Ch11 Imperialism Part 1

Imperialism
Imperialism= One country’s domination of the
political, economic, and social life of another country

Imperialism in the 1800’s resulted from 3 key factors:

1. Nationalism prompted rival European nations to build empires in their
competitive quests for power.

2. The Industrial Revolution created a tremendous demand for raw
materials and expanded markets, which prompted industrialized
nations to seek new territories.

3. Both religious fervor and feelings of racial and cultural superiority
inspired Europeans to impose their cultures on distant lands.

Causes of Imperialism
ECONOMIC INTERESTS POLITICAL & MILITARY INTERESTS
Manufacturers wanted access to
natural resources. Merchant ships and naval vessels
Manufacturers hoped for new needed bases around the world.
markets for factory goods. Western leaders were motivated by
Colonies offered a valuable outlet for nationalism.
Europe’s growing population.

HUMANITARIAN GOALS SOCIAL DARWINISM

Many westerners felt concern for Many westerners viewed European
their “little brothers” overseas. races as superior to all others.
Missionaries, doctors, and colonial They saw imperial conquest as
officials believed they had a duty to nature’s way of improving the
spread western civilization. human species.

• Growing numbers of missionaries were delegated
to the most remote corners of Africa and Asia by
the Catholic and Protestants.
• The main aspect of these missionaries was
thought that Christianity and Western civilization
could benefit and transform the world.
• These missionaries were not military based, but
did set out to change the people’s beliefs and
practices, as by building schools and hospitals.

Missionaries at Work
Missionaries conduct a baptism ceremony in the Lower Congo in 1907.
In 1890, Chief Machemba of the
Yao people in East Africa wrote in
Swahili to a German officer:
“If it be friendship that you desire,
then I am ready for it . . . but to be
your subject, that I cannot be. . . .
I do not fall at your feet, for you
are God’s creature just as I am.”
—Chief Machemba, Letter to
Herman von Wissman

• Send in the missionaries, followed by merchants, and
then, … oh yes, the military…

Indian princes and
British army officers
play polo in 1880.

The Successes of Imperialism
In just a few decades, imperialist nations gained
control over much of the world. Western imperialism
succeeded for a number of reasons:

1. While European nations had grown stronger in the
1800s, several older civilizations were in decline.

• 2. Europeans had the advantages of strong
economies, well-organized governments, and
powerful armies and navies.

• 3. Europeans had superior technology and medical
knowledge.

Forms of Imperialism
• Colony: territory that an imperial power
ruled directly through colonial officials.
• Protectorate: Had its own government, but
its policies were guided by a foreign power.
• Sphere of Influence: was a region of a
country in which the imperial power had
exclusive investment or trading rights.

Forms of Imperial Rule
SPHERES OF
COLONIES PROTECTORATES
INFLUENCE

The French In a protectorate, A sphere of
practiced direct local rulers were left influence is an area
rule, sending in place but were in which an outside
officials to expected to follow the power claimed
administer their advice of European exclusive
colonies. advisers. investment or
trading privileges.
The British A protectorate costs
practiced an less to run than a The United States
indirect rule, using colony and usually did claimed Latin
local rulers to not require a large America as its
govern their military presence. sphere of influence.
colonies.

Aden (Yemen) Kiribati and Tuvalu Nyasaland (Malawi)
Afghanistan * United States of Gold Coast (Ghana) Oman
protectorate America Grenada Papua New Guinea
1839-1919 British Cameroon Transjordan Palestine (Israel)
Australia (Cameroon) Hong Kong Qatar
Bahamas British Guyana India (India, Pakistan, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and
Bahrain (Guyana) Bangladesh) Zambia)
Barbados British Honduras Iraq Sarawak (East Malaysia)
Basutoland (Belize) Ireland St Kitts (St. Kitts and Nevis)
(Lesotho) British Somaliland Jamaica St Lucia
Bechuanaland (Somaliland) Kenya St Vincent
(Botswana) British Solomon Kuwait Seychelles
Islands Malaya (West Malaysia) Sierra Leone
Brunei Maldive Islands Singapore
Burma (Myanmar) Malta South Africa
Canada Mauritius Sudan
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Miskito (Mosquito) Coast Swaziland / Ngwane
Cook Islands (New (Nicaragua / Honduras) Tanganyika (Tanzania)
Western Samoa Zealand)
Newfoundland (Canada) Tonga
(Samoa) Cyprus New Hebrides(Vanuatu) Transjordan (Jordan)
Zanzibar Egypt * protectorate New Zealand Trinidad and Tobago
(Tanzania) 1882-1922 Nigeria Trucial Oman (United Arab
Fiji North Borneo (Sabah, Emirates)
Gambia Malaysia) Uganda

Anguilla
British Antarctic Territory
British
Bermuda
British Indian Ocean Territory
Overseas
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Territories
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar
Montserrat
St. Helena and Dependencies
(Ascension Island and
Tristan da Cunha)
Turks and Caicos Islands
Pitcairn Islands
South Georgia and South Sandwich
Islands
the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus
(Akrotiri and Dhekelia)

Born in India, English writer
Rudyard Kipling witnessed British
imperialism firsthand. His 1899
poem “The White Man’s Burden”
summarizes his view of the duties
of imperial nations:
“Take up the White Man’s
burden—
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another’s profit,
And work another’s gain.”

As Europeans took over
foreign lands, they viewed the
culture of the native
population to be inferior to
their own. This concept
became know as “The White
Man’s Burden” after a popular
poem by the same name was
published by Rudyard
Kipling in 1899. Some
interpreted this poem to mean
that it was the duty of
imperializing nations to bring
western culture and sensibility
to the savage native
populations that were
encountered in far off lands.
This is sometimes referred to as Social Darwinism, or the belief that all human
groups compete for survival, and that the stronger groups will replace the weaker
groups. Others saw it as a warning to western nations to stop the harmful practice
of imperialism.

by Rudyard Kipling
“The White
Take up the White Man’s burden—
Man’s Burden” Send forth the best ye breed—
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild—
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's burden—
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another's profit
And work another's gain.

One of several
journalists in
South Africa,
British writer
Rudyard Kipling
(bottom right)
considered
imperialism to be
beneficial to
Africans.

The New Imperialism
•Imperialism is the domination by one country of the
political, economic, or cultural life of another country or
region.
•Between 1500 and 1800, European states won empires
around the world. However, Europe had little influence on
the lives of the people of these conquered lands.

•By the 1800s, Europe had gained considerable power.
Encouraged by their new economic and military strength,
Europeans embarked on a path of aggressive expansion
that today’s historians call the “New Imperialism.”

A Market for Goods A driving force behind imperialism was the desire for access to new
markets in which to sell goods. This British propaganda poster boasts that Africa would
become a gold mine for British-made products. Britain’s sense of national pride and
aggressive foreign policy during this period came to be known as jingoism.
What does this poster show about the British attitude toward Africa?

