Chapter 5: Imperialism and Its Victims

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Why are colonialism and Imperialism important in World Politics Today?

a. For good or ill, every empire in history has influenced history all
linked together
b. 1453: most important date in history that you dont know: Fall of
Constantinople
i. Columbus would never had had to go West to find another
trade route to China had Vienna/Constantinople not fallen to
the Muslims
1. People were afraid that the eastern trade route was no
longer effective
c. Empires, especially European ones after 1492, changed the course of
history by influencing regional and sometimes global power
dynamics, even for generations
d. Intended and unintended results of intercontinental contact: spread
goods, ideas, religions, peoples, illnesses, plants, and animals over the
face of the globe, nearly always with consequences, some small, others
large, some monumental
i. GUNS GERMS AND STEEL
e. Colonialism and imperialism on occasion forced the demise of certain
cultures and at other times accelerated and extended the global reach
of others
i. Easter Islands completely gone from earth
f. Remnants of colonialism/imperialism continue to lead to war and to
peace and everything in between
g. Therefore, an awareness of their origins and consequences is
necessary for an understanding contemporary world politics
h. Lasting impact of ongoing, decaying, or past colonialism/imperialism
on their subjects illustrate both fragmentation and globalization in
world politics today
Origins of Imperialism
a. Imperialism: process of extending one nations authority by
territorial acquisition or the establishment of political and/or
economic hegemony over other nations
b. Three Reasons for European Imperialism:
i. Search for sea-borne trade routes to Asia due to fall of
Constantinople, 1453
ii. Strengthening the European home country and
iii. European superiority in tech
1. Seafaring, navigation, weapons, technological
innovations of all kinds
c. Some Euro countries emphasized territorial acquisition while others
just wanted control of trade routes/pressure points for trade
Spain and Portugal: Dividing the World

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a. To avoid conflict over their competing expansion, Spain and Portugal

established by a treaty and imaginary demarcation line
b. Treaty of Tordesillas 1494: North-South line 300 miles west of the
Azores
i. Spain granted possession of all lands west and Portugal all East
ii. Spain had the New World except Brazil
iii. Portugal gained supremacy over Africa and the Indian Ocean
Spanish Colonial Administration
a. Emphasized acquisition of territory, aided by a number of factors:
i. Gunpowder, muskets, and tactics
ii. Native Americans had less immunity to diseases traveling with
Europeans
iii. Foreign intervention (by assuming allies) was often naively
welcomed by warring native factions
b. Spanish introduced a large colonial bureaucracy into the conquered
territories (mirroring existing structures in Spain)
Portuguese Colonialism
a. Based on trade
b. Content to establish trading ports
c. But in Brazil the Portuguese turned to growing sugarcane and other
corporate ventures
d. Large Brazilian plantations spurred the trade in African slaves to
compensate for lack of cooperative indigenous labor
Independence from Spain and Portugal
a. Napoleonic wars distracted Spain from its colonies
b. Proscription on free trade
c. Colonial independence encouraged by Great Britain
d. Fight for independence: 1810 through 1825
e. Simon Bolivar
f. Portugal
i. Brazil gained its independence 1822 w/relatively no conflict
ii. Colonies in Africa (Angola, Mozambique) were held until 1970s
Dutch Empire
a. Founding of the Dutch East India Company 1602
i. Not part of the Dutch government, corporate entity controlling
ports
1. Manhattan, Cape Town straights (Molucca Straits), and
coasts (Java, the second largest Indonesian Island, main
city: Jakarta; Dutch Guiana, now Surinam)
2. Spices were more valuable than gold
b. Spices cloves, ntmeg of the Dutch East Indies
c. Tea Plantations on island of Ceyln (Sri Lanka)
d. Napoleonic Wars
Anglo- French Rivalry 1700-1899

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a. Defeat of Spanish Armada 1588 spelled the decline the Spanish

power; Portugal and Holland (great powers) didnt have human nor
capital to defend/expand imperial outposts
b. British Isles made foreign invasion unlikely, Britain could focus is
energies on the Royal Navy and neglect a large standing army
c. France opposite: insecure borders made land ready for invasion
(Germany
d. Brits and French were principal colonial competitors for most of 18th
and 19th centuries
e. Different strengths and weaknesses
i. British trade for raw materials and food
ii. France was more inward looking in economic matters
iii. British population pressures encouraged emigration
1. Canada, S Africa, Australia
iv. Britain had consistent geo-political advantages
1. Navy controlling seas, size of land controlled/location
Frances Bid for Empire
a. Areas in N America, W half of Hispaniola and other Caribbean Islands
b. Trading posts in Indian Ocean
c. Never attracted great number of French settlers
d. Saw their imperial and global role as bringing cultural and civilization
to backwards people
e. Decolonization was a particularly difficult ordeal for French
(Algeria/Vietnam)
f. Rapid decline precipitated by disastrous results for France in WWII
g. Only a few Carribbean (Martinique) and Pacific (French
Polynesia)remain today
British Empire
a. 17th/18th centuries:
i. James town 1607, N America/Caribbean
ii. English hegemony lasted only a few years in N America
b. 19th/20th
i. Burma/Malaya, Australia and New Zealand,
ii. Self Government Canada, Australia, New Zealand
iii. Used superior naval and strategic resources to secure the lions
share; the capture of S Africa, Sri Lanka, and other India Oceans
during Napoleonic Wards ensures Indian ocean = British lake
c. Boer War 1899-1902
i. Britain rounded up Boer families and placed them in what
were essentially concentration camps
ii. Britain begins to use child soldiers
1. Boy-scouts
iii. Use of repeating rifles
iv. Lots of people too young to serve, so when WWI gets along,
people leap into the opportunity b/c they missed the Boer war

