Week 7 Flashcards
Dependency Theory - Sociological/Economic Theory
- Sociological theory about the relationship of countries between the core (“homeland” or the center of an empire’s power) of an empire and the periphery (colonies)
- Colonies remained underdeveloped because they had no choice but to DEPEND on the core… even after decolonization (becoming independent)
- Explanation for why certain countries in the world remain relatively poor, even after they
become independent - (Consider Haiti, Latin American countries)
Islamic Revitalization and Military Leaders in Africa
- Local responses to continuing slave trade, European and Ottoman Empires’ continued warfare (+ Ottoman decline), French colonization of Algiers (1830)
- → Local leaders had their own ideas about religion and governance, e.g. Wahhabism-Sunni revivalist/fundamentalist movement
- West African Muslim reform movements
- Fulani clerics → jihads can be waged against emirs and sultans
- Religious- and military-driven popular leadership that appealed to commoners
Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire’s power over all
territories was decreasing
Sultan Selim III (1789—1807)
attempted to reorganize the military and build on a Western model; died in a coup
Sultan Mahmud II (1808—1839)
continued reforms, especially beyond the military -government, education, economy, etc.
European-style reforms under Governor
Muhammed Ali (1769—1849) and his
successors
- New modern army
- Tax reforms – provincial tax collectors
- Industrial revolution: cotton and sugar production
- State monopolies over the products
- Education: medical schools, increase in literacy
Muhammed Ali (1769—1849)
- Hired help from Europe to help to train military
and bureaucrats, build factories, establish
schools - … borrowed money from Europe to finance
these developments
The Two Opium Wars in China (1839—1842, 1856—1860)
- Purchase of tea from China → British East India Company spending more silver than it was making → what could Britain sell to the Chinese?
- Opium was an illegal drug in China, but very well-known and popular
- East India Company’s monopoly meant access to India’s manufacturing and shipping capabilities → opium
could be produced and packed there! - Leading to outflow of silver for the Chinese
Lin Zexu (1785—1850)
- Qing Dynasty official (a Confucian scholar/civil servant)
- Appointed by the Emperor as “Imperial Commissioner” to suppress opium traffic
- Lin took a no-mercy stance: ALL importers and sellers must be stopped/punished!
- Confiscation of smuggled opium, arrested/executed anyone (mostly Chinese) involved in the trade
- June 1839: began the destruction of 21,000 chests
of opium (~2.6 million lb); Lin wanted to strongarm the British into stopping the trade
Two Opium Wars and their consequences:
- The Treaty of Nanjing ended the First Opium War in 1842
The Treaty of Tianjin ended the Second Opium War in 1860
Unfavorable treaty terms for the Chinese, including: - Loss of territory: Hong Kong ceded to the British Empire
- Financial obligations: 21 million taels (787,500kg) of
silver to be paid to the British - Extraterritoriality: foreigners (like the British) could not
be punished under Chinese laws - Unresolved tensions: first treaty led to SECOND Opium
War, hatred of foreigners in China, disappointment in the
Chinese government, uprisings
Taiping Civil War (Rebellion) 1851—1864
- Hong Xiuquan 1814—1864, Hakka (an ethnic minority),
and candidate for civil service - Part of a marginalized minority group
- Trained in Confucian classics but studied Christian texts
- Believed he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ and
destined to start a “Heavenly Kingdom” on earth - Up to 30,000 followers in 1850 → start of military campaign
- Established Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1853 –1864) with Nanjing as capital
- Finally defeated after a siege from collaborative military between Qing and Western officers (military and mercenary)
- Most destructive civil war in history by number of casualties (20 million deaths)
The Taiping Rebellion shook the
foundations of Imperial China
- Mandate of Heaven challenged
- Chinese superiority (compared with its neighbors and Europe) challenged
- Revealed the weaknesses of state and society
- Displacement of young people and minorities
- Financial inequalities and lack of opportunity
- Western empires could exploit
Chinese weaknesses
Commodore Matthew Perry in Japan, 1853 → Japan
“opened up” to the West
American naval commodore, with advanced ships, arrived in Japan and demanded negotiations with the emperor
* “gunboat diplomacy” → the imposition of treaties and agreements under threat of military violence
* United States entering imperial role in the Pacific
* Threat of foreign invasion led Japan to reconsider its government and institutions
→ Meiji Restoration began in 1868
* Series of reforms designed to strengthen the country
* Named after the Meiji Emperor
The American
Empire
expands with
the Spanish-
American
War (1898)
By 1870s, the
United States was:
- A major
industrial power
- Democratic
- A popular place
for immigration
“Manifest Destiny”
1857 Rebellion in India
Great “Mutiny”/“Revolt”/”Revolution”
- British Empire (via the East India Company) continued to expand in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire by the middle of the 19th century
- Charter Act in 1833: power granted to the governor-general (British EIC appointed) in India, including trading and administrative capabilities → definitely a governing force!
- 1848: governor general started to annex independent states in response to protests about EIC power; violates previous peace treaties
- Employment of sepoys: Mughal infantry, employed by
French and British - Sepoys became resentful of British treatment and expansion