Missionary prayer
book in Korean

Cecil Rhodes and the Boer War
Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in assuring British
dominance of southern Africa. He founded the De Beers
Mining Company, eventually controlling 90% of the world’s
diamond production. After becoming prime minister of the
Cape Colony (now South Africa) in 1890, he used his
influence to strengthen British control over the region.
His master plan was to establish a Cape to Cairo railroad
line that would link British colonial interests in Africa
between Egypt and the Cape Colony in southern Africa.
The Boers, however, provided heavy and eventually armed
resistance to this proposal. After authorizing an aggressive
invasion of the Boer Republic of Transvaal which ended
poorly, Rhodes was removed from office. However, the
Tribalism seeds of the Boer War had been sown.
Because European nation carved Africa
up with no regard for traditional tribal
Great Britain decided to annex the Boer republics, and
boundaries, Africa still suffers with Boer resistance came the Boer War (1899-1902). By
from tribalism. Modern African all accounts the fighting was vicious, with the Boers
nations often contain several different employing guerilla tactics and the British eventually using
tribes that harbor ill feelings towards 450,000 troops to achieve victory.
one another. Therefore, inter-tribal
conflict is a common in Africa often
In 1910, the various British colonies in southern Africa
leading to civil wars and power were united as the Union of South Africa, eventually
struggles within national governments. becoming the nation of South Africa after WWII.

Zulu King Cetshwayo
A nephew of Shaka, Cetshwayo was the last of the great Zulu kings. He ruled a
disciplined army of about 40,000 men until the British defeated him in 1879.
Why was Cetshwayo considered a threat to British
colonial interests?

Locate
(a) Algeria
(b) Belgian Congo
(c) Ethiopia

Region
In which part of
Africa were most of
France’s colonies
located?

Make Comparisons
How did
imperialism in
Africa in 1850
compare with that
in 1914?

Ethiopia Survives
One ancient Christian kingdom in East Africa, Ethiopia,
managed to resist European colonization and maintain its
independence. Like feudal Europe, Ethiopia had been divided
up among a number of rival princes who ruled their own
domains. In the late 1800s, however, a reforming
ruler, Menelik II, began to modernize his country. He hired
European experts to plan modern roads and bridges and set
up a Western school system. He imported the latest weapons
and European officers to help train his army. Thus, when Italy
invaded Ethiopia in 1896, Menelik was prepared. At the
battle of Adowa , the Ethiopians smashed the Italian
invaders. Ethiopia was the only African nation, aside from
Liberia, to preserve its independence.

The Negus of Ethiopia, Menelik II
(1844-1913),

Menelik II

• Ethiopia is Abyssinia to
Europe.
• Menelik II is direct
ancestor of King
Solomon and Queen of
Sheba (and Emperor
Haile Salassie later).
• He can see what is
coming and so invests in
modernization, including
weaponry and warning
his neighbors to be
prepared.

Menelik II
Before becoming emperor of Ethiopia,
Menelik II (1844–1913) ruled the Shoa
region in central Ethiopia. He ensured
that he would succeed John IV as
emperor by marrying his daughter to
John’s son. After John died in 1889,
Menelik took the throne.

How did Menelik preserve Ethiopian independence?
Menelik used profits from ivory sales to buy modern weapons. He
then hired European advisors to teach his soldiers how to use the new
guns. Menelik’s army conquered neighboring lands and won a
stunning victory over the Italians at Adowa. European nations rushed
to establish diplomatic ties with Ethiopia. Around the world, people of
African descent hailed Menelik’s victory over European imperialism.

An Asante King A king of the Asante people in Ghana (center) sits surrounded by his people.
What do the clothes of the man to the left of the king suggest about his social rank?

“Why did you not stand up to “Did you give that word?”
Rhodes and prevent him from taking “No.”
your country by strength? Why did “Were the soldiers keen to fight?”
you not fight?” “Yes, they were dying to fight.”
“I thought that if I appealed to the “Why did you not let them fight?”
white men’s sense of justice and fair “I wanted to avoid bloodshed and war. . . .”
“And you allowed them to flout your word as
play, reminding them how good I
king of the Amandebele? You let them have
had been to them since I had never their way. . . . Is that right?. . . .Why did you not
killed or ill-treated a white . . . seek their protection and declare your
man, they might hear my word and country a British protectorate?”
return to their homes. . . .” “. . . I knew that if I fought the white men I
would be beaten. If I sought the white man’s
“I . . . told them that I had
friendship and protection, there would be
not given them the road to
opposition to me or civil war. So I decided to
Mashonaland.”
pretend to the white men that if they came into
“Yes, and they replied and
the country I would fight, and hoped that they
told you that they had been
would be afraid and not come. . . . [They called
given the road by their
my bluff and came . . .”
Queen and would only
“Was there no other way out of your
return on the orders of
dilemma?”
their Queen.
“I did consider marrying the Queen, but even
What did you do then?”
though I hinted at this several times no one
“I mobilized the army and
followed it up.”
told them to wait for my
“I see!”
word.”
King Lobengula of the South We are not amused!
African Matabele nation

Africa in the Early 1800s
2

To understand the impact of European domination, we must look at Africa in the early
1800s, before the scramble for colonies began.

NORTH AFRICA WEST AFRICA
On the grasslands, Islamic leaders preached
Since long before 1800, the region had jihad, a holy struggle, to revive and purify
close ties to the Muslim world. Islam.
In the early 1800s, much of the region In the forest regions, the Asante controlled
remained under the rule of the smaller states. These smaller tributary states
declining Ottoman empire. were ready to turn to Europeans to help them
defeat their Asante rulers.

SOUTH AFRICA EAST AFRICA
Zulu aggression caused mass Islam had long influenced the coast,
migrations and wars and created where a profitable slave trade was
chaos across much of the region. carried on.

Slave trade will continue and
Imperialism will separate men from
their families--***

European Contacts Increased
2

From the 1500s through the 1700s, difficult geography and disease prevented
European traders from reaching the interior of Africa. Medical advances and river
steamships changed all that in the 1800s.

EXPLORERS MISSIONARIES

Explorers were Catholic and Protestant
fascinated by African missionaries sought to win
geography, but had little people to Christianity. Most
understanding of the took a paternalistic view of
people they met. Africans. They urged
Africans to reject their own
traditions in favor of western
civilization.

