SOCIAL JUSTICE STUDIES: INTRODUCTION

TO COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM

T. Kathy
Center for International Studies at Huey Deng High School

COLONIALISM CONTENTS

Colonialism vs. Imperialism

Types of Colonies

Age of Discovery

Effects

Timeline

Justifications

Decolonization

Taiwan

COLONIALISM

The practice ( ) of implanting settlements( ) on a far

territory ( , )

The support in one country controlling another people

Colonialism in its modern form first began to take shape

about 400 years ago, and it changed the economic ( )
reality of the world forever. For one thing, it helped Europe
get rich on trade ( , ) of cash crops ( ).

The foundations ( , ) of free-market ( )

capitalism ( ) were invented during the colonial era,
partly to handle trade.

IMPERIALISM

idea driving ( ) the

practice of colonialism.
The Age of Imperialism

The

TYPES OF COLONIES 1: SETTLER COLONIALISM

Settler ( , )

Settler colonialismhas large-scale ( ) immigration

( ), often motivated( )by religious, political, or
economic reasons.
Example: Nearly the entire population of Taiwan is the result
of settler colonialism. "Taiwanese people", made out of the
descendants of settler colonialists who migrated to Taiwan
fromFujianprovince of mainland China in the 17th-19th
centuries.

TYPES OF COLONIES 2:
EXPLOITATION COLONIALISM
Exploitation colonialisminvolves fewer
colonists ( ) and
focuses on access to resources ( )
for export .
This hastrading posts( )as well as
larger colonies where colonists would control
power, but would rely on ( )
indigenous ( ) resources
forlaborand material.

AGE OF DISCOVERY

Modern colonialism started with theAge( ) of

Discovery ( ).

PortugalandSpaindiscovered new lands (The

New World) across the oceans and built trading
posts or conquered large extensions of land.

The 17th century saw the creation of theFrench

colonial empire( )and theDutch Empire, as
well as theEnglish overseas possessions, which
later became theBritish Empire. TheUnited
States of Americagained overseas territories after
theSpanishAmerican War, the "American

THE IMPACT OF COLONIZATION

Slavery

and
Servitude

Disease
Eurocentric

Values

Slavery

Racism
Classism

Disease

Epidemics
Lost
populations

Eurocentris
m

IMPACT/EFFECT: SERVITUDE (
)

In the 17th century, nearly 2/3 of English settlers

came to North America as indentured servants.
India and China were the largest source of
indentured servants during the colonial era.
Indentured servants from India travelled to British
colonies in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and also
to French and Portuguese colonies, while Chinese
servants travelled to British and Dutch
colonies.Between 1830 and 1930, around 30
million indentured servants migrated from India,
and 24 million returned to India. China sent more
indentured servants to European colonies, and
around the same proportion returned to China.

IMPACT/EFFECT: SLAVERY

Around 12.5 Africans were taken to the Caribbean and North and
South America as slaves by European colonizers. Of those10.7
millionsurvived the dreaded Middle Passage. (video)

IMPACT/EFFECT: DISEASE

Encounters between explorers and populations in the rest of the

world often introduced new diseases, which sometimes caused
local epidemics ( ).For example, smallpox ( ),
measles ( ), malaria ( ), yellow fever ( ),
and others were unknown in pre- Columbus America. Over the
centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of
immunity ( )to these diseases, while
thenative peoplehad no time to build such immunity.

Smallpox decimated( )the native population ofAustralia,

killing around 50% ofindigenous Australiansin the early years
of British colonization.

IMPACT/EFFECT: EUROCENTRISM
The act of colonizing spread social and political western ideas
of a gender and racial hierarchy ( ) to colonized
areas. European male authority and female and non European
inferiority ( ) was legitimized ( ) through
science.

THE INFERIORITY OF WOMEN, A

HIERARCHY
CRANIOLOGY

Womens skulls were smaller so

they were stupider than men

AFRICAN WOMEN
Biologists, naturalists,
anthropologists, and
ethnologists of the 19th
century for examplesaid
that African women's
anatomy, and especially
genitalia , looked
like baboons ( ) and
made European women
superior ( ).

