The New Imperialism

1. The New Imperialism

2. Industrial Imperialism • Quest for rights & possessions in other peoples’ lands • 19th C Imperialism based on industrial capitalism • European nations competed for markets • Raw materials • Profitable investments • Why? • Industrial capitalism required continual growth • Companies sought to increase sales/profits yearly • Western companies wanted to expand to new areas • New areas = increased product sales + potential cheap materials

3. Reasons Beyond Industrialization • Political/religious figures wanted to “civilize” areas • Social Darwinists argued Western race (white) was more advanced  should “civilize” other races • Western science & literature was advanced  should be shared • Cheap shipping due to railways could improve sales • Nationalism could be reinforced by showing supremacy, extending sphere of influence

4. Contemporary Views of Imperialism • Rudyard Kipling supported British Imperialism • Wrote White Man’s Burden (1899) • @ time his work was viewed as inspiring • today viewed as patronizing and racist • John Hobson believed imperialism was about $ • West gains cheap resources & cheap labour • Colonized nations forced to buy manufactured goods • Vladimir Lenin was appalled by imperialism • Was the inevitable end of capitalism • Believed Western markets were saturated needed to find new ones which would also become saturated • Profits could not grow capitalism would collapse & be replaced by socialism and eventually communism

5. What was Imperialism About? • Scramble for territory & authority was an extension of European diplomatic & national rivalries • Territories were acquired to prevent others from gaining an advantage • Wars fought in Asia & Africa were surrogate battles in the power of politics

6. European Economy Timeline • Medieval period – economy was local • Renaissance – economy was national • By 1900 – economy was global • Grew 25x’s larger from 1800 to 1913 • Causes • Railways (1804) • Steam propelled ships (early 1800s) • Engineering - Suez (1869) & Panama (1914) Canals • Telegraph (1838)

8. Imperialism in China • China was coveted for materials (silk, jewellery, tea) • Chinese emperors resisted trade w/ the West • Britain used military force to secure access to “treaty ports” (Hong Kong & Shanghai) • Sold opium from India to Chinese to obtain goods • Resulted in millions becoming addicted

9. Imperialism in China

10. Imperialism in China • Russia & Japan also wanted pieces of China • Japan wanted land & resources for its large population • 1894-95 Japan captures 2 provinces (wants Manchuria) • Russia also wanted Manchuria & Korea • Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) • Japan won war and treaty granted them • Control over all disputed territory • Made Japan an imperial power

11. Imperialism in India • Britain controlled parts of India since 18th C • British India Company became rich exporting tea & spices for British textiles • 1857 Indian or Sepoy Mutiny • Soldiers rebelled & attempted to force British out • British & loyal Indian troops defeated rebellion • Britain changed policies as a result • BR gov’t administered area • Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India (1876) • Civil service staffed by Britons (local ppl were assitants) • British courts, private schools, sports leagues created • Railways built to extend control into Pakistan & Bangladesh • United vast regions that were formerly hostile • Considered India “the jewel in the crown”

12. Imperialism in Africa

13. Imperialism in Africa and Berlin Conference • Africa 1876 • # of indigenous powers • No set European colonies (just some influence) • Africa 1914 • Only 2 independent African states (Abyssinia & Liberia) • Continent divided by 7 European nations – called “the scramble for Africa”

14. Berlin Conference

15. Imperialism in Africa • Affect on African peoples • European boundaries divided people into 20+ colonies • African culture regarded as “backward” & “uncivilized” • Religious figures come to convert Africans • Railways & sea ports built to exploit mineral resources • Wealth not shared w/ colonial subjects • No development of African economy or structures

16. Imperialism in Latin America • 1812 – US attempts to annex Canada (then British North America) but is defeated • 1836 – American settlers (living in Mexican state of Texas) gain independence from Mexico • 1845 – President Polk (USA) annexes Texas, making it a US state • 1846 – USA & Mexico go to war • American’s claim that God had given the United States the clear destiny to control all lands in North America • Called Manifest Destiny • By 1848 the US captured New Mexico, Arizona, & California

17. Imperialism in Latin America • 1890s Spain & US go to war • United States gains control over Spanish territories of Cuba, Guam, Philippines, & Puerto Rico • 1904 – President Theodore Roosevelt develops theRoosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine • Monroe Doctrine of 1823 – stated that any hostile presence in the Americas would lead to the use of force by USA • Roosevelt Corollary declared stated USA had right to intervene in the affairs of Latin America & Caribebean in cases of `wrongdoing and impotence”

18. Internal Imperialism: New Zealand • Britain seized control in 1840 • Began buying land from Maori • Maori slowed down land transfers b/c feared control • Britain responded by passing laws that sped up the process • 1900 British settlers owned most good farmland • Maori were displaced, forced to live off low quality land