Berlin Conference
To avoid bloodshed, European powers met at an international
conference in 1884. It took place not in Africa but in Berlin,
Germany. No Africans were invited to the conference.
At the Berlin Conference, European powers recognized
Leopold’s private claims to the Congo Free State but called
for free trade on the Congo and Niger rivers. They further
agreed that a European power could not claim any part of
Africa unless it had set up a government office there. This
principle led Europeans to send officials who would exert
their power over local rulers and peoples.
The rush to colonize Africa was on. In the 20 years after the
Berlin Conference, the European powers partitioned almost
the entire continent. As Europeans carved out their claims,
they established new borders and frontiers. They redrew the
map of Africa with little regard for traditional patterns of
settlement or ethnic boundaries.

African soldiers in German uniforms

A Scramble for Colonies
King Leopold II of Belgium sent explorers to the Congo
River basin to arrange trade treaties with African leaders.

King Leopold’s activities in the Congo set off a scramble
among other European nations. Before long, Britain, France,
and Germany were pressing for rival claims to the region.

At the Berlin Conference in 1884, European powers agreed on how
they could claim African territory without fighting amongst
themselves.

European powers partitioned almost the entire African continent.

The Scramble for Africa
• The Scramble for Africa, also
known as the Race for Africa was a
process of
invasion, attack, occupation, and
annexation of African territory
by European powers during the New
Imperialism period, between 1881
and World War I in 1914.
• As a result of the heightened
tension between European states in
the last quarter of the 19th
century, the partitioning of Africa
may be seen as a way for the
Europeans to eliminate the threat of
a Europe-wide war over Africa.
The Rhodes Colossus, a caricature of Cecil Rhodes after announcing
plans for a telegraph line from Cape Town to Cairo.
For Punch by Edward Linley Sambourne.

• The last 59 years of the nineteenth century saw
transition from ‘informal imperialism’ of control through
military influence and economic dominance to that of
direct rule. Attempts to mediate imperial competition, such
as the Berlin Conference (1884–1885), failed to establish
definitively the competing powers' claims.
• Many African polities, states and rulers (such as
the Ashanti, the Abyssinians, the Moroccans and
the Dervishes) sought to resist this wave of European
aggression. However, the industrial revolution had provided
the European armies with advanced weapons such as
machine guns, which African armies found difficult to
resist. Also, unlike their European counterparts, African
rulers, states and people did not at first form a continental
united front although within a few years, a Pan-African
movement did emerge.

Western Advantages
European powers had the advantages of strong economies, well-
organized governments, and powerful armies and navies. Superior
technology, including riverboats and the telegraph, as well as improved
medical knowledge also played a role. Quinine and other new
medicines helped Europeans survive deadly tropical diseases. And, of
course, advances such as Maxim machine guns, repeating rifles, and
steam-driven warships were very strong arguments in persuading
Africans and Asians to accept Western control.

The Maxim Gun
Sir Hiram Maxim with his
invention, the Maxim
machine gun.

Why were European armies
often able to defeat African
or Asian forces?

2

Imperialism
in Africa to
1914

African Resistance

• Europeans met armed resistance across the continent.
• Algerians battled the French for years.

• The Zulus in southern Africa and the Asante in West Africa
battled the British.

• East Africans fought wars against the Germans.

• In Ethiopia, King Menelik II modernized his country. When Italy
invaded, Ethiopia was prepared. Ethiopia was the only nation,
aside from Liberia, to preserve its independence.

European missionaries urged Africans to
a) reject their own traditions.
b) strengthen their ties with the Muslim world.

c) seek independence.
d) attend the Berlin Conference.

Which of the following African nations was able to preserve its
independence?
a) Congo
b) Algeria
c) Egypt
d) Ethiopia

European missionaries urged Africans to

a) reject their own traditions.
b) strengthen their ties with the Muslim world.

c) seek independence.
d) attend the Berlin Conference.

Which of the following African nations was able to preserve its
independence?
a) Congo
b) Algeria
c) Egypt
d) Ethiopia

David
Livingstone

David Livingstone is a famous Scottish explorer, who first went to Africa in 1840.
He was a doctor and missionary. While he explored central and east Africa he set up
missions and sent back reports of his findings. He was the first recorded European
to see the Victoria Falls, to which he gave the English name in honor of his
monarch, Queen Victoria. Believing he had a spiritual calling for exploration rather
than mission work, and encouraged by the response in Britain to his discoveries and
support for future expeditions, in 1857 he resigned from the London Missionary
Society after they demanded that he do more evangelizing and less exploring. The
qualities and approaches which gave Livingstone an advantage as an explorer were
that he usually traveled lightly, and he had an ability to reassure chiefs that he was
not a threat. He lost touch in 1860 and Henry M. Stanley was sent to find him.

“Dr. Livingstone, i presume?”

Henry M. Stanley

Henry Morton Stanley was the British journalist and
explorer, hired to find Livingstone. He is best remembered for his
quote when he met Livingstone, "Dr. Livingstone, I
presume?", although there is some question as to authenticity of
this now famous greeting. Stanley also explored on his own. He
was tricked by the Belgian King into getting Congo for him, but
he remained on the king’s payroll even after he found out.

Publicity around the explorations of Africa caused a mad
European scramble for Africa between 1880-1914, and by 1914
90 percent of Africa was under European control.

Shortly afterward, King Leopold II of Belgium
hired Stanley to explore the Congo River basin
and arrange trade treaties with African
leaders. Publicly, Leopold spoke of a civilizing
mission to carry the light “that for millions of
men still plunged in barbarism will be the
dawn of a better era.” Privately, he dreamed of
conquest and profit. Leopold’s activities in the
Congo set off a scramble by other nations.
Before long, Britain, France, and Germany
were pressing rival claims to the region.

North Africa

North Africa is the northern most of the African continent, linked
by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the UN
definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven
countries or territories;
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Mauritania, and
Western Sahara. Most people in North Africa live on a fertile and
mild strip of land north of the Sahara along the Mediterranean
coast.

The French In North Africa
In 1830 King Charles X of France ordered an invasion of
Algiers, in order to colonize it. This was the true beginning of he
second French colonial empire. After about ten years the 100,000
French soldiers beat the Algerians and their leader Abd al -Qadir.
They established a protectorate on Tunisia in 1881 (Bardo
Treaty). In 1904 France secured special trading rights in Morocco.
During the Agadir Crisis in 1911, Britain supported France and
Morocco became a French protectorate.

Britain and
Egypt
 In the 1880s Ottoman Egypt was almost independent
under Governor (Pasha)Muhammad Ali. Egypt was a
power in the eastern Mediterranean under Ali.
Ali reformed tax and land systems, encouraged industry

and supported irrigation projects, but unfortunately the
rulers after him increased debt and European influence.
Ferdinand de Lesseps was a French entrepreneur who set

up a company to build the Suez Canal (it would become a
vital short cut).
In 1875 GB gains control of canal and,

In 1882 Egypt becomes a British protectorate after British

forces put down a nationalist revolt.