IMPOSED TERRITORIAL BOUNDARIES

(CARTOGRAPHY )
The territorial boundaries imposed by
European colonizers, like in central Africa and
South Asia, defied ( ) the existing
boundaries of native ( ) people that had
before interacted little with one another.
European colonizers disregarded ( )
native political and cultural animosities (
), imposing peace upon people under their
military control. Native populations were often
relocated ( ) at the will ( ) of the
colonial administrators ( ).

TIMELINE

1492-1650: Period of exploration and early European

colonization of the New World and some African and Asian
territories. Birth of the new mercantile commodity economy (driven
by cash crops such as sugar, tobacco, coffee, tea, textiles, etc.)

1599 the British East India Company was established and was
chartered by Queen Elizabeth in the following year. With the
establishment of trading posts in India, the British were able to
maintain strength relative to others empires such as the Portuguese
who already had set up trading posts in India

1607: British foundation of a colony at Jamestown.

1757: The Battle of Plassey the beginning of British military

superiority in India

1885: Congo Conference. Europeans carve up Africa into slices.

TIMELINE:
1914 WORLD
WAR 1
Its seen by many as a war that
puts a halt to the rampant(
) territorial ( )
acquisitiveness of the
preceding ( ) 40 years.
European nations are forced to
face the consequences ( )
of their gobbling up colonies
when they use the same
principles ( )against their
own neighbors.

After WW1 ( ),
the victoriousAllies (
)divided up the German
colonial empire and much of
the Ottoman Empire between
themselves asLeague of
Nations mandates ( ).

These territories were divided

into three classes according to
how quickly it was thought
that they would be ready for
independence ( ).

CARVING
UP
AFRICA
At the start of World
War 1
Videos:
Scramble and Berlin Conference
A Brief
History Of European Colonization
in Africa
Before World War II vol.1- World
divided colonial rule by the We
stern Empires

TIMELINE:
1939 WORLD
WAR 2
World War II (
)begins,
involving nearly the
entire world. Not only
are there dozens of
sites in which battles
occur, but people from
the colonies fight for
the major powersincluding Taiwan.

The colonial system was THE

major cause ( ) of
theSecond World War.

The war in the Pacific was caused

by Japanese imperialism, that tried
to conquer the empires held by
the British, French, Dutch and the
United States.

The war in Europe and North Africa

was caused partially by Germany
and Italy's imperialism that tried to
conquer British, French and
Russian colonial empires in these
areas.

TIMELINE

1947: Indian/Pakistani independence. The

beginning of the decline in the British empire.

1960-1963: Most British colonies in Africa and

the Caribbean become free nations, generally
peacefully. Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana,
Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago are some of the
most important on this list.

1997: Hong Kong becomes independent from

England, and is returned to China.

5 JUSTIFICATIONS ( )
OF EXPANSION

1. Kiplings White Mans

Burden
2. Manifest Destiny
3. Terra nullius
4. Orientalism
5. Environmental
Determinism

KIPLINGS WHITE MANS BURDEN

A poem justifying ( )
imperialism as a noble ( ) enterprise.
(1899)
Take up the White 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.

MANIFEST DESTINY
A widely held belief in the United States that
American settlers were destined to expand
throughout the continent. An idea, not policy.
A time period associated with the territorial
expansion of the United States from 1812 to
1860. This era, from the end of the War of 1812 to
the beginning of the American Civil War.

TERRA NULLIUS EMPTY LAND

(Latin expression which stems from Roman
law meaning 'empty land'). British
imperialism often used this concept.
Example: The country of Australia through
British settlements (colonization), used terra
nullius to steal land its Aboriginal inhabitants.

