AP World History – Unit 4

Chapter 22 Notes

HIGH TIDE OF IMPERIALISM

Definitions• Imperialism:• Process through which a state attempts

to control the economic, political, and/or cultural makeup of another state.

• Colonialism:• The most developed form of Imperialism whereby the

controlling state invades another state/region so as to exploit its resources and/or for the purposes of large-scale production.

• Between 1815-1914 the West (Europe and America) increased their control of the world’s land mass from 35%-85%!• 60 million people left Europe.

Definitions

• Direct Rule: • The actual administration of government by

representatives of the imperial power, usually supported by military and civilian services.

• French tried direct rule.

• Indirect Rule:• Ruling through cooperation with a native ruler or

rulers who profit from the relationship.• British used indirect rule.

• Example was the Raj in India.

Definitions• Protectorate• A stronger nation “protects” a weaker nation from others.

• It still has great influence over the affairs of the “protected” nation and is supposed to listen to advice of mother country.

• Local rulers left in place.• Costs less to run than a colony.

• Sphere of Influence• An area over which a powerful nation claims a “vital interest”

and, in reality, claims the right to exert dominance.• An outside power claimed economic (trading) privileges.• China was the best example.

CAUSES OF IMPERIALISM

Economic

• Industrialization gave the West the ability to conquer other parts of the world.• As well as more reasons to do so.

• Large-scale industrial production made Western factories demand more raw materials.• This could be seized from less powerful nations.

• Western nations needed markets for the goods produced.• Colonies would serve as potential markets.

• Immense wealth allowed the Western world to conquer far-off places.

Military

• Industrialization provided new weaponry for the armies and navies of the West:• Ocean-going fleets.• Modern rifles and rapid-fire artillery.

• Native populations rarely resisted Western military forces.

• Growing need of Western nations to maintain bases and coal/oil stations around the world for naval and civilian fleets.• Ships required repairs and refueling stations at strategic

locations globally.

Social

• Europe’s rapid population growth during the 1800’s played a role in prompting imperial activity.• Immigration to the Americas was an outlet.• Millions came to the Americas.• Another outlet was to leave home for colonial life.• Ambitious or desperate families • attempted to make their fortunes this way.

Science and Technology

• Instrumental in allowing the West to conquer and colonize.• Knowledge was power.• Advances in transportation, communication, and warfare

brought by the Industrial Revolution enabled Western nations to build empires.

• New wave of exploration allowed for better knowledge of the geography of the world.

• Medical advances• Made possible for Europeans and Americans to press into

tropical regions.• Quinine helped relieve symptoms of malaria & yellow fever.

CulturalSense of racial superiority was widespread among Westerners.– Created a sense that Western nations were entitled

to conquer & colonize areas that appeared “backwards” or “primitive”.• Cecil Rhodes, British imperialist,

“I contend that we are the finest race

in the world, and the more of it we

inhabit, the better.”

Cultural• Social Darwinism.• West had a sense of racial superiority Darwin’s theory of

“natural selection” and “survival of the fittest” applied to the human societies.

• Destruction and conquest of weaker races was nature’s way of improving the species.

• English poet Rudyard Kipling, “White Man’s Burden”.• Attitude was well-meaning and heartfelt, but condescending.• European and American missionaries, doctors, scientists, and

colonial officials often did good in the places they visited.• They did so out of a subconscious sense of racial superiority, and

often trampled on the beliefs and ideas of the natives.

• Interesting fact, he also wrote The Jungle Book.

World in 1900

IMPERIAL EMPIRES

British Empire in 1900

“The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire”

India “The Jewel in the Crown”

1661 1st British trade center at Bombay– 1690 British establish center at Calcutta

1707 Start of Mughal decline

1756-1763 Seven Years’ War– British East India Co. uses sepoys

1857 Sepoy Rebellion

1858 Beginning of the British Raj

The Sepoy Mutiny

• The East India Company relied on Sepoys, Indians who worked for the Brits, mostly as soldiers.

• By the mid- 1800’s, the Sepoys were becoming increasingly alarmed with the company’s insatiable appetite for eating up larger and larger chunks of the subcontinent.