The
Sudan

Sir Herbert Kitchener
• In the Sudan there was a Muslim revival that stirred nationalist
feelings. The Sudanese had challenged British exploration since the
1880s. At the Battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898), an army
commanded by the British General Sir Herbert Kitchener defeated
the army of Abdullah al-Taashi. Around 10,000 Ansar were killed,
13,000 were wounded, and 5,000 were taken prisoner. Kitchener's force
lost 48 men with 382 wounded. Soon after the British confronted the
French at Fashoda, bringing the two countries to the brink of war. War
was avoided when the French withdrew from Sudan and Britain
recognized French control of Morocco.

Italy Seizes Libya

 Libya was known as Tripoli in
the 1800s and had almost no
economic value but Italy, the
closest European nation, wanted
it because, they were starting late
in the race to build an African
empire.
In 1911, after the other European
nations promised neutrality, Italy
declared war on the ruling
Ottoman Empire and easily won.
Libya was the last North African
country to be conquered by
Europeans.

West, Central and East Africa
During the 1800s there many territories with varied landscapes, histories and traditions.
Europeans swallowed up the lands in the late 1800s.
West Africa -In the1500s and 1600s there was European slave trade on the coast.
Salt, gold and ironware were also traded. When European countries stopped trading slaves
in the 1800s west African countries traded natural products for manufactured goods.
European countries push inland in 1870s to expand coastal holdings and control trade.
Steam ships allowed for easier travel over difficult terrain and quinine provided protection
from malaria. By 1900 European powers had acquired vast new territories. Leaders in the
1890s, such as Samori Toure and Behanzin, fought against the expansion but were defeated
by well armed European forces.
The only independent state in West Africa by 1900 was Liberia, founded as a
colony by the American Colonization Society in 1821-22. It was created as a
place for slaves freed in the United States to emigrate to in Africa, on the
premise they would have greater freedom and equality there.
Slaves freed from slave ships also were sent there instead of being repatriated to their
countries of origin. These freed slaves formed an elite group in Liberian society, and, in
1847, they founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled on that of
the United States.
Liberia's ties to the US made it off limits for expansion.

Central and East
Liberia
Africa
Congo
Ethiopia

Belgium's King Leopold II claimed the Congo river region as his own as a
result of Henry Stanley's explorations. He enslaved the people, forced them to
cut down the forests and kill the elephants. doing that stripped the area of many
people and resources. In 1903 in exchange for a large loan Leopard gave the
Congo Basin to the Belgian government and it became the Belgian Congo. The
British, Italians and Germans were claiming East Africa at this time. The only
independent country was Ethiopia. Liberia was repopulated with freed
American slaves.

In the 1880s Italy attempts to conquer Ethiopia and its Emperor Menelik
II, but underestimate their determination, and lose devastatingly at the Battle of
Adowa. Italy and Ethiopia signed a provisional treaty of peace on 26 October
1896. The Italian defeat scares away the other European counties and protects
Ethiopia.

Southern
Africa

 The Dutch arrived in Southern Africa in 1652 and
established a port called Cape Town and for the next 150 years the
Afrikaners, what the settlers were called, conquered land around
port, the lands became known as Cape Colony. The British seize
Cape Colony, in the early 1880s, because of its strategic value. The
Afrikaaners believed that God had ordained slavery and that they
were superior, and they resented the British laws that forbade
slavery. In the 1830s 100,000 Afrikaaners that the British called
Boers left Cape Colony. They migrated north east on The Great
Trek, and established the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

Conflicts

The Afrikaners fought constantly with their neighbors. They fight with the Zulu for
a large empire conquered by the Zulu in the early 1800s. The Boers couldn't win a
victory, in 1879 the British become involved, the British win against the
Zulu, especially their great king Shaka.

 The Boers also fought with the British, when, in the 1880s, British settlers moved
to Transvaal and searched for gold and diamonds. the Boers were pushed to give the
British civil rights. Growing hostility erupted into the Anglo-Boer War, also known
as the Second Boer War, it was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May
1902, between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the
South African Republic. The British win.

On 31 May 1910 the British unite the previously separate colonies of Cape
Colony, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State, into the Union of South
Africa. Its constitution made it almost impossible for non-whites to win the right to
vote.

Racial Equality

Racial equality becomes a major issue. Many non-white South African
groups tried to advance their civil rights. Mohandas K. Gandhi a lawyer
from India, was one man. He worked for equality for Indians, and he urged
them to disobey laws that discriminated against them. His efforts worked.

Following Gandhi’s pattern, the black majority in Africa went into action
against racial injustices. They founded the organization of the South
African Native National Congress (SANNC) on 8 January 1912 in
Bloemfontein to increase the rights of the black South African population.
In 1923, its name was shortened to the African National Congress.
Gandhi's principles of nonviolent protest were called
satyagraha, which he loosely translated as "truth-force."[

Effects of Imperialism
1. The effects mainly centered on economic and social life.
2. Imperialists profit from building mines, factories and ports and
plantations.
3. Africans were hired at low wages and taxed.
4. Men were housed in dormitories away from their families and
disciplined brutally. Prostitution and HIV/STDs spread.
5. European schools taught that European ways are best.
6. Sometimes African traditions declined, but most held on to their
cultures and accepted some European ways, including
Christianity.
7. By the early 1900s there were groups that condemned
imperialism as contrary to western ideas of liberty and equality.
8. They founded nationalist groups to push for self-rule and
Africa's peoples were politically independent from Europe by
end of 20th century.

Railroads and Trade
By building thousands of miles of railroads, the
British opened up India’s vast interior to trade. The
British also encouraged Indians to grow tea and jute.
Today, tea is one of India’s biggest crops.
What were some of the benefits of British rule?

By 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte felt that
Europe offered too few chances for
glory. Setting his sights toward Africa in
1798, he invaded Egypt, a province of
the Ottoman empire.
“Europe is a molehill. . . . We must go to
the East. . . . All great glory has been
acquired there.”

Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign highlighted Ottoman decline and opened a new
era of European contact with Muslim regions of the world. European countries
were just nibbling at the edges of Muslim countries. Before long, they would
strike at their heartland.

The Ottoman Empire

By the early 1800s, the Ottoman empire faced serious challenges.
• Ambitious pashas, or provincial rulers, had increased their
power.
• As ideas of nationalism spread from Western Europe, internal
revolts weakened the multiethnic Ottoman empire.
• European states sought to benefit from the weakening of the
Ottoman empire by claiming lands under Ottoman control.
• Attempts at westernization by several Ottoman rulers
increased tensions. Many officials objected to changes that
were inspired by foreign cultures.
• A reform group called the Young Turks overthrew the sultan.
• Nationalist tensions triggered a brutal genocide of the
Armenians, a Christian people in the eastern mountains of the
empire.

General Ismail Pasha (center) fought for
the British army in the Crimean War.

