conference

Answer 43

80%

Question 44

Who were the main 4 players at Berlin conference

Answer 44

France, Germany, Britain, Portugal

Question 45

British capital in Latin America 1865

Answer 45

£80 million

Question 46

which two countries were brought under influence by trade treaties

Answer 46

iran and thailand

Question 47

how did areas of strategic importance fall under British influence

Answer 47

diplomatic pressure and apppointment of key advisors