Imperialism
The Old Imperialism
The New Imperialism
The New Imperialism
• The Profit Motive:
– Overseas profits
crucial in imperialist
dynamic.
– “Colonial policy is the
daughter of industrial
policy,” French Prime
Minister Jules Ferry,
1884.
The New Imperialism
• Overseas Export
Markets, c 1914:
– France’s colonies
represented 12% of its
foreign trade.
– Britain’s colonies
comprise 33% of its
foreign trade.
– German colonial trade
amounts to less than
1% of its exports.
The New Imperialism
• Places to Resettle the
Poor:
– Colonies could resolve
social as well as
economic issues.
– Places to vent
domestic frustrations
and disperse the
multiplying poor.
The New Imperialism
The New Imperialism
• Continental Envy:
– Although the real
source of British power
was is industrial base,
continental Europe
envied the wealth and
power its colonies
gave it.
The New Imperialism
• Strategic Concerns:
– To protect route to
India, in 1882 Britain
makes Egypt a
protectorate; later they
take control over Nile
Valley.
– Russia and Great
Britain play the “great
game” in central Asia.
The New Imperialism
• Dividing rather than
Conquering:
– Rivalry among Great
Powers keep some regions
from falling under a single
European dominion.
– Britain and France
establish Siam (Thailand)
as a buffer zone.
– Western powers seize
Chinese “treaty ports.”
The New Imperialism
• Rationalizing Conquest:
– Technological superiority
convinced many that it was
Europe’s duty to develop
Asia and Africa.
– Viewed colonial
populations as inferior.
– Social Darwinists believe
white race destined to
succeed, non-whites to
succumb.
The New Imperialism
• Rudyard Kipling:
– Take up the White Man's
burden-Send forth the best ye
breed-Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives'
need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild-Your new-caught, sullen
peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
The New Imperialism
• The White Man’s Burden:
– Even as rivalries persisted,
empire building
underscored belief in
common European destiny.
– Performing feats akin to
ancient Rome or medieval
Crusaders.
– Colonial acquisitions spark
public clamor for further
expansion.
The New Imperialism
• Man’s Work:
– Literature of empire
building written in
masculine terms.
– European women
follow the men as
helpmates or
missionaries
The New Imperialism
The Writing of Mary Kingsley (1862-1900)
The New Imperialism
• Conquest and Administration:
– Industrialization give Europeans the means to conquer and the
tools to administer—gunboats and telegraphs.
The New Imperialism
Conquest and Administration
The New Imperialism
• Conquest and
Administration:
– In 1890s, France to
save administrative
costs puts rubber
companies in control
of large tracts of land
in Congo. Local
people brutally
coerced to collect sap
The New Imperialism
•
Conquest and Administration:
– King Leopold II of Belgium rules the Belgian Congo as a private domain
without any accountability to domestic parliament.
– He brutally exploits the Congolese and is internationally condemned.
The New Imperialism
•
Westernization:
– Western states build cities modeled on European grid systems; Great
Britain constructs twice as much rail lines in India as existed at home.
The New Imperialism
• Westernization:
– European empire builders
create never before seen
political units and ignore
tribal and indigenous
differences.
– Some intellectuals in
Europe’s colonies adopt
west’s ideologies—
particularly nationalism,
e.g. Young India and
Young Algerians
The New Imperialism:
Co-opting colonial culture
The New Imperialism
• Great Britain’s
territorial reach:
– Although the real
source of British power
was is industrial base,
continental Europe
envied the wealth and
power its colonies
gave it.
The New Imperialism
Great Britain and Africa
The New Imperialism
England and India
The New Imperialism
The New Imperialism
•
Europe and the scramble for Africa:
–
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–
–
–
–
–
–
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1881, French occupy Tunisia.
1882, revolt in Egypt (against British
and French influence) prompts British
occupation.
1884, Germany acquires South West
Africa, Togo, Cameroon; Berlin
Conference.
1885, King Leopold of Belgium
acquires Congo.
1886, Britain and Germany divide East
Africa; discovery of gold in South
Africa.
1889, Italy establishes colonies in
Eritrea and Somaliland; British South
Africa Company starts colonization of
Rhodesia.
1894, Britain occupies Uganda.
1896, Abyssinian (Ethiopean) army
defeats invading Italian army.
1898, Fashoda crisis.
1899-1902, Boer War.
The New Imperialism
• Europe and the scramble
for Africa:
– 1884 Berlin conference
sets terms for African
colonization.
– Bismarck doesn’t press
German acquisitions; plays
British and French
ambitions against each
other.
– Guns make the (imperial)
man.
The New Imperialism
• The Nile and Northeast
Africa:
– In 1898, the Fashoda Crisis
between Britain and France
erupts over influence in the
Upper Nile.
– To secure Egypt (and the
Suez Canal) Britain seeks
control of Nile valley.
– Battle of Omdurman.
– French interests overcome,
resentment follows, and
results in Entente Cordiale
in 1904.
The New Imperialism
• Southern Africa:
– Until end of 19th century,
southern Africa (except for
the Cape area) largely
untouched agrarian
territory.
– In 1867, diamonds
discovered; 20 years later
gold discovered in the
Transvaal in the Boer
Republic.
– British plans were to
absorb Boer territory into a
federation; resistance led
to annexation.
The New Imperialism
• The South African Goldrush:
– In 1881, gold found on the
Witwatersrand and two
years later on the great
reef. The rush was on.
– The value of South African
exports doubles in three
years.
– Cecil Rhodes attempts to
topple Transvaal and fails.
– British government presses
for federation of south
African territories.
The New Imperialism:
The Second Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902
(First Anglo-Boer War, 1880-1881)
The New Imperialism:
Europe and Asia
The New Imperialism
• France and
Indochina:
– French presence in
Indochina goes back
to Napoleon III and the
French colony of
Cochin China in
Mekong delta.
– In 1863, France
established
protectorate over
Cambodia.
The New Imperialism
• France and
Indochina:
– Kingdom of Annam
considered most
important to French
colonial interests.
– In 1883, France
dispatches military
expedition to Tonkin,
and blockade Hue.
– Settlement leads to
clashes with Chinese
troops
The New Imperialism
• France and Indochina:
– French annexation of
Indochina, primarily a
matter of treaties and wars.
– Annam court grudgingly
accepts French
protectorate and military
conflict breaks out in 1885,
the Scholars Rebellion.
– Conflict in Annam lasts 12
years and causes
government of Jules Ferry
to fall.
The New Imperialism
• France and
Indochina:
– Cochin China a colony
governed by colonists
themselves.
– Population of Vietnam
rose from 10 million in
1878 to 17 million in
1913; by then the
country had fewer than
24,000 French
inhabitants.
The New Imperialism
•
France and Indochina:
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Small and concentrated, French population depended on Chinese labor.
Native Christian population fearful and with reason.
Vietnamese upper classes resist French acculturation.
Armed resistance persists.
The New Imperialism