In the 1890s, a group of liberals formed a movement called the
Young Turks. They insisted that reform was the only way to save the
empire. In 1908, the Young Turks overthrew the sultan. Before they
could achieve their planned reforms, however, the Ottoman empire
was plunged into the world war that erupted in 1914.

Armenian Genocide
Traditionally, the Ottomans had let minority nationalities live in
their own communities and practice their own religions. By the
1890s, however, nationalism was igniting new
tensions, especially between Turkish nationalists and minority
peoples who sought their own states. These tensions triggered a
brutal genocide of the Armenians, a Christian people
concentrated in the eastern mountains of the empire.
Genocide is a deliberate attempt to destroy a racial, political, or
cultural group.
The Muslim Turks accused Christian Armenians of supporting
Russian plans against the Ottoman empire. When Armenians
protested repressive Ottoman policies, the sultan had tens of
thousands of them slaughtered. Over the next 25 years, between
600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed or died from
disease and starvation.

3
The Modernization of
Egypt
Called the “father of modern Egypt,” Muhammad Ali introduced political
and economic reforms. Before he died in 1849, he had set Egypt on the
road to becoming a major Middle Eastern power.

During his reign, Muhammad Ali:
• improved tax collection
• reorganized the landholding system
• backed large irrigation projects to increase farm output
• expanded cotton production and encouraged local
industry, thereby increasing Egyptian participation in world
trade
• brought in western military experts to modernize the army
• conquered Arabia, Syria, and Sudan

As the following
examples
demonstrate,
advances in
transportation
technology always
have the potential of
changing society.

Iran and the European Powers
The importance of Iran was its location! Oil was later.

Russia wanted to protect its southern frontier and expand into Central
Asia.
Britain was concerned about protecting its interests in India.

For a time, Russia and Britain each set up their own spheres of influence,
Russia in the north and Britain in the south.

The discovery of oil in the region in the early 1900s heightened foreign
interest in the region.

Russia and Britain persuaded the Iranian government to grant them
concessions, or special economic rights given to foreign powers.
Iran =Persia Iraq is where we were fighting
Iran are shiia; Iraq are mostly sunnis;
Hardliner, strict sharia-followers are the Taliban

Oil flows out of one of the first Like the Ottoman empire, Persia faced major
oil wells to be drilled in challenges in the 1800s. The Qajar shahs, who ruled
Persia, around 1910. Persia from 1794 to 1925, exercised absolute power.
Still, they did take steps to introduce reforms. The
government helped build telegraph lines and
railroads and experimented with a liberal
constitution. Reform, however, did not save Persia
from Western imperialism. Russia wanted to
protect its southern frontier and expand into
Central Asia. Britain wanted to protect its interests
in India.
For a time, each nation set up its own sphere of
influence in Persia. The discovery of oil in the early
1900s heightened foreign interest in the region.
Both Russia and Britain plotted for control of
Persian oil fields. They persuaded the Persian
government to grant them concessions, or special
rights given to foreign powers. To protect their
interests, they sent troops into Persia. Persian
nationalists were outraged. The nationalists included
two very different groups. Some Persians wanted to
move swiftly to adopt Western ways. Others, led by
Muslim religious leaders, condemned the Persian
government and Western influences.

The Suez Canal linked

a) the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.

b) the Red Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

c) the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

d) the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

Which nations set up spheres of influence in Iran?
a) Britain and France

b) France and the United States

c) Britain and Russia

d) Russia and Germany

For more than 200 years, Mughal rulers governed a powerful empire
in India. By the mid-1700s, however, the Mughal empire was
collapsing from a lack of strong rulers. Britain then turned its
commercial interests in the region into political ones.

British East India Company’s
Queen Victoria writes letters as her Indian coat of arms
servant waits for his orders.

British East India Company

During the 1700s, a joint-stock company called the British East India Company was chartered by
Queen Elizabeth I of England. The company’s main objective was to make a profit for shareholders
by exploiting the abundant natural resources and gaining access to the markets in India. To do
this, the British East India Company successfully used “divide and conquer” tactics to increase
their control over entire regions of the Indian subcontinent. This strategy entailed fanning the
flames of religious division between native Muslim and Hindu groups, and taking advantage of the
political rivalries that existed between local native rulers.
By the 1830s, the British government had taken over control of the East India Company. Under
British rule, native customs such as sati, the ritual suicide of a wife after her husband’s death, were
banned. The British built schools and railroads, and missionaries spread Christianity.
Sepoy Mutiny India
By 1857 the British army in India included a large number of Indian soldiers, or Sepoys. The rifle
cartridges that were distributed to the Sepoys had to be bitten to remove a cover before being
inserted into a gun. Rumors circulated among the Sepoys that this cover had been greased with
beef and pork fat. This angered Muslim Sepoys who were not supposed to consume pork, and the
Hindu Sepoys who were not supposed to eat beef. Thus, the Sepoys revolted against the British
army, which eventually ended the conflict through use of force. This resulted in the British
government officially taking control of India, making it a colony.
Some view this as the first act of Indian independence, which would not be achieved until
after WWII with the formation of the countries of India and Pakistan.

Natural Resources
Beginning in the 1800s, imperialism was also
practiced in the Middle East. The prime attraction for
most European nations was the presence of vast oil
fields. The machinery produced as a result of
the Industrial Revolution required oil to keep
numerous moving parts lubricated. As the internal
combustion engine became more popular around
1900, oil was also needed as a fuel.
Strategic Location
Strategy also played a major role in the European
conquest of the Middle East through imperialism. Two
areas that Europe paid particular attention to were
the Suez Canal and Palestine.

Suez Canal
The French originally set out to build the Suez Canal in 1859. However, Britain soon
became jealous because of the potential impact the shortcut between the
Mediterranean and Red Seas could have on trade with its Indian colony. In 1875, the
British wrested financial control of the Suez Canal away from the French, and eventually
made all of Egypt a protectorate in 1882.

Palestine
After WWI, the newly formed League of
Nations gave Great Britain a mandate over Palestine.
Palestine's location on the eastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea seemed like a great prize to the
British, but problems soon erupted. It became clear
that both Arabs and Jews claimed the region as a
homeland.
Ambiguous British foreign policy heightened tensions
between the two groups as each was given a
conflicting promise . For their support in WWI, Britain
promised Arabs independence. Later however, in
the Balfour Declaration, Britain promised to establish
a national homeland for the Jews. Middle East

After WWII, Palestine would be renamed Israel and given to Jews as a homeland to
provide shelter from atrocities such as the Nazi Holocaust in Europe. Inevitably, fighting
broke out between the two groups which still remains to be resolved today.

