Imperialism in Southeast Asia &
Pacific
AP World History
Chapter 25b
What is the Pacific Rim?
Imperialism Southeast Asia
 European Powers Invade the “Pacific Rim”
 Lands of Southeast Asia that border the Pacific
Ocean
 Britain – Malaysia, Burma, and Singapore
 Netherlands – Indonesia
 France – Indochina (Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia)
 Why?
 Land perfect for establishing trading and
military posts
 Excellent for plantation agriculture
 Sugar Cane, Coffee, Cocoa, Rubber,
Coconuts, Bananas, Pineapple
 Oil
 Tin
European Intervention
 Strategic interests
 Malayan Peninsula
 Singapore
 Economic
 Markets
 Raw materials
 Plantation Crops (rubber, tropical plants)
 Cultural-religious
 Missionaries
The Dutch
 Dutch East India Company
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controlled all of the
Indonesian archipelago
Called Dutch East Indies
Rich in plantation crops, oil
& rubber
Rigid social structure
Dutch East Indies
Countries - Dutch
 Oil, Tin Rubber
 Considered Indonesia to be a part of
the Netherlands
 Moved there and lived
 Set up a rigid social class system
 Dutch
 Wealthy and Educated
Indonesians
 Plantation workers
 Dutch forced farmers to plant 1/5th
of their land in a specific export crop
Plantation Agriculture - Rubber
Countries
 British
 Compete with the Dutch
 Trading bases from India-China sea
routes
 Tin and Rubber-Singapore
 France
 Been there since 17th Century
 Direct Colonial Management
 Didn’t encourage local industry, rice
production-local consumption
decreased
The British & the Malayan Peninsula
 Singapore became vital
because:
 Needed way-station for
Indo-Chinese trade
 Opening of Suez Canal &
increased demand for tin
and rubber
 Established colonies in
Malaysia & Myanmar
 Encouraged Chinese
immigration
 Malays became a minority
 Conflict continues today
Singapore
The French & Indochina
 Murder of missionaries
 Emperor Napoleon III 1840s
 Indochina included
 Vietnam
 Laos
 Cambodia
 Direct control
 Industrialization disallowed
 4x more land devoted to rice
production
 However consumption
decreased as rice was exported.
Siam (Thailand) Independence
Neutral zone between British
controlled Burma & French
Indochina
 Modernization of education,
legal & government under King
Mongkut & son
 Built its own infrastructure
 Reforms came from its own gov.
which reduced:
 Racist treatment
 Social turmoil &
 Economic exploitation
Colonial Impact:
 Results
 Modernization helps the European businesses
 Economies grew based on cash crops
 Goods sold on world market
 Education, health, and sanitation improves
 Roads, harbors, rail system
 Communication and transportation
 Millions migrate to find work
 Racial and religious clashes increase
 Melting Pot of Hindus, Muslims, Christians,
Buddhists
U.S. Imperialism in the
Pacific Islands
 Most disliked idea of colonizing
other nations
 Ambitious empire builders fulfill
destiny as world power
 Business interests-new markets
and trade
 Spanish-American War-1898
 Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam,
Cuba
 Filipino’s traded one colonizer for
another
U.S. Imperialism in the Philippines
 Cuban War of Independence
 Presidents Cleveland and
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McKinley
Yellow Journalism
Sinking of the USS Maine
Attacked Philippines first
Took over Spain’s territories
 Guam
 Puerto Rico
 Philippines
 Betrayed by US as US
promised immediate
independence
 Help prepare them for
self-rule: roads, schools,
hospitals
 Led rebellion which lasted
from 1899-1902
 US promised it would
prepare them for self-rule.
 US encouraged growing of
cash crops
Emilio Aguinaldo
- Philippines
Queen
Liliuokalani
Last monarch and only
queen regent of the
Kingdom of Hawaii
r. 1891-1895
A U.S. military-backed coup
deposed her in 1893 and
formed a provisional
government; Hawaii was
declared a republic in 1894
U.S. and Hawaii
 Hawaii-1790s port on way to China and
East India
 1820s-Sugar trade
 1890 McKinley Tariff Act
 Annexation
 Queen Liliuokalani
 Called for new constitution increase her
power
 1894-Sanford B. Dole President Republic
of Hawaii
 1895 – Queen abdicates throne
 1898-Annexed by U.S.
Westernization
Australia
 British settlers displaced the indigenous populations of
Australia and New Zealand
 1769-1778 - Captain James Cook explored New Zealand and
eastern coast of Australia
 Expanded shipping network and more people
 Australia – Melanesian 650,000
 New Zealand – Maori 250,000
 Due to isolation, vulnerable to diseases
 By 1890s 93,000 aboriginal Australians & 42,000 Maori
 1788 - 1st permanent British to Australia were 736 convicts
 1851 – Gold discovered – increased settlers
New Zealand
 First settlers slaughtered seals and exported pelts
 1806 – 60,000 sealskins exported
 By 1820 nearly extinct
 Also hunted sperm whales for oil, ambergris (used in
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perfume) and whalebone (used in women’s corsets)
After 1860 a brief gold rush
By early 1880s had 500,000 British settlers
Followed the 1867 Dominion of Canada self governing rule
Voters had to be able to read & write English to vote
India under British Rule
 Sepoys – Indian troops who guarded British trading posts
 1691 – Great Britain's East India Company (EIC) started a
company trading post at port of Calcutta
 Due to deaths of EIC men in a jail, they overthrew the nawab
(Muslim princes who were deputies of the Mughal emperor)
 EIE was given the right to rule Bengal in 1765
 City of Bombay became 3rd major center of British power
Sepoy Rebellion 1857-1858
 The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against
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British rule in India in 1857
In Britain and in the West, it was almost always portrayed as a
series of unreasonable and bloodthirsty uprisings spurred by
falsehoods about religious insensitivity.
In India, it has been viewed quite differently, and events of 1857
have been considered the first outbreak of an independence
movement against British rule.
Rifles required a new type of cartridges wrapped in paper, which
had been coated in a grease which made the cartridges easier to
load in rifle barrels – Rumors from cows & pigs
Attacked British civilians, including women and children
India
 1858 Britain eliminated the last traces of Mughal & company
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rule
Created new Secretary of State for India
1858 Queen Victoria guaranteed all Indians equal protection
of the law and the freedom to practice their religions and
social customs
Members of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) held senior
administrative and judicial posts
Promoted the introduction of new technologies –railroads
Flood of poor Indians into cities - spread of cholera
India & Britain in 1858