Imperialism

In the late 1800s the industrialized nations of the world will engage a policy called
imperialism and dominate most of the world. There was a saying during this time that
“The sun never sets on the British Empire.” Not only Britain but also other countries of
Europe are going to seek to gain new territories, natural resources, and prestige for their
country. The Industrial Revolution increased countries’ need for both raw materials and
markets for their goods.
The industrialized countries of Europe competed for control of different parts of the world.
Their policy of conquering and ruling other lands was known as imperialism. Imperialism
was viewed as being a necessary policy if a country was going to have a strong economy
and become a world power.
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The Industrial Revolution increased countries’ needs for both raw materials and markets for
their goods. Industrialized nations needed a lot of raw materials such as copper and
rubber. The industrialized countries of Europe competed for control of different parts of
the world. Their policy of conquering and ruling other lands was known as imperialism.
Imperialism was viewed as being a necessary policy if a country was going to have a strong
economy and become a world power. Another cause was nationalism. Nationalism
furthered imperialism as each country felt it needed to show its power by building an
empire. Pride motivated European countries to expand across the world to gain power and
prestige. Nations believed that other nations would respect them more if they had colonies
overseas. The theory call Social Darwinism applies the survival of the fittest to the human
world. Europeans felt that they were racially superior because of the technological
advancements made in the Industrial Revolution. Others causes for imperialism were
humanitarian in nature. Europeans felt that they were helping out their little brothers who
were the native peoples. Missionaries traveled across Africa and Asia to spread Christianity
and establish schools. Doctors ascended on new European colonies to give medical aide
and establish hospitals. Even new colonial officials felt that they needed to improve their
colonies’ infrastructure by building roads, bridges, and railroads. Finally there were
political and military interests in going out a establishing colonies across the world. With
the new innovation of the steamship, navies now needed naval bases around the world to
stock up on supplies and fuel for the long voyages. Politically, some nations were just in
competition with each other, and some nations believed it was their calling or manifest
destiny to dominate the world.
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European powers were successful in their conquests because the Ottoman Empire, Mughal
Empire and Qing (chin) Dynasty were all in decline. These empires were not as powerful as
they were five hundreds year prior. The Ottomans were losing territory and the Mughal
Empire, which was a Muslim Empire, was losing ground to the Hindu population in India.
China was experiencing internal and external pressures to open its doors of trade to the
Europeans. At this time in history, Europeans were the most technologically advanced
people, and their new weapons made it hard for Africa and Asians to resist against
imperialism.
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Christianity also played a big role in imperialism. By the 1800s missionaries had done lots
of work in Asia and Africa and had written accounts of what they had seen. These accounts
motivated many to expand imperialism. The slave trade still existed in parts of the world
such as East Africa, and missionaries believed that only European domination would end
the slave trade.
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Imperialism took different forms, however all pretty much had the same purpose: serving
the mother country. European countries would establish colonies where they would
directly rule over the new land. Examples are India as a British colony and the 13 British
colonies in modern-day America.
Protectorates are local governments exist, but they are guided by a foreign power. An example
was the country
of Egypt. The British would allow the king of Egypt to rule, but the British would influence
his decision making. Also the British would protect Egypt from outside invasions and
internal threats.
A sphere of influence is when an area is dominated by but not directly ruled by, a foreign
government. An example of a sphere of influence is that the United States has military
bases throughout the world from Germany to Japan.
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1. The policy of one country controlling foreign areas for its own benefit (building an
empire) is referred to as: ____________.
Yes, you are right! Imperialism
2. The two main continents that were targets for imperialism during the late 19th century
were: _________and ____________.
Awesome! – Africa and Asia
3. Industrialization contributed to imperialism because countries needed ___________
____________ to fuel their factories.
Great job! Raw Materials or Natural Resources
4. In addition to using colonies to obtain raw materials, colonies also supplied new
_____________ for industrialized countries to sell their products.
Right on! - Markets
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Great Britain, who was the leader of industrialization, was also the leader of Imperialism.
