Imperialism/ Colonization 1800-1900

• Imperialism


  When one country extends political dominance over another country
• Motivations for the second wave of European imperialism


  • Economic
  • Political
  • Belief in racial superiority
• Economic motivation


  • States needed raw materials and markets to keep factories working during the Industrial Revolution
  • Once domestic resources were tapped, they went looking in other parts of the world for raw materials
  • They needed new markets to sell their manufactured goods once domestic markets became saturated
• Economic imperialism in China


  • British trade with China was fundamentally out of balance, with more British money flowing into China than Chinese money flowing into Britain
  • British began smuggling highly addictive opium into China from India, leading to the Opium Wars
• Political motivation


  • Several European nations were clamoring for territory in Africa, leading to the Scramble for Africa and tensions between the states
• Belief in racial superiority


  • Social Darwinism ideology had taken root, leading to the belief that strong, industrialized Western nations were superior to weak, "primitive" nations
  • Europeans believed they were bringing the "glories of Western Civilization" to the colonized peoples
• Africans and Asians were not as enthusiastic about the "glories of Western culture" as the Europeans were, and often put up stiff resistance
• Advantages Europeans had over resisting populations


  • Advanced weapons like rifled guns, breach-loading rifles, and machine guns
  • New communication and transportation technology like the telegraph and railroads
  • Advances in medicine like the discovery of quinine and the germ theory of disease
• The Industrial Revolution contributed significantly to the Europeans' military and technological advantages over the colonized peoples
• Europeans believed their imperialism was benevolent and civilizing, rather than evil
• Industrialized European States set their sights on Africa as the object of their imperialistic impulses
• They carved up the continent of Africa quickly so they could gain access to more raw materials to feed their factories and to find new markets for their manufactured goods
• The race to colonize Africa, known as the Scramble for Africa, ended up creating significant tension between European States who all wanted the biggest piece of the African pie for themselves
• Berlin Conference


  1. Otto von Bismarck called the series of meetings

  2. Imperial powers of Europe could carve Africa up peacefully through discussion and negotiation
• After the Berlin Conference, almost the entire continent of Africa was claimed by one of the European Imperial powers
• Britain and France wanted to connect their African empires via railroad


  There was a problem - modest Sudan which was owned by neither of them
• Britain and France sent military forces into Sudan


  Were on the brink of war
• France withdrew, conceding the territory to Britain, as they were outnumbered and outgunned, and they could see the growing influence of Germany in Africa and Europe
• France and Britain signed the Entente Cordiale in 1904, establishing friendly relations between the two nations
• Germany backed native Moroccan rebellions against the French


  This led to the Moroccan crises and the threat of war
• Germany, without the support of allies, decided it was a bad move to test the strength of the France-Britain alliance, and the conflict was solved through diplomacy
• The Moroccan crises demonstrated the increasing bond between France and Britain, and the increasing antagonism between them and Germany
• There was a growing objection among some Europeans about whether imperialism was a good thing at all, though this was not a majority voice
• Joseph Conrad


  British writer who traveled to the Belgian Congo and witnessed the degrading and violent policies put in place by King Leopold II, which he then depicted in his novel Heart of Darkness
• Edmund Morrow


  British man who formed the Congo Reform Association to address violence in the Congo
• J.A. Hobson


  Economist who published a paper arguing that imperialism was ultimately a detrimental economic system in the long run
• Vladimir Lenin


  Argued that imperialism was the fulfillment of capitalism, and both ought to be thrown out
• In their colonies of Natal and Zululand, the British had forced the native Zulus into working diamond mines, leading to a nationalist wave and a Zulu army of 40,000 that was eventually crushed by the British
• In Ethiopia, the Ethiopian King Menelik II purchased industrial grade weapons from France and Russia, allowing them to successfully throw off the invading Italians and remain an independent African state
• In British India, a surge of nationalism led the sepoy (Indian soldiers) to rebel in the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, which spread rapidly across India before being crushed by the British, leading to the colony being transferred from the British East India Company to the British government
• Imperialism


  The policy of extending a country's power and influence through colonization, use of military force, or other means
• The 19th century took imperialism to new heights
• China was a thriving manufacturing power


  About to be overtaken by Europe
• Europeans had to use silver to trade with China as they didn't produce anything else China wanted
• The Macartney Mission in 1793 to get better trade conditions with China was a total failure
• Qianlong Emperor: '"Hither to all European nations including your own country's barbarian merchants have carried on their trade with our celestial empire at Canton. Such has been the procedure for many years, although our celestial empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its own borders."'
• Europeans, especially the British, found that the Chinese would buy opium
• By the 1830s, British free trade policy unleashed a flood of opium in China, which threatened China's favorable balance of trade and created many drug addicts
• In 1839 the Chinese responded by confiscating and destroying British opium
• The British responded by demanding compensation and access to Chinese territory to carry out trade