Islands
The Dutch and the Spanish controlled much of Southeast Asia during the
early 1800s. The Dutch East Indies was renowned for its rich soil which
allowed the harvesting of crops such as: coffee, pepper, cinnamon,
sugar, indigo, and tea. Mines were formed to exploit the rich deposits of
tin and copper. Forests yielded valuable timber including teak, ebony,
and other hardwoods. The Dutch became notorious for the use of forced
slave labor, known as the culture system, to gather these raw materials,
while purposely discouraging westernization, or the spreading of
European culture.The Spanish used similar methods to reap the rewards
from their tobacco and sugar plantations located in the Philippine
Islands. However in 1898, the Philippines were given to the United
States as part of the settlement for their loss of the Spanish-American
War.
Mainland
The British took control of Burma from their colonial stronghold in India
in the early 1800s. Meanwhile, the French imperialized modern-day
Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam forming French Indochina in the 1880s.
Siam became the embattled buffer zone between these two European
powers, but was eventually guaranteed its independence by a treaty
negotiated between France and Great Britain.
After the Meiji Restoration led to massive industrialization in Japan, the
nation found itself in great need of natural resources. Industrialization
makes a nation dependent upon iron, coal, and oil, none of which were
found in great quantity on the Japanese archipelago. This need led them
to invade mainland Korea in order to exploit the natural resources there

Outcome
Japan took over much of the coast of China and the rest of Southeast Asia, eventually forming the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere which
provided even more natural resources to feed its vast military-industrial complex. East Asian raw materials such as oil from the Dutch East Indies
and rubber from French Indochina kept Japan’s manufacturing industry and military in China well supplied. The Japanese war machine was
eventually aimed at the United States in WWII with their attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The French left French Indochina in the 1950s after years of warfare with nationalist groups. Communism seemed destined to spread into the
region from China. The U.S. foreign policy of containment of communism would lead to their involvement in the area in the unpopular Vietnam
Conflict. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all eventually became communist in the 1970s. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge orchestrated mass killing of
intellectuals and so-called reactionaries which became known as the Killing Fields.

Opium Wars
In the early 1800s, the British treasury was being depleted due to
its dependence upon imported tea from China. The Chinese still
considered their nation to be the Middle Kingdom, and therefore
viewed the goods the Europeans brought to trade with as nearly
worthless trinkets. To solve this trade imbalance Britain imported
opium, processed from poppy plants grown in the Crown Colony of
India, into China. Chinese officials attempted to ban the
importation of the highly addictive opium, but ultimately failed.
The British declared war on China in a series of conflicts called
the Opium Wars. Superior British military technology allowed them
to claim victory and subject the Chinese to a series of unequal
treaties.
Unequal Treaties
According to the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, the Chinese were to:
1.Reimburse Britain for costs incurred fighting the Chinese
2.Open several ports to British trade
3.Provide Britain with complete control of Hong Kong
4.Grant extraterritoriality to British citizens living in China
Spheres of Influence
Eventually several European nations followed suit, forcing China to
sign a series of unequal treaties.Extraterritoriality guaranteed that
European citizens in China were only subject to the laws of their
own nation and could only be tried by their own courts. Eventually
western nations weary of governing foreign
lands, established spheres of influence within China which
guaranteed specific trading privileges to each nation within its
respective sphere.

4

The British Take Over India

• What were the causes and effects
of the Sepoy Rebellion?

• How did British rule affect India?

• How did Indians view western
culture?

• What were the origins of Indian
nationalism?

The British in India
European trade with Asia opened up in the 1500s.
In 1600 some English traders formed the East India
Company
Which later became the richest and most powerful trading
companies the world has ever known
Built trading post and forts throughout India
French tried to challenge the British, but
they were later crushed by Robert Clive, a East India
Company Agent, along with an army of British and
Indian troops at the Battle of Plassey 1757.

Angry sepoys rose up against their British officers. The Sepoy Rebellion swept across northern
and central India. Several sepoy regiments marched off to Delhi, the old Mughal capital.
There, they hailed the last Mughal ruler as their leader. In some places, the sepoys brutally
massacred British men, women, and children. But the British soon rallied and crushed the
revolt. They then took terrible revenge for their earlier losses, torching villages and
slaughtering thousands of unarmed Indians.
The Sepoy Rebellion left a bitter legacy of fear, hatred, and mistrust on both sides. It also
brought major changes in British policy. In 1858, Parliament ended the rule of the East India
Company and put India directly under the British crown. It sent more troops to India, taxing
Indians to pay the cost of these occupying forces. While it slowed the “reforms” that had
angered Hindus and Muslims, it continued to develop India for Britain’s own economic benefit.

The Sepoy
Rebellion
The East Indian Company quickly controlled most of India in
1857. Later that year, Sepoys rebelled against their British
commanders and it began to spread across the Northern and
Central India.
Indians had massacred British men, children, and women.
In response, they killed thousands of unarmed Indians.
In 1858 Parliament ended the East Indian Company. They had
sent a viceroy to rule as the monarch's representative and
India became “the Jewel in the Crown”—Queen Victoria
claimed India as a crown colony and became an Empress.

Sepoys-Indian Troops The new rifles’ casings were
supposedly greased/made with beef or pork fat
in the cartridge papers.

4

The Sepoy Rebellion: Causes and Effects
CAUSES EFFECTS
The British East India Company: •The Sepoys brutally massacred
•required sepoys, or Indian British men, women, and children.
soldiers in its service, to serve •The British took terrible revenge,
anywhere, including overseas, slaughtering thousands of unarmed
which violated Hindu religious law Indians.
•passed a law allowing Hindu •Both sides were left with a bitter
widows to marry, (avoiding legacy of fear, hatred, and mistrust.
sutee/sati) which undermined
Hindu beliefs •The British put India directly under
British rule, sent more troops to
•Ordered the sepoys to bite off India, and taxed Indians to pay for
cartridges made of animal fat the cost of the occupying forces.
when loading their rifles, which
violated both Hindu and Muslim
religious law.

British Colonial Rule
After 1858, Parliament set up a system of colonial rule in India.

The British built roads and an impressive railroad network.
The British flooded India with machine-made textiles, ruining
India’s once-prosperous hand-weaving industry.
Britain transformed Indian agriculture.
Better health care and increased food production led to rapid
population growth. Over-population led to terrible famines.
The British revised the Indian legal system.
British rule brought peace and order to the countryside.
Upper-class Indians sent their sons to British schools.

Indian Nationalism
British built paved roads and an extensive railroad; installed
telegraph lines and dug irrigation canals; and established
schools and universities
They forced Indians to grow cotton instead of wheat which led
to the lack of wheat and resulted in severe food shortages that
killed millions of Indians during 1800s
Huge taxes and inflated prices made it hard to afford certain
products—example: tax on salt.
In 1885 a group of Indian business and professional leaders
formed the Indian National Congress who tried to peacefully
protest to urge British to grant more power to the Indians
Also the group that led the long struggle for complete
independence—Gandhi will lead with non-violent, passive
resistance. (Satyagraha)

Imperialism
in India to
1858

The Jewel in the Crown—
as the British
Raj
Queen Victoria gained
the title of Empress (to
match Russia).

