History 121D18

Colonialism was seen to be on a down swing as the colonies were

not performing well, mines were failing in South America

But imperialism starts to rise again and the concern is once

again on direct political control of foreign land

Most of the expansion of control to foreign lands occurs without

main extensions of the political empire

But once again the conern
The expansion of European powers peaks from 1880 to 1914
They control most of the world prior to WWI
The influence of colonialism continues to this day
It is estimated that by 1878, 68% of the world was controlled by

Western and Central Europe

Prior to WWI, that number had grown to 84%
Recently independent Latin America grew so dependent on
Europe and the US that many questioned the exact nature of

their independence
The British and French each gobbled up 4 and 3 million square

miles respectively
Germany, Portugal, Belgium, and Italy all participated in this land

grab
Starting in the 1870s, there are the beginnings of a very sharp

reaction against anti-imperialist views

Colonies began to seem important again
It was seen as a vital way to increase and maintain your prestige
Overseas expansion showed political might and cultural vigor
There is a growing turn away from the free trade of the early part

of the century
There is growing tension in the diplomatic realm as the concert

of Europe was disintegrating

The great powers are beginning a new arms race

For a time, it seemed like Europeans managed to keep all these

aggressions in check
But they were playing with these aggressions overseas
There were 25 overseas wars fought in the 19th century, primarily

by the French and the British

Imperialism rhetoric begins to appear often in the late 19th

century
It was seen as the material right of nations to exercise their

dominance over other lesser nations

It was social Darwinism in the political sphere
The flag followed the bible and trade followed the flag
Many Europeans took for granted that the only way to maintain

their rising standard of living was to dominate foreign peoples

Imperialist statesmen met an expansion of trade, a rise in wealth

and living standards

Jules Ferrythe architect of French colonial expansion
Ferry argued that colonies were the most important investment a

country could make

The establishment of the colony was seen as the creation of a

market
Bismarck and the Reichstag also saw the need for new overseas

markets
The world we live in today is where the commodity takes on a life

of its own
One of the most important distinctions was that of machinery,

the colonizers had it and the colonies didnt

A social engine drove world progress and world satisfaction
Familiarity breeds desire and desire is what you need in order to

build a market
The societies of the other part of the globe sere seen as lacking
desire

And because of that, they were seen as lacking drive and

aspiration
Because of that, Europeans saw that by making other cultures
want what they had, and adopting these new habits of

consumption, it would perform the work of civilizing them

There were other concerns that feed into this colonial movement
This period is one where you begin to have mass migration to the

overseas colonies
If citizens move to a British colony, they are still British citizens
In the first WW, millions of people were brought from colonies to

either fight or work on their soil

There are strategic considerations in this new imperialism
Colonies were needed to build naval stations
There were strategic considerations when grabbing territory
There were times when a country was taken just to keep

someone else from taking it

This was mainly done in Afghanistan and the Middle East
Imperialism could divert attention from social injustice at home
Imperialism could alleviate class conflict by creating a common

national purpose against alien peoples

This the period that the labor movement begins to grow and uses

the weapon of the strike

Imperialism begins to build solidarity at home
Cecil Rhodes stated that if you were not to be cannibals, you had

to be imperialists
For Rhodes and others, overseas expansion was to alleviate the

possibility of class warfare at home

The white mans burden was to civilize the inferior breeds
The burden that Europeans take on to civilize the rest of the
world was common rhetoric

In the late 19th century, virtually no French citizen doubted that

they were morally and physically superior to the rest of the

worlds inhabitants
Practices were allowed as long as they didnt interfere with

French practices
If they did, they were eradicated and replaced with French ones
Indigenous languages, slavery, barbaric customary law, and

feudal chiefdoms
These would be replaced by a common language, freedom, social

equality, and liberal justice

Virtually all colonial powers shared a similar view of the

superiority of their culture and of their civilizing mission

Karl Peters described the blessings that would be bestowed upon

the German population

Peters was one of the loudest advocates of a German Empire
He founded the society for German colonization in 1884
His aims, publicized in good social Darwinist style, were to

strengthen ones own people at the expense of other peoples

To its most zealous apologists, like Peters, imperialism is

fulfillment of the civilizing mission

The superiority of the white race was taken for granted and seen

as a fundamental law of nature

The more deeply entrenched these ideas become, the more they

spread
Even Darwin stated an endless number of the lower races would

be civilized by the higher races

The stronger nations were seen to be victorious
Highly civilized races were seen to have a rapid civilizing effect

on the lower races since it was too good

The superiority of the white man was rooted in his genetics

These views were disseminated quite widely and were quite

widely held
Rudyard Kipling came up with the term white mans burden
It was ever easier to reconcile the idea of progress with that of

contempt for other peoples

It provides rational justification for the violence and horrors of

the expansion of imperialism

Imperialism strengthened nationalist claims
These views were most vital in the new German state
A unified Italy began to demand colonies as well
Other emerging powers are trumpeting the fact they are entering

the great powers by having colonies

Colonialism was seen as a question of life or death for France; if
it didnt become a great African power, it would be reduced to

the relevance of Greece or Romania

One of the most devastating colonial expansions was that of the
American west, with a deliberate policy of exterminating the

indigenous populations
That is not a very wise strategy though, it was wiser to exploit

them economically
Most European powers only cared about the coasts of Africa, they

didnt really care about the interior

By 1915, only Liberia and Ethiopia would remain as free states
Leopold II organizes an expedition to the Congo River Basin
In 1876, the international association for the exploration of the

Congo was established

The entire Congo River Basin was opened up to Belgium
France responds by immediately blockading the north bank
Bismarck called a conference in Berlin, The Berlin Conference, to
establish ground rules for the colonization of sub-Saharan Africa

A European country, in order to claim a territory, had to

physically occupy it
That rule leads to the frantic race into the African interior
The British begin to scramble for Egypt
Great Britain, with France as a major partner, begin to bail out

Egypt, who went bankrupt to its bondholders

The Europeans drove out the Egyptian government
This led to an anti-imperialist backlash and the driving out of the

British
In 1882, a squad of troops took control of Cairo and the British

fleet bombarded Alexandria

There were a small number of officials who controlled the

countrys affairs
It was common to sign treaties between European powers and

local African rulers

It guaranteed protection to the leaders who would not give

access to any other powers

If the treaty was broken then military force was to be applied
Britain signed treaties of this sort with many African populations
There were several battles between the Sudanese and the British

as the British were taking the Sudan

The arbitrary boundaries had enormous implications for the

future
These borders often cut through religious, ethnic, and indigenous

groups
Persia was partitioned by the Great powers as well as the

Ottoman empire in the aftermath of WWI

The Dutch controlled Indonesia
British control over the Indian subcontinent was solidified and
they gained Hong Kong as well

The French took over Indochina, British over Burma, Thailand

remained un-colonized since it served as a buffer between British

and French possessions

Samoa was the first main American Colony
The Philippines were seen as needing Christianization, even
though they had been Catholic for some time