Colonial Encounters
1750-1914
AP WORLD HISTORY
CHAPTER 25A
A Second Wave of European Conquests
First Wave of European
Colonialism
Second Wave of European
Colonialism
1500s - 1600s
1750 – 1900
In the Western Hemisphere (Americas)
In Africa and Asia
Spain and Portugal = were major
players; NOT ANYMORE DUN DUN
DUN
New countries involved = Germany,
Italy, Belgium, the U.S., Japan
Devastated native populations
No massive devastation done to native
peoples
Europeans chose the path of conquest
and outright colonial rule
Europeans preferred informal control
(cheaper & less likely to cause war)
 Construction of 2nd-wave European empires in Africa and Asia involved
military force or the threat of using it
 Although they would have preferred non-violent takeovers, Europeans
often had to fight in wars of conquest to create their empires
 Always won in the end  superior militaries and weapons
Colonial Asia in the Early 20th Century
Colonial Africa in the Early 20th Century
Various Paths to Colonial Status
 India and Indonesia = colonial
conquest grew out of earlier
interactions with European trading
companies
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British authorities meeting
with Mughal leaders
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India = became controlled by Britain
Indonesia = became controlled by the
Dutch
Neither country had a clear-cut plan for
conquest
Conquest evolved slowly as local
authorities and European traders made
and unmade a variety of alliances
Acquisition of India and Indonesia =
fairly easy because both were fragmented
territories with no political unity
Various Paths to Colonial Status
 Australia and New
Zealand = both taken
over by the British
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Similar to the earlier
colonization of North
America
Conquest accompanied by:
massive European
settlement and diseases that
reduced native numbers
Became settler colonies =
“neo-European” societies in
the Pacific
White Settlers in Australia
Various Paths to Colonial Status
 Africa, mainland
Southeast Asia, and the
Pacific islands =
occurred later = in the
2nd half of the 19th
century

More abruptly and
deliberately than
anywhere else
The “Scramble for Africa”
 Until the 1800s = Europeans
knew very little about Africa
 1840 = David Livingstone went to
Africa
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Traveled around and explored
there for 30 years
He lost contact with the outside
world for 6 years in the 1860s
American Journalist Henry Stanley
was sent to look for him -- ended
up leading several expeditions
himself
 Journeys of Livingstone and
Stanley increased interest in
Africa and its many resources
Meeting of Livingstone and
Stanley
Egypt – Suez Canal
 The first modern attempts to build a canal came in
the late 1700s when Napoleon Bonaparte conducted
an expedition to Egypt as a way to cause trade
problems with the British as they would have to pay
taxes to France
 Miscalculated sea levels and not built
 Construction of the Suez Canal officially began on
April 25, 1859. It opened ten years later on
November 17, 1869 at a cost of $100 million by
French diplomat and engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps
Egypt – Aswan dam
 Completed in 1902 by British
 Stopped the annual Nile flood & released waters
throughout the year

Allowed famers to grow 2 or 3 crops a year of cotton
 Made a small elite group of landowners &
merchants – most foreigners
 Egyptian peasants had heavy taxes
 By 1890s Egyptians politicians was Britain gone
Ethiopia
 Beginning in 1840s rulers purchased modern
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weapons creating strong armies
Christian
Manufactured own weapons locally
Britain invaded after some British were held captive
After Emperor Tewodros committed suicide, British
withdrew
In 1889 Menelik II became emperor
In 1896 he held off the Italians with better army
Eritrea became an
Italian colony in
1890
The “Scramble for Africa”
 One European country after another
began to claim parts of Africa