• Company did not respect the local customs or Muslim and Hindu religious customs

The Sepoy Mutiny

• In 1857, the Sepoys learned that the bullet cartridges (which had to be bitten off in order to load into the riffle) were greased with pork or beef fat, thus violating Hindu and Muslim dietary laws, the Sepoys rebelled. The fighting continued for two years and the rebellion failed miserably.

Power in Parliament

• The consequences were huge! In 1858, the British parliament stepped in, took control of India away from the East India Company, and made all of India a crown colony.

• By 1877, Queen Victoria was recognized as Empress of India.

Indian Resistance to British Rule• Reforms• Ram Mohan Roy

• Cooperation• Indian National Congress (1885)

• Nationalism• Radical movement centered on

Hinduism• Called for independence and

revolts• Paved path for Gandhi, etc.

Ram Mohan Roy

Impact of British rule in India

• Positive:• Western education• Social reforms• Keep the caste

system

• Technology• Railroads• Telegraph lines

• Brought into the global market economy

• Negative:• Move towards cash

crops lead to famines• Drain India of

resources• Taxes used to pay for

army and generous salaries for administrators

• Increase in chronic poverty

British Imperialism in South Africa

• 1652 1st Dutch settlement at Cape Town• 1815 British annex Cape Town• 1830 Boers begin Great Trek• 1867 Diamonds discovered in Orange Free

State• 1885 Gold discovered in Transvaal• 1899-1902 Boer Wars

South Africa• Prior to the discovery of gold and diamonds in

South Africa was valuable for Europeans only for shipping and military reasons. The Dutch first arrived and settled in Cape Town as a stopping point for ships on the way from Europe to India.

• In 1795, the British seized Cape Town and the South African Dutch (Boers or Afrikaners) trekked northeast into the interior of South Africa, settling in a region known as Transvaal

Boer Wars

• When the Dutch discovered diamonds in Transvaal, the British quickly followed, fighting a series of wars for the rights and resources. After years of bloody battles, known as the Boer Wars (1899-1902), the British reigned supreme, and all of South Africa was annexed as part of the ever-expanding British Empire.

• The Africans were not allowed claims to the gold and diamonds, and were made to work in the mines as their natural resources were sent abroad.

Union of South Africa

• South Africa became a significant British colony, complete with extensive investment in infrastructure and institutions. In 1910, the colony had its own constitution, and it became the Union of South Africa, still part of the British Commonwealth, but exercising a considerable amount of self-rule.

African National Congress

• Under the Constitution• only white men could vote• native Africans had few rights

• In 1912, educated South Africans organized the African National Congress in an effort to oppose European colonialism.

French Empire

Light Blue: 1st French colonial empire; Dark Blue: 2nd French colonial empire

French in Vietnam• 1600s Jesuit priests arrive in Vietnam;

French trade with Vietnam follows• 1802 French help Gia Long unite Vietnam• 1820-1841 Minh Mang replaces Gia Long

and begins to persecute Christians• Persecutions plus pressures in Europe

provided justification for French conquest• By 1890s France controlled Vietnam (later

would add Cambodia and Laos)

Colonial Southeast Asia, c. 1850

Vietnamese Resistance

• Guerrilla warfare – “Save the King Movement”

• Vietnamese Nationalist Party (VNQDD)• Fail to create mass

movement• Replaced by Communist

Party of Vietnam (Viet Minh)• Dominated by Ho Chi Minh

Imperialism in Africa

Left: Africa in 1878

Right: Africa in 1914

The Berlin Conference: Carving Up the Continent • In 1884, Otto von Bismarck hosted the

major European powers at the conference in Berlin intended to resolve some differences over various European claims to lands in the African Congo.

Carving up Africa

• By the end of the conference, the delegates had set up rules for how colonization rights and boundaries would be determined on the continent. Each country wanted to be the first to establish possession in the various parts of Africa.

• Only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent of European rule by 1914.

Political and Economic Advantage

• Because the Berlin Conference encouraged colonialism solely based on bargaining for political and economic advantage, the boundary lines were based on European concerns, not on African history or culture. • tribal lands were cut in half• disrupted the culture (European schools,

Christian missionaries, western business practice)

• traditional African culture started to break apart (Things Fall Apart)

Suez Canal

Egypt • In theory the Ottomans ruled Egypt from 1517

until 1882, although throughout the nineteenth century, Ottoman rule was very weak. Local rulers, called beys, had far more influence over developments in Egypt than the rulers in Istanbul.