The Great Game
The Great Game was introduced into mainstream consciousness
by British novelist Rudyard Kipling in his novel Kim (1901). In a
phrase coined by Captain Arthur Connolly an intelligence officer
of the British East India Company's Sixth Bengal Light
Cavalry, before he was beheaded in Bokhara for spying in
1842, a "Great Game" was played between Tsarist Russia and
Victorian England for supremacy in Central Asia. The classic
Great Game period is generally regarded as running
approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813 to the
Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907.
At stake was the security of India, key to the wealth of the
British Empire. When play began early in the 19th century, the
frontiers of the two imperial powers lay two thousand miles
apart, across vast deserts and almost impassable mountain
ranges; by the end, only 20 miles separated the two rivals.

Kim Kim is a picaresque novel
by Rudyard Kipling. It was first
by published serially in McClure's
Rudyard Magazine and in Cassell's
Magazine from in 1901.
Kipling The story unfolds against the
backdrop of The Great Game, the
political conflict between
Russia and Britain in Central Asia. It
is set after the Second Afghan
War which ended in 1881, but
before the Third, perhaps in the
1890s.
The novel is notable for its detailed
portrait of the people, culture, and
varied religions of India. "The book
presents a vivid picture of India, its
teeming populations, religions, and
superstitions, and the life of the
bazaars and the road."

Different Views on Culture
During the Age of Imperialism, Indians and British developed
different views of each other’s culture.

INDIAN BRITISH
ATTITUDES ATTITUDES
Some educated Indians were Most British knew little about
impressed by British power and Indian achievements and
technology and urged India to dismissed Indian culture with
follow a western model of contempt. Ethnocentricity.
progress.
Few British admired Indian
Other Indians felt the answer to theology and philosophy and
change lay with their own Hindu respected India’s ancient
or Muslim cultures. heritage.

Indian Nationalism
•The British believed that western-educated Indians would form
an elite class which would bolster British rule.

•As it turned out, exposure to European ideas had the opposite
effect. By the late 1800s, western-educated Indians were
spearheading a nationalist movement.

•In 1885, nationalist leaders organized the Indian National
Congress. Its members looked forward to eventual self-rule, but
supported western-style modernization.

•In 1906, Muslims formed the Muslim League to pursue their own
goals, including a separate Muslim state.

In response to the Sepoy Rebellion, the British did all of the
following except

a) place India directly under British rule.
b) send more troops to India. Mangel Pandey,
c) give into Indian demands for greater self-rule. Sepoy Martyr
d) tax Indians to pay for an increased British military presence.

Which of the following is true of the Indian National Congress?
a) Its members wanted to establish a separate Muslim state.
b) Its members favored continued British rule.
c) Its members supported western-style modernization.
d) Its members favored immediate overthrow of the British.

The political cartoon below shows a French soldier (left) and a British
soldier (right) ripping apart a map. How do you think the situation
depicted in the cartoon affected relations between Britain and France?

Currency from a British colony in Malaya

In 1867, Phan Thanh Gian, a Vietnamese
official, faced a dilemma. The French were
threatening to invade. As a patriot, Phan
Thanh Gian wanted to resist. But as a devoted
follower of Confucius, he was obliged “to live
in obedience to reason.” And based on the
power of the French military, he concluded
that the only reasonable course was to
surrender:
“The French have immense warships, filled
with soldiers and armed with huge cannons.
No one can resist them. They go where they
A European woman being
transported in a rickshaw want, the strongest [walls] fall before them.”
in French Indochina

• The East Indies and the Philippines are the two
distinct geographic areas that France, Spain, Great
Britain, United State, and the Netherlands had set
Southeast
•
up colonies in that region.
The Islands of Southeast Asia
Asia
– At the beginning of the 1800s, the Dutch controlled
most of the East Indies and Spain controlled the
Philippines.
– The East Indies, present-day Indonesia, had
many natural resources, including rich soil
where farmers grew indigo, and tea, coffee,
pepper, cinnamon, sugar; miners dug for tin
and copper; loggers cut down ebony, teak,
and other hardwood trees. Dutch Government
used a method of forced labor called the
culture system
– to gather all these materials.

– Diponegoro, a Native prince from the East Indian
island of Java, started a revolt against the Dutch in
1825. Though it lasted 10 years, it failed, and the After the Spanish-American War,
Dutch encountered little opposition for the next 80 we had promised to grant the
years. In the early 1900s, Dutch won control of the Philippines their independence,
entire archipelago. but we did not. Aguinaldo led a
rebellion against US and was
brutally suppressed.

French Indochina
“French
Indochina”
encompassed a
number of self-
governing
regions in
Southeast
Asia, including
modern-day
Vietnam, Laos
and Cambodia
(labeled as
Kampuchea).

Colonization of Southeast Asia
•By the 1890s, Europeans controlled most of Southeast Asia.
They:
• introduced modern technology
• expanded commerce and industry
• set up new enterprises to mine tin and
• harvest rubber
• brought in new crops of corn and cassava
• built harbors and railroads

•These changes benefited Europeans far more
• than the people of Southeast Asia.

• In early 1880s, there consisted on a mainland region that
included Burma (Myanmar), and Malaya in the west, Vietnam
in the east, and Siam, Cambodia, and Laos in the Middle. All
though the 1800s, Great Britain and France struggled for
Mainland
•
domination of the area
The British swept in from India in the 1820s. Over the next 60
Southeast
years, they took full control of Burma and neighboring
Malaya.
Asia
• Slowly, France was conquering Indochina, the region that
includes:
– Present-day Vietnam
– Cambodia
– Laos
• They established complete control in the 1880s.
• European rivalries for control of resources brought much
disturbance to mainland Southeast Asia. Western influences
changed traditional ways of life.
• Colonial landowners and trading companies forced
local farmers and workers to grow cash crops, mine
coal, and cut teak trees.

2

Imperial Powers in the Pacific
In the 1800s, the industrial powers began to take an interest in the
islands of the Pacific.

In 1878, the United States secured an unequal treaty from Samoa.
Later, the United States, Germany, and Britain agreed to a triple
protectorate over Samoa.

From the mid-1800s, American sugar growers pressed for power in
Hawaii. In 1898, the United States annexed Hawaii.

At the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the Philippines was
placed under American control. The United States promised Filipinos
self-rule some time in the future.

By 1900, nary an island was left unclaimed.