ORIENTALISM- THE WEST PATRONIZING THE EAST

The West developed animaginative geographyof the East
that relied on anessentializing the social reality of the East.
This idea of place-based identities creates a difference and
distance between "we" the West and "them" the East, or
"here" in the West and "there" in the East.

WEST

EAST

Us- Superior

Them- Inferior

rational

Irrational

Progressive

backward

ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM
It was believed that a certain person's behaviors were determined by the
environment in which they lived and thus validated their domination.
For example, people living in tropical environments were seen as "less
civilized" therefore justifying colonial control as a civilizing mission.
If the world was split into climatic zones:
Northern Europe = hard working, moral and upstanding human being.
The Mediterranean climate = lazy attitude, sexually promiscuous culture, as
well a moral degeneracy.
Sub-Saharan Africa/ SE Asia = childlike species that needed guidance and

DECOLONIZATION
Decolonization: the process of undoing colonialism,
becoming independent of colonial control
AfterWorld War II (
),decolonizationprogressed rapidly. This was caused by a
number of reasons:
1. The Japanese victories in the Pacific War showed Indians,
Chinese, and other subject peoples ( ) that the colonial
powers were not invincible ( ).
2. Many colonial powers were significantly weakened by World
War II.

DE-COLONIZATION
Once independence from European control was achieved, civil
war erupted in some former colonies, as native
populations fought to gain territory for their own ethnic,
cultural or political group.
Example: The Partition of India, a 1947 civil war that came
after India's independence from Britain, became a conflict with
500,000 killed.
Eventually, the European powerspressured by the United
Statesresigned themselves to decolonization.
1962 the United Nations set up a Special Committee on
Decolonization, often called the Committee of 24, to encourage
this process.

MARXIST VIEW ON
COLONIALISM
Marxism sees colonialism as a form of
capitalism ( ), enforcing
exploitation( ) and social change. Marx
thought that working within the global
capitalist system, colonialism is closely
associated with uneven development
because colonies are constructed into
exploitive modes of production ( ),
massive poverty and socio-psychological
trauma ( ).

TAIWAN AND COLONIZATION

Between 1895-1945 Taiwan was controlled by Japan (Japanese
occupation). It was part of Japans plan to expand its Empire
throughout SE Asia. As Japans first colony, the Empire tried to
turn Taiwan into a model colony and made many
improvements and public works, like urban development, the
banning of foot binding and sanitation. Japan also introduced
baseball and the cinema.
Japans approach to Taiwan had 2 opposing views:
1. From a biological perspective, natives could not be
completely assimilated ( )and so needed to be ruled by
different rules.
2. Taiwan (and Korea) were closely related to Japanese culture,
they could be assimilated.

TAIWAN AND COLONIZATION:

INTEGRATION AND WAR
Between 1915- 1937 the Japanese tried to assimilate () Taiwanese
using Japanese language and education. Public opinion in Taiwan
demanded democracy in 1934 and Japan conceded ().
The late 1930s saw a rise in Japanese militarism() and exploiting
Taiwanese resources for their war effort. In the early 1940s laws were
passed for Taiwanese to change their names to Japanese and
Taiwanese were encouraged to join the war (fighting for Japan in
WW2). In 1945 Taiwanese youth were drafted() and many men died.
The ally forces bombed Taiwan and by the end of the war Taiwan was
worse off economically than before. (Video1, 2, 3)

TAIWANS CONTROVERSIAL
POLITICAL STATUS
After 50 years of colonial rule, Japan
formallysurrenderedto the Allies on August 14,
1945. On August 29, Chiang Kai-shek appointed
Chen Yi as Chief Executive of Taiwan Province.
Japan did not renounce its sovereignty over
Taiwan until April 28, 1952, with the coming into
force of theSan Francisco Peace Treaty, which
further complicated the political status of
Taiwan.

JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE IN TAIWAN

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

The Presidential Office

The Taipei Guest House
Tainan Train station
Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp.
National Taiwan Museum
The Judicial Office Building
Blue House (Yilan)
Yilans Memorial Hall