Refers to domination of industrialized countries over subject lands
Domination achieved through trade, investment, and business activities
Two types of modern colonialism
Colonies ruled and populated by migrants
Colonies controlled by imperial powers without significant settlement
Economic motives of imperialism
European merchants and entrepreneurs made personal fortunes
Overseas expansion for raw materials: rubber, tin, copper, petroleum
Colonies were potential markets for industrial products
Political motives
Strategic purpose: harbors and supply stations for industrial nations
Overseas expansion used to defuse internal tensions
Cultural justifications of imperialism
Christian missionaries sought converts in Africa and Asia
"Civilizing mission" or "white man's burden" was a justification for expansion
Tools of empire
Transportation technologies supported imperialism
Steam-powered gunboats reached inland waters of Africa and Asia
Railroads organized local economies to serve imperial power
Western military technologies increasingly powerful
Firearms: from muskets to rifles to machines guns
In Battle of Omdurman 1898, British troops killed eleven thousand Sudanese in five hours
Communication technologies linked imperial lands with colonies
Oceangoing steamships cut travel time from Britain to India from years to weeks
Telegraph invented in 1830s, global reach by 1900
European imperialism
The British empire in India
Company rule under the English East India Company
EIC took advantage of Mughal decline in India, began conquest of India in 1750s
Built trading cities and forts at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay
Ruled domains with small British force and Indian troops called sepoys
Sepoy mutiny, 1857: attacks on British civilians led to swift British reprisals
British imperial rule replaced the EIC, 1858
British viceroy and high-level British civil service ruled India
British officials appointed a viceroy and formulated all domestic and foreign policy
Indians held low-level bureaucratic positions
Economic restructuring of India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Introduction of commercial crops: tea in Ceylon, also coffee and opium
Built railroads and telegraph lines, new canals, harbors, and irrigation methods
British rule did not interfere with Indian culture or Hindu religion
Established English-style schools for Indian elites
Outlawed Indian customs considered offensive, such as the sati
Imperialism in central Asia and southeast Asia
"The Great Game" refers to competition between Britain and Russia in central Asia
By 1860s Russian expansion reached northern frontiers of British India
Russian and British explorers mapped, scouted, but never colonized Afghanistan
Russian dominance of central Asia lasted until 1991
Dutch East India Company held tight control of Indonesia (Dutch East India)
British colonies in southeast Asia
Established colonial authority in Burma, 1880s
Port of Singapore founded 1824; was base for conquest of Malaya, 1870s
French Indochina created, 1859-1893
Consisted of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos--former tribute states of Qing dynasty
French encouraged conversion to Christianity, established western-style schools
Kingdom of Siam (Thailand) left in place as buffer between Burma and Indochina
The scramble for Africa
Between 1875 and 1900, European powers seized almost the entire continent
Early explorers charted the waters, gathered information on resources
Missionaries like David Livingstone set up mission posts
Henry Stanley sent by Leopold II of Belgium to create colony in Congo, 1870s
To protect their investments and Suez Canal, Britain occupied Egypt, 1882
South Africa settled first by Dutch farmers (Afrikaners) in seventeenth century
By 1800 was a European settler colony with enslaved black African population
British seized Cape Colony in early nineteenth century, abolished slavery in 1833
British-Dutch tensions led to Great Trek of Afrikaners inland to claim new lands
Mid-nineteenth century, they established Orange Free State in 1854, Transvaal in 1860
Discovery of gold and diamonds in Afrikaner lands; influx of British settlers
Boer War, 1899-1902: British defeated Afrikaners, Union of South Africa
The Berlin Conference, 1884-1885
European powers set rules for carving Africa into colonies
Occupation, supported by European armies, established colonial rule in Africa
By 1900 all of Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia, was controlled by European powers
Colonial rule challenging and expensive
"Concessionary companies": granted considerable authority to private companies
(a) empowered to build plantations, mines, railroads
(b) made use of forced labor and taxation, as in Belgian Congo
(c) unprofitable, often replaced by more direct rule
Direct rule: replacing local rulers with Europeans--French model
(a) justified by "civilizing mission"
(b) hard to find enough European personnel
Indirect rule: control over subjects through local institutions--British model
(a) worked best in African societies that were highly organized
(b) assumed firm tribal boundaries where often none existed
European imperialism in the Pacific
Settler colonies in the Pacific
1770, Captain James Cook reached Australia, reported it suitable for settlement
1788, one thousand settlers established colony of New South Wales
1851, gold discovered; surge of European migration to Australia
Fertile soil and timber of New Zealand attracted European settlers