1750 - 1914. A Second Wave of European Conquests Focused on Asia and Africa Several new players -...
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Colonial Encounters 1750 - 1914
1750 - 1914. A Second Wave of European Conquests Focused on Asia and Africa Several new players - Germany, Italy, Belgium, U.S., Japan Was not demographically
A Second Wave of European Conquests Focused on Asia and Africa
Several new players - Germany, Italy, Belgium, U.S., Japan Was not
demographically catastrophic like the first phase Was affected by
the Industrial Revolution In general, Europeans preferred informal
control (e.g., Latin America, China, the Ottoman Empire)
Slide 3
Imperialism in Africa - 1914
Slide 4
Imperialism in Asia - 1914
Slide 5
The Threat of Military Force Original European military
advantage lay in organization, drill, and command structure Over
the nineteenth century, Europeans developed an enormous firepower
advantage (repeating rifles and machine guns) Numerous wars of
conquest - the Westerners almost always won
Slide 6
Becoming a Colony India and Indonesia: grew from interaction
with European trading firms - assisted by existence of many small
and rival states Most of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific
islands: - deliberate conquest - the scramble for Africa based on
inter-European rivalry (25yrs) Decentralized societies were the
hardest to conquer
Slide 7
Scramble for Africa
Slide 8
New Colonies Australia and New Zealand: more like the
colonization of North America - massive death due to disease Taiwan
and Korea: Japanese takeover was done European-style United States
and Russia continued to expand Liberia: settled by freed U.S.
slaves Ethiopia and Siam (Thailand) avoided colonization
skillfully
Slide 9
Liberia
Slide 10
Cooperation Some groups and individuals cooperated willingly
with their new masters - employment in the armed forces - elite
often kept much of their status and privileges - shortage of
European administrators made it necessary to rely on them
Governments and missionaries promoted European education - growth
of a small class with Western education - governments relied on
them increasingly over time
Slide 11
Rebellions Periodic rebellions - Indian Rebellion (18571858),
based on a series of grievances - Indian Rebellion began as a
mutiny among Indian troops - Rebel leaders advocated revival of the
Mughal Empire - Widened Indias racial divide; the British were less
tolerant of natives - Led the British government to assume direct
control over India
Slide 12
Indian Rebellion of 1857
Slide 13
Race and Tribe Race was a prominent point distinguishing rulers
from the ruled - Education for colonial subjects was limited and
emphasized practical matters - The best-educated natives rarely
made it into the upper ranks of the civil service Racism was
rampant in areas with a large number of European settlers (e.g.,
South Africa) - South Africa, whites attempted to industrialize
based on cheap African labor
Slide 14
Changes in Africa Colonial states imposed deep changes in
peoples daily lives Colonizers were fascinated with counting and
classifying their new subjects - In India, appropriated an
idealized caste system - In Africa, identified or invented distinct
tribes
Slide 15
New Colonies Colonial policies contradicted European core
values and practices at home - colonies were essentially
dictatorships - colonies were the antithesis of national
independence - racial classifications were against Christian and
Enlightenment ideas - many colonizers were against spreading
modernization to the colonies - in time, European contradictions
undermined colonial rule
Slide 16
A Global Economy Demand for African and Asian raw materials -
subsistence farming diminished - need to sell goods for money to
pay taxes - desire to buy new products Artisans were largely
displaced by manufactured goods
Slide 17
Forced Labor Forced Labor - states demanded unpaid labor on
public projects - caused widespread starvation (no time to grow
crops) Many areas resisted the forced cultivation of cash crops -
German East Africa: major rebellion in 1905 against forced cotton
cultivation - Mozambique: peasant sabotage and smuggling kept the
Portuguese from achieving their goals there
Slide 18
Cash-Crop Agriculture Many were happy to increase production
for world markets - considerable profit to small farmers In Ghana,
African farmers developed export agriculture - leading supplier of
cocoa by 1911 - created a hybrid peasant-capitalist society Labor
shortages led to exploitation Many colonies specialized in one or
two cash crops, creating dependence
Slide 19
Cocao Farming
Slide 20
Economies of Wage Labor: Working for Europeans Wage labor in
European enterprises was common - low pay, bad conditions, high
death rate - massive migration to Asian plantations Especially in