Able to take African territories easily
because they had superior weapons and a
lot of money
 1885 = the Berlin Conference = Several
European nations met in Berlin to decide
how to divide up Africa
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No African leaders invited
Peaceful negotiations made between the
European powers that officially decided
“who got what”
 By 1914 = Europeans controlled 90% of
Africa
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The Berlin Conference
European powers often had to use
extensive and bloody military action to
maintain control within their acquired
African territories
Varying Responses to European Encroachment
 Some tried to enlist Europeans in
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their own internal struggles for
power or in their external rivalries
with neighboring states
Some tried to pit imperial powers
against each other
Some wanted to fight back against
the Europeans
Some believed resistance was futile
and acceptance of the situation was
the only option
Some negotiated with Europeans in
an effort to keep as much
independence and power as
possible
African Resistance to Colonial Rule
Under European Rule: Cooperation
 Many groups and individuals
willingly cooperated with colonial
authorities
 Many men found employment,
status, and security in the
European-led armed forces
 Colonial rulers = expensive, in
short supply, and could rarely
communicate with their subjects
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Result = local intermediaries needed
Local intermediaries = typically from
elite or governing families
Local intermediaries = could retain their
status and gain wealth by exercising
authority at the local level
Under European Rule: Cooperation
 Many found it beneficial to
pursue Western education
Western-educated class
served the colonial state,
European businesses, and
Christian missions as
teachers, clerks, translators,
and lower-level
administrators
 Some with even more
education = became lawyers,
doctors, engineers,
journalists, etc.
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Under European Rule: Rebellion
 Periodic rebellions (both
big and small) = a constant
problem for colonial
regimes everywhere
 Most famous colonial
rebellion = the Indian
Rebellion of 1857-1858
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Also known as: the Sepoy
Rebellion or Sepoy Mutiny
 Sepoys = Indian soldiers in
the service of European
powers
Indian Rebellion of 1857-1858
 Triggered by the introduction into
the colony’s forces of a new
cartridge smeared with animal fat
from cows and pigs
 Remember: Indian troops = Hindus
and Muslims
 Hindus = find cows sacred
 Muslims = regard pigs as unclean
 Both = viewed this military
“innovation” as a plot to harm them
and convert them to Christianity
 Indian troops in Bengal mutinied
against their British superiors
Indian Rebellion of 1857-1858
 Indian Rebellion spread from Bengal
to other regions and other social
groups
 Many social groups within India
were upset with British colonial rule
 Local rulers = lost power
 Landlords = deprived of their
estates and/or rent
 Peasants = overtaxed and exploited
by urban moneylenders and
landlords
 Weavers = unemployed (displaced
by machines)
 Religious leaders = opposed to
Christian missionary preaching
Indian Rebellion of 1857-1858
 Crushed in 1858  but
important results followed:
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Widening of the racial divide in
colonial India between native Indians
and their British rulers  eroded
British tolerance for their subjects
British = became more conservative
and cautious when it came to trying
to change Indian society  didn’t
want another rebellion
British government assumed direct
control over India  ended the
British East India Company’s rule
there
End of Slave Trade
 1807 both Great Britain & United States made
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importing slaves from Africa illegal for their citizens
By 1850 most Western countries followed
Britain became the most aggressive abolitionists with
naval patrols along the African coast
Captured 1,635 ships and freed 160,000 people
Slave trade did not end until 1867 as it moved to
other parts of Africa
Switched to legitimate trade – exports other than
slaves – cloth, metals, palm oil
Sierra Leone
 Taken over by British in 1808 to serve as a base in
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the anti-slave trade
130,000 people resettled here taken from slave ships
Christian missionaries helped settle these recaptives
Samuel Adjai Crowther freed in 1821 became the 1st
Anglican bishop in West Africa in 1864
James Africanus Horton, the son of slaves, became a
doctor and author
In 1821 free black Americans founded a settlement
that became Republic of Liberia
Zanzibar
 1800-1873 Arab & Swahili
owners of clove plantations
purchased 700,000 slaves to
harvest cloves
 Belong to Sultanate of
Oman. An Arabian kingdom
on the Persian Gulf
 Also important center of
ivory and slaves until British
pressure caused the Sultan
to ban the export of slaves in
1857 and their import in
1873
Colonial Empires with a Difference
 Major factor
distinguishing the rulers
from the ruled = race
 Education for colonial
subjects = very limited
Limited to practical
subjects
 Europeans were afraid that
education and knowledge
would lead to power for
colonial subjects
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Colonial Empires with a Difference
 Colonies with large
European settler
populations = blatant
pattern of racial segregation
 Example = apartheid
Racial segregation in South
Africa
 Racial system provided for
separate: “homelands,”
educational systems,
residential areas, public
facilities, etc.
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Colonial Empires with a Difference
 European powers were much more
involved and “hands on” with their
colonial states in the 19th century
Affected the daily lives of people far
more than empires had in the past
 Centralized tax-collecting agencies
 New modes of transportation and
communication
 Imposed changes in landholding
patterns
 Integration of colonial economies into
global trade network
 Public health and sanitation measures
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European factories on the
west coast of Africa
Colonial Empires with a Difference
 European colonizers felt the
need to count, classify, and
organize their colonial subjects
 Wanted a way to manage the
unfamiliar, complex, varied,
and changing societies that
they now controlled
 Made colonial administration
easier
 Ex: In African colonies,
Europeans identified and
sometimes even invented
distinct tribes  each with its
own territory, language,
customs, chief, etc.
Colonial Empires with a Difference
 European colonial policies contradicted their own
values and practices at home
European Nations
European Colonies
Becoming more democratic
Were mostly dictatorships (used to
create order and stability)
Swept up in nationalism
Total opposite of national
independence
Christian and Enlightenment idea of
human equality
Racial divisions, ranked racial
classifications, etc.
Industrialization and modernization
Modernization discouraged because
Europeans did not want modernization
to cause opposition to colonial rule