• Spanish ruled the Philippines which resembled the Dutch rule of the
Dutch East Indies. During 1800s, the Filipinos' resentment grew
until it finally exploded into revolution in 1896.
– When the United States declared war on Spain, they promised if
they helped that the Philippines would be free.

– It became evident in the next few years that the U.S. was not
interested in giving the Philippines their independence, but
wished to continue their relationship as merely a colony.
–

Emilio • After the U.S. declared war on Spain, Aguinaldo
saw a possibility that the Philippines might achieve
Aguinaldo its independence; the U.S. hoped instead that
Aguinaldo would lend his troops to its effort against
Spain. He returned to Manila on May 19, 1898 and
declared Philippine independence on June 12.
• When it became clear that the United States
had no interest in the liberation of the islands,
Aguinaldo’s forces remained apart from U.S. troops.
• On January 1, 1899 following the meetings of a
constitutional convention, Aguinaldo was proclaimed
president of the Philippine Republic. Not surprisingly,
the United States refused to recognize Aguinaldo’s
authority and on February 4, 1899 he declared war
on the U.S. forces in the islands. After his capture on
March 23, 1901, Aguinaldo agreed to swear
allegiance to the United States, and then left public
life.
• His dream of Philippine independence came true on
July 4, 1946. He died in Manila in 1964.

Thailand
• Thailand, whose name means "Land of the Free People," is the only
Southeast Asian country that has never been a colony of a
European power.
• Thailand has borrowed freely from the West without losing its
special Asian identity. Thailand's exquisite beauty and rich culture, a
culture built on more than 5,000 years of tradition.
• It also established contact with European trading powers such as
Holland, Portugal, and Great Britain.
King Mongkut, who ruled from 1851 to 1868, set Siam on the road
to modernization.
Siam was forced to accept some unequal treaties but escaped
becoming a European colony.
Both Britain and France saw the advantage of making Siam a
buffer, or neutral zone, between them.
In the early 1900s, Britain and France guaranteed Siam its
independence.

Two Paths in Southeast Asia King Mongkut of
Siam managed to keep his kingdom out of
European control. In other parts of Southeast
Asia, colonized peoples labored to produce
export crops for their colonial rulers.
Below, workers process sugar cane in the
Philippines in the early 1900s.

• In the late 1700s, Burma (now Myanmar)
overwhelmed the kingdom.
However, Rama I, founder of the present
ruling dynasty, routed them, changed the
country's name to Siam, and established
Bangkok as the nation's capital. Successive
rulers became preoccupied with European
colonialism.
• That Thailand was never a colony is a
source of great pride, and it can be
attributed to the efforts of two kings who
ruled during the mid-1800s. Thailand
King Mongkut, or Rama IV (popularized in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The
King and I), and Chulalongkorn, or Rama V, are most responsible for introducing
extensive reforms. Slavery was abolished, outmoded royal customs were ended, and
the power of the aristocracy was limited. For the most part, however, only the top
level of Thai society was changed. Life for most Thais remained the same.

In the 1800s, the industrialized powers also began to take an interest in the
islands of the Pacific. The thousands of islands splashed across the Pacific
include the three regions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
At first, American, French, and British whaling and sealing ships looked for
bases to take on supplies in the Pacific. Missionaries, too, moved into the
region and opened the way for political involvement.
In 1878, the United States secured an unequal treaty from Samoa, a group of
islands in the South Pacific. The United States gained rights such as
extraterritoriality and a naval station. Other nations gained similar
agreements. As their rivalry increased, the United States, Germany, and
Britain agreed to a triple protectorate over Samoa.
Beginning in the mid-1800s, American sugar growers pressed for power in the
Hawaiian Islands. When the Hawaiian queen Liliuokalani tried to reduce
foreign influence, American planters overthrew her in 1893. They then asked
the United States to annex Hawaii, which it finally did in 1898. Supporters of
annexation argued that if the United States did not take Hawaii, Britain or
Japan might do so. By 1900, the United States, Britain, France, and Germany
had claimed nearly every island in the Pacific.

Queen Liliuokalani,
Queen of Hawaii

Following the death of her brother, King Kalakaua, Liliuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch of the
Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii, first settled by Polynesian voyagers sometime in the eighth century,
saw a massive influx of American settlers during the nineteenth century, most coming to exploit
Hawaii’s burgeoning sugar industry. In 1887, under pressure from U.S. investors and American
sugar planters, King Kalakaua agreed to a new constitution that stripped him of much of his
power.
However, in 1891, Liliuokalani ascended to the throne and refused to recognize the constitution of
1887, replacing it instead with a constitution that restored the monarchy’s traditional authority.
Two years later, a revolutionary "Committee of Safety," organized by Sanford B. Dole, a
Hawaiian-born American, staged a coup against Queen Liliuokalani with the support of U.S.
Minister John Stevens and a division of U.S. marines. On February 1, 1893, Stevens recognized
Dole’s new government on his own authority and proclaimed Hawaii a U.S. protectorate. Dole
submitted a treaty of annexation to the U.S. Senate but most Democrats opposed it, especially
after it was revealed that most Hawaiians did not want annexation.
President Grover Cleveland sent a new U.S. minister to Hawaii to restore Queen Liliuokalani to the
throne under the 1887 constitution, but Dole refused to step aside and instead proclaimed the
independent Republic of Hawaii, which was organized into a U.S. territory in 1900.
Liliuokalani herself spent much of the remainder of her life in the United States, where she
unsuccessfully petitioned the federal government for compensation for seized property and
other losses. The territorial legislature of Hawaii finally voted her an annual pension of four
thousand dollars and permitted her to receive the income from a small sugar plantation.
In additional to her political fame, Liliuokalani is also known for composing many Hawaiian songs,
including the popular "Aloha Oe," or "Farewell to Thee."

President Dole, of the Hawaiian Republic.

Liliuokalani, however, was determined to eliminate American influence in the
government. She tried to create a new constitution that would strengthen the
traditional monarchy, but her cabinet refused to cooperate. The American
residents were outraged. They organized the Committee of Safety and appointed
members of the Annexation Club as its leaders. On the morning of January 17,
1893, armed members of the committee attacked. They took over the government
office building. From its steps they read a proclamation abolishing the monarchy
and establishing a provisional government. The provisional government "would
exist until terms of union with the United States of America have been negotiated
and agreed upon." Sanford B. Dole, an elderly judge with a flowing, white beard,
became its president. Hawaiians who were loyal to their queen tried to come to
her defense and stop the revolution. When they arrived in Honolulu, however,
American troops confronted them. The United States' minister, John L. Stevens,
had sent for a battalion of marines and an artillery company from the cruiser
Boston. They were ordered to protect the provisional government. For the
Hawaiians, resistance was hopeless. Queen Liliuokalani sadly surrendered her
throne.

Ch11 Imperialism Part 1

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Ch11 Imperialism Part 1