Africa, people moved to European plantations because they had lost
their own land
Slide 21
Leopold in The Congo
Slide 22
Types of Work Working in Mines - Malaysian tin mines attracted
millions of Chinese workers - appallingly high death rates - South
African diamond mines created worker migration - African miners
were exploited, kept on short-term contracts Colonial cities
attracted many workers - were seen as centers of opportunity -
segregated, unsanitary, overcrowded - created a place for a native,
Western-educated middle class - created an enormous class of urban
poor that could barely live
Slide 23
Women and the Colonial Economy: An African Case Study In
pre-colonial Africa, women were usually active farmers, had some
economic autonomy In the colonial economy, womens lives diverged
ever more from men - men tended to dominate the lucrative export
crops - women were left with almost all of the subsistence work
Large numbers of men migrated to work elsewhere - women were left
home to cope, including supplying food to men in the cities - women
coped in a variety of ways
Slide 24
Opportunities for Women The colonial economy also provided some
opportunities to women - especially small trade and marketing -
sometimes womens crops came to have greater cash value - some women
escaped the patriarchy of husbands or fathers - led to greater fear
of witchcraft and efforts to restrict female travel and
sexuality
Slide 25
Women Farming in Africa Today
Slide 26
Assessing Colonial Development What was the overall economic
impact of colonial rule? - defenders: it jump-started modern growth
- critics: long record of exploitation and limited, uneven growth
Colonial rule did help integrate Asian and African economies into
the world - though in many cases, that process had already been
underway Colonial rule did introduce some modernizing elements -
administrative and bureaucratic structures - communication and
transportation infrastructure - schools - health care
Slide 27
Social Effects Colonial rule did not lead to breakthroughs to
modern industrial societies - when India won independence, it was
one of the poorest developing countries British rule certainly did
not help overcome poverty
Slide 28
Poverty in India
Slide 29
Education Getting a Western education created a new identity
for many - the almost magical power of literacy - escape from
obligations like forced labor - access to better jobs - social
mobility and elite status Many people embraced European culture -
created a cultural divide between them and the majority of the
population
Slide 30
Education Many of the Western-educated elite saw colonial rule
as the path to a better future - in India, they organized reform
societies to renew Indian culture - combined Western ideas and
classic Hindu texts - European education as a tool to win freedom
from oppressive tradition - hopes for renewal through colonial rule
were disappointed Europeans did not treat their Asian and African
subjects as equal partners - denigrated the colonized cultures
Slide 31
Religion Widespread conversion to Christianity in New Zealand,
the Pacific islands, and non-Muslim Africa - around 10,000
missionaries had gone to Africa by 1910 - by the 1960s, some 50
million Africans were Christian Christianity was attractive to many
in Africa - military defeat shook belief in the old gods -
Christianity was associated with modern education - Christianity
gave opportunities to the young, the poor, and many women -
Christianity spread mostly through native Africans
Slide 32
Christianity Adapts Christianity was Africanized - continuing
use of charms, medicine men - some simply demonized their old gods
- wide array of independent churches was established Christianity
did not spread widely in India - but it led intellectuals and
reformers to define Hinduism
Slide 33
African Religion Distribution
Slide 34
Race and Tribe Notions of race and ethnicity were central to
new ways of belonging By 1900, some African thinkers began to
define an African identity - united for the first time by the
experience of colonial oppression - some argued that African
culture and history had the characteristics valued by Europeans
(complex political systems, etc.) Some praised the differences
between Africa and Europe - Africas contribution was communal,
cooperative, and egalitarian societies
Slide 35
Apartheid
Slide 36
20 th Century Africa In the twentieth century, such ideas
reached a broader public - hundreds of thousands of Africans took
part in World War I - some Africans traveled widely The most
important new sense of belonging was the idea of tribe (ethnic
identity) - ethnic groups were defined much more clearly, thanks to
Europeans Africans found ethnic identity useful - migrants
categorized themselves ethnically - organized mutual assistance
based on ethnicity