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d. By eve of WWI, the sun never set on the British Empire- 500 million
people inhabited the British Empire (today more than 2 billion people
live in areas that were once British colonies) known as British
commonwealth of nations)
Twilight of the British Empire
a. World Wars
i. Financially bankrupt and emotionally exhausted from war
ii. Independence of Ireland, Arab States, India, Burma, Ceylon,
and Israel
b. Africa, most colonies gained independence in mid 50s and early 60s
i. Followed by most of Caribbean and S Pacific
c. Decolonization/devolution of the empire generally peaceful
d. Guerrilla warfare successful
Russians had extensive holdings in North America
a. San Francisco, Hawaii (before it was British), Alaska (1867) for
$7million
US
a. Expanded west in 19th century
b. 1898: ranks of overseas imperialist powers
i. Puerto Rico, Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, etc
ii. Major power in Pacific
c. Informal control: economic/political development w/o direct colonial
rule
d. Friendly governments in 3rd world countries often disasters
(Vietnam, Iran, Nicaragua)
Ottoman
a. Major force for 500 years
b. 14th-18th centuries
i. conquered Constantinople, Turkey, Greece, part of Albania,
Balkans, Persia, MD consolidated the claim to be protector
and benefactor of Islam brought econ gains
1. stagnated intellectually, failed to innovate like the
Europeans
ii. Decree to ban all European inventions
c. 19th-20th centuries:
d. Increasingly came under attack from Russia and Austria
e. WWI spelled the end of the Ottoman Empire
German/Japanese
a. Bids for foreign colonies produced numerous bloody wars b/w 1860
and 1945
b. Germany: central Africa, Togo, Cameroon, Tanzania, Namibia
c. Japanese: 1952 apex
i. 1940-45 Asia, Taiwan Korea, Manchuria, Pacific Islands
ii. Germanys colonies were taken away by League of Nations and
given to UK/FR
iii. Japan lost conquered territory by military defeat 1945

iv. End of WWII means the effective end for colonialism politics
XVI. Decline of Imperialism 1945-2008
a. Most empires unable to survive the two WW
b. US/USSR survived w/few Great Powers (almost all colonies in 21st
century are islands in Caribbean/Pacific
i. Fragmenting pressure from peoples subject to rule
ii. Imperial costs of long distance administration
iii. Competition from other countries
iv. Nationalism and political sovereignty
c. empire becomes politically incorrect, Age of empires gone
XVII. Social Impact of Imperialism
a. Two forms:
i. Settlers colonialism where immigrants seized land from
indigenous people and became the dominant population
ii. Elite colonialism, where indigenous rulers by European socioeconomic elites but the indigenous population remain in Place
(Vietnam)
b. Role of geography /climate had a big deal (Alaska)
c. East Asia avoided direct colonial rule
i. China, Japan, Nepal, Thailand
XVIII. Economic Consequences
a. Mercantilism: politico-econ approach to world trade:
i. Colonies produce raw materials sent to mother country
ii. Mother country sends back manufactured goods that could
have been produced for cheaper in the home land
b. Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific
i. N America: Furs, timber, fish, tobacco, cotton
ii. S America: gold, silver, corn, potatoes
iii. Africa: slaves, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, tea, cotton, ivory, tropical
hardwoods, copper, gold
iv. Australia/New Zealand: sheep/dairy
c. In Asia, purpose was to control overseas trade routes
d. Mercantilism ended in in mid 19th century but its awk and heavy
approach was intended to create pol-econ predictability
i. Stability over peace
XIX. Cultural/Ideological Impact
a. Colonialism/political culture
i. For countries settled by Euros, colonial era is viewed as
necessary evolution into statehood, like a child growing into
adulthood
ii. Traditions of rule of law, private property, and individual
rights have never been questioned
iii. Where settler colonialism didnt not take root, postcolonial
cohesion and stability has been difficult to obtain
iv. Divide and conquer in areas of elite colonialism
b. Colonialism and ideology: anti colonial response

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Berlin conference 1844-45

a. Irrationally chopped up Africa
b. Creation of countries in Africa and parts of Asia that made no little if
and political sense
c. Indian flag- relic of imperialism
i. After 1947 (after independence)
ii. Divided Muslims in Pakistan (West Pakistan, EastBangladesh)
iii. Mahatma Gandhi wanted people to remember: spinning wheel
British exploited Indians