Britain had started imperialistic policies by the 1600s, forming colonies in the new world
and had built a trade network in Asia and India by the 1700s. By the late 1800s, Britain
gave some of its colonies self rule like Canada and Australia but tightened its control on
other areas. Britain also faced competition from other industrialized countries by the mid
1800s and was trying to maintain its economic superiority.
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Insert a picture similar to this one….
Africa was still a relatively unknown continent well into the 1800s because Europeans did
not venture into the interior of the continent. Africa with its vast natural resources would
become a target for imperialism. European countries (many who never had owned a
colony) scrambled for control of different parts of the continent. In 1875, only 10% of
Africa was controlled by Europe, and by 1900, 90% of Africa was divided into European
colonies. This was solidified by the Berlin conference. The leaders of Europe meet in Berlin
in 1884 where the decided to divide up Africa amongst the European powers. Everyone got
a slice of the pie. Examples of imperialism in Africa were Belgium’s King Leopold claims the
area around the Congo River Valley for Belgium. In West Africa, France claimed a huge
chunk of land. The British claimed much of East Africa and struggled with the Dutch for
control of South Africa. Italy, Spain, and Germany all took control of parts of Africa. By
1913, the only two independent countries in Africa were Liberia and Ethiopia. Liberia was
set up as independent nation by Britain and the United States to re-colonize former slaves
to Africa.
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France had an initial interest in North Africa as they controlled Algeria. In 1869 a French
company built the Suez Canal which linked the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea,
providing a faster route to the Indian Ocean. Great Britain had great interest in the Suez
Canal as they wanted to maintain contact with India and Australia. A nationalistic
movement broke out in Egypt as many wanted to eliminate British influence and presence
in the area. Britain responded in 1882 by crushing the rebellion and made Egypt a
protectorate of the British empire. Britain now had direct control of the Suez Canal.
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The effects of imperialism were drastic and can still be seen today. Europeans forced
Africans to pay taxes which caused them to focus on growing cash crops such as peanuts,
tea, and coffee. This led to a shift towards a money economy which was much different
from their traditional barter system of trading. Also, European-manufactured products
also replaced traditional industries in many areas. Europeans created some services such
as schools and hospitals in Africa, but most were strictly for European use. They did very
little to train Africans in skilled jobs which they would need to support themselves after
imperialism and colonialism. In addition, Europeans wanted to avoid uprisings and
encouraged rivalries among different ethnic groups to try and discourage African unity.
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India’s Mughal Empire began to lose control of India by the 1700s as most Indians were
Hindu while the Mughals were Muslim.
By 1757 the British East India Company essentially was the main power in India and ruled
most of the country either directly or indirectly.
The East India company even had its own army led by British officers and sepoys, the term
for Indian soldiers. In 1857, the sepoys revolted against the British after discovering the rifle
cartridges they were using were sealed with pork and beef fat. The sepoys soldiers came
from both Hindu and Muslim religions. Hindu considered cows to be sacred and Muslims
are not allowed to eat pork. Both religions had a problem with this practice. The Sepoys
rose up against the East India Company. The East India Company needed aid from the
British government to regain control of the country. After 1858, the British government
took control of India and ruled the country until 1947.
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Britain built India’s infrastructure such as rail, telegraph lines, dams, canals to make India
more like a modern European country.
However, Indians were treated like second class citizens in their own country and were
often discriminated against.
Indian Nationalism started to develop by the late 1800s to resist British control. They
formed the Indian National Congress in 1885 and called for self-rule by the early 1900s.
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For hundreds of years, China had been a productive and powerful country. By 1800, China
had 300 million people but was still self-sufficient and had little desire for foreign goods.
China regarded its products as superior to Europe’s and was resistant to trade. Chinese
rulers restricted Europe to trade only at the port cities called enclaves. Britain finally finds a
product that China wants and that product was opium, a highly addictive narcotic. Opium
was restricted in China, Britain, and India. However, British merchants smuggled opium
into China in huge quantities so that China’s government could not properly restrict its use.