19. Internal Imperialism: United States • US followed a similar process against native populations • US gov’t had set-up a vast Indian Territory (Midwestern United States) • Done so that newcomers could possess all the lands in the east • 1870s a series of Indian Wars began • US cavalry fought & defeated aboriginal peoples • Took Indian Territory away from them • Forcing them onto reservations to open region for settlement • Basis of Western movies (Cowboys & Indians)

20. Internal Imperialism: Canada • Canada became independent in 1867 • Gov’t wanted to place settlers from coast to coast • Gov’t purchased land & forced aboriginals onto reservations through a series of treaties • These claims/treaties were never legally abrogated • Has led to conflicts throughout Canadian history including disputes @ Ipperwash and Caledonia

21. The Legacy of Imperialism • The Economic Legacy • The shift from commercial capitalism to industrial capitalism created greater differences in wealth, and it transformed relations between the colonizers and the colonized. • Under industrial capitalism and its doctrine of laissez faire, the restraints of the colonial empires came under attack, and the new idea of free trade became the orthodox economic doctrine.

22. The Legacy of Imperialism • Under imposed conditions of free trade, Indian handloom weavers could not compete in price with British manufactures of cotton cloth, so India became an importer of cotton textile and an exporter of raw cotton • Under free trade, a form of nominally predominant and colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas become dependent sources of raw materials as well as markets for manufactured goods

23. Prior to the development of the dependent relationship of imperialism, most of the people in the non-Western world were involved in subsistence agriculture – farming primarily for themselves. • Imperialist powers succeeded in forcing Native peoples to change to producing agriculture for export.

24. Today, the term is also referred to as “cash crops”. The agricultural products are grown primarily for exporting purposes. Products such as banana, pineapple, coffee or sugar canes are grown to be exported to developed countries’ consumption.

25. The imperialist powers need their colonies to supply raw materials to support the growth of industrial European cities. • The transformation of local production from a subsistence economy to an export economy had various effects. • As more and more land was used to grow cash crops for export, these territories would become increasingly depend on imports of both food and manufactured goods • Created a dependency in the colony • Mass-produced goods from Europe were far cheaper and often of a better quality than locally produced goods. • What happened to the local entrepreneurs?

26. Africans found their lives changed against their will but also came to endure working and living conditions worse than it was prior to Western intervention • The process of converting Africans into labourers in a cash economy was extremely brutal. • They often had to work far from their home villages, and brutal punishment was inflicted upon them for failure to meet the required quotas. • Adolescent boys were punished by mutilation, including the cutting off of ears or hands. • Failure of particular villagers to meet quotas resulted in raids on their home villages, where women were raped, children and elderly beaten and houses destroyed.

27. The economic impact of imperialism had had a far reaching consequences. • The global economic relationship established during this period have shaped the modern world system and some would argue, are the foundation of poverty in developing nations in the twenty first century. • Do you are with this last statement? Why or why not?

28. Indentured Labour • The most extensively organized system of immigrant labour was the trade of indentured labourers from India and China • A contract to work for a specified period of time, usually fiver years. • Most of men that would work to send money back home to their families. • Though it was technically a voluntary contract labour system, it was considered by many to be a new system of slavery.

29. At the end of their lengthy sea voyage, the labourers faced conditions that were bad. There were inadequate food, no health care with extremely demanding physical work. • When they had a conflict with their employers, they faced a legal system and a police force ready to enforce their employer’s conditions. • These labourers would have to earn money to buy their return passage • Consequently, indenture though intended to be temporary, often became a permanent migration into a new home.

30. Many of the indentured labourers would compete with others for employment on the plantations. • Chinese immigrants more commonly worked in mining and construction than o plantations. • Fifteen thousand were recruited from Hong Kong to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway.

31. Image of three Chinese immigrants working on the construction of the railroad. Unknown numbers died during construction. Chinese immigrants worked primarily as labourers and lived largely in the states and territories of the American West

32. War and Resistance to Colonization • Colonial nationalist movements developed a sense of belonging to a larger international movement of colonized peoples seeking liberation from colonialism and racial oppression. • Anti-Western protests, sometime called primary resistance movements, organized to expel foreigners and restore the culture to its original state.

33. Colonial Nationalist Movement • The leaders of nationalist movement in the colonies tended to be from the Western-educated elite. • The Indian National Congress • Founded in 1885, INC was one of the earliest colonial nationalist political parties. • The modernization of agriculture and the extension of railroads had changed patterns of landholding and had converted some areas to the production of export crops

34. These reforms had also increased the peasant’s indebtedness and their vulnerability to famines that struck in the 1870s and 1880s. • Some Indian nationalists charged the British connection acted as an economic drain on the resources of India • British officials viewed them as unrepresentative trouble makers until more radical voices and popular protest began to change the face of Indian nationalism.