• When Napoleon tried to conquer Egypt, Muhammed Ali defeated the French and the Ottomans, and gained control of Egypt in 1805.

Suez Canal

• Ali’s westernization attempts were temporarily halted by his successor Abbas I, but were reinvigorated under subsequent rulers, who worked with the French to build the Suez Canal. The canal, when completed in 1869, connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, eliminating the need to go around the Cape of Good Hope.

Selling Stock

• Because the British had a huge colony n India, the canal became more important to them than anyone else. As Egypt’s finances went into a tailspin because of excessive government spending, Egypt started selling stock in its canal to raise money, stock that the British government eagerly gobbled up.

Latin American Imperialism

Latin American Independence

• Creoles• 3.5 million creoles in

Latin America by 1800• Only 30,000 peninsulares

• Resent tight government and economic regulations

• Want to replace peninsulares but retain their privileged position

• American Revolution• Napoleon’s Invasion of

Spain & Portugal

Latin American Independence

• 1810 – Miguel de Hidalgo begins uprising in Mexico• Independence gained by

Augustine de Iturbide in 1821• 1819 – Simon Bolivar (right)

gains independence for Columbia• Liberates South America with

help from Jose de San Martin• Attempt for a unified northern

South America fails in 1830• 1821 – Brazil gains

independence

Problems After Independence• Caudillos• Juan Manuel de Rosas (Argentina)• “Machiavelli of the pampas”• Kills over 22,000 people

• Latin America had little experience with self-government

• Creoles dominate politics• Only 5% of male population participated in

politics• Role of the Catholic Church• Poor treatment of natives

Economic Problems

• Monroe Doctrine (1823)• Economic Imperialism?• Britain replaced Spain as the dominant

economic force in Latin America• Economy continued to depend upon exports• Britain dominated until 1860

• Modernization theory vs. Dependency theory

U.S. Intervention in Latin America

• Mexican-American War (1846-1848)• Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

• Spanish-American War• U.S. gains Puerto Rico, the

Philippines, Guam• “Independence” for Cuba

• Roosevelt Corollary (1904)• Panama Canal• Completed August 1914

U.S. Imperialism

Mexico (1821-1857)

• 1821-1850’s marked by political instability• Went from monarchy to republic to

caudillo rule• Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana (left)

dominates politics prior to 1850• Church remains influential

• Owns almost 50% of all productive land in Mexico

• Nationalism grows after Mexican-American War

Benito Juarez (1861-1872)

• Liberal mestizo• First Mexican ruler without a

military background• Institutes La Reforma• Focus on land redistribution to

improve the condition of natives• Confiscates church lands• Speculators and large landowners buy

land instead of natives• Most of Mexico’s peasants were

landless by 1900

• Creates a backlash from Mexican conservatives

Porfirio Diaz (1876-1910)• Industrialized Mexico• Built railroads• Improved banking system• Focused on oil & mining• Depended on foreign

investment

• Increasingly autocratic• Oppressed political

opposition• Arrested Francisco Madero

in 1910 Porfirio Diaz

Argentina

• After independence dominated by caudillos• Politically stabilized after 1862• Economic growth based on exports• Primary export is beef• Dependent on foreign capital

• Large numbers of immigrants from Europe• 3.5 million from Italy, Germany, Russia, etc.

Latin American Society

• Few changes for women in Latin America• Remained under the control of their fathers and

husbands• Machismo

• Lower class had more economic freedoms• Gained more access to education

• Racial castes were formally abolished• Racial and ethnic tensions continued• Few major/ethnic reforms

IMPACTS OF IMPERIALISM

Positive: the benefits

• Infrastructure development.• Ports, roads, railroads, etc.

• Advantages of European institutions.• Schools, hospitals, legal systems, etc.

• Economic development of resources.

Negative: the disadvantages

• Exploitation of native populations for “cheap labor”.• Resources were exported to the advantage of

Europe. • Some depleted.

• Dependency on economic systems.• Later, no preparation for independence.• Devaluation of traditional cultures.• Long term legacy of poverty in the world economic

system.• Led to independence movements after WWII.

• Some peaceful and some violent.