China tried to stop the opium trade by using diplomacy to convince Britain to stop selling
opium to their people. Great Britain refused which prompted a war with China. Britain
easily defeated China in the Opium Wars and then forced China to sign the Treaty of
Nanking in 1842. This Treaty began a century of humiliation for China. The Treaty of
Nanking favored the British in a number of ways. China was forced to pay for all of the
opium they destroyed, and Britain won the right to trade at four other ports in China.
British citizens were given extra-territorial rights and did not have to obey Chinese law.
Other countries followed Britain’s lead and later established spheres of influence where
they could trade as they please.
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Please insert a map like this…
This map shows how the European countries and even Japan established spheres of
influence throughout the country of China.
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Insert a picture with the arrows
This French political cartoon shows the 5 rulers dividing up China into spheres of influence.
Note that the rule of China does not have any say into their dividing up the territory and
trading rights.
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China was weakened further by famine and a bloody civil war known as the Taiping (ti
Phing) Rebellion which broke out in southern China in 1851. Also, a series of unfair treaties
with European nations bankrupted China. Other countries took advantage of China’s
weaknesses, and China even lost territory to Russia and Japan. Eventually the nations of
the world agreed to an “open door” policy with China, allowing all foreign countries to
trade in China. Many of the Chinese population resented the presence of foreigners in
China. They began to form secret societies designed to rid China of foreign influence. One
of the most famous of these groups was known as the Boxers. They were really called the
“Righteous Harmonious Fists,” but Westerners watched them train in martial arts and
called them boxers. In 1900 the Boxers laid siege to an European section of Peking for
several months where they killed several foreign missionaries. A coalition of European
forces was called on to free the Europeans. While the Boxers were easily defeated by the
Europeans, things got worse for China as foreigners sought to strengthen their influence in
China. However, the humiliation of China caused ideas of nationalism to stir as the Chinese
people wanted to change their government, economy, and culture.
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Japan had changed very little since the 1600s when it had adopted the policy of
isolationism. It had been a very stable country under its rulers, the Tokugawa shoguns, but
had only contact with China and very limited contact with the Netherlands. In 1853
American Commodore Matthew Perry brought four steam warships into Tokyo’s harbor and
demanded that Japan trade with America. Japan’s military technology was no match for
the Americans, and they agreed to trade with the United States. Other countries soon
signed similar treaties with Japan, forming a situation similar to China’s.
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Something similar…
Don’t confuse today’s Matthew Perry with the Commodore Matthew Perry from the 1850s.
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Japan did not want to end up like China, and a new group of leaders replaced the Tokugawa
Shoguns in 1868. This period of time between 1868-1912 is known as the Meiji period.
During this time, Japan adopted changes in government, promptly ending feudalism. Its
leaders also sought to modernize and visited Europe to study new technologies. Japan
industrialized and modernized at lightning speed. They quickly built factories and became
an industrial country in an attempt to compete with the rest of the world. In a 30-year
period they became industrialized. Japan also modernized their army by modeling the
army after Germany and their navy after Britain. Japan’s powerful army allowed them to
renegotiate trade agreements with Europe and put them on an equal footing with the
west. Japan also used their army against China and took control of both Korea and parts of
Northern China. Japan’s efforts to take over parts of Asia upset Russia who went to war
with Japan in 1904. Japan surprisingly, easily defeated Russia in several battles, and U.S.
President Theodore Roosevelt helped settle the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the war. As a
result, Japan was now an undeniable world power.
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1. The armed resistance against British rule in India was the: _______________.
Great job! Sepoy Rebellion
2. The unsuccessful armed revolt led by the martial arts group in China was the:
_______________ _____________.
Awesome! Boxer Rebellion
3. What country industrialized at rapid speed to stop European imperialism at its borders?
Super Job! Japan
4. What country was forced by the U.S. to end its policy of isolation?
You are Right! Japan
5. The intellectual group formed to resist using non-violence the British presence in India
was the: ______ ____________ _________.
Way to go! The Indian National Congress
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Imperialism

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Imperialism

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In the late 1800s the industrialized nations of the world will engage a policy called

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