Turning Point - Age of Imperialism (New)

Imperialism occurs when a strong nation takes over a weaker nation or region and dominates its economic, political, or cultural life.

This type of foreign policy was practiced by European nations and Japan throughout the 1800s and early 1900s. In every case, a nation would experience industrialization prior to practicing imperialism on a foreign nation or region. This was due to the nearly insatiable demand for cheap raw materials and the need for markets to buy manufactured goods.

Causes of Imperialism

Industrial Revolution

Abundant raw materials and vast markets are needed in order to maintain an industrialized economy. Raw materials such as iron and cotton can be turned into products such as steel and textiles. Finally, these products need to be sold to a market in order to realize a profit.

The forces of industrialization caused nations to begin looking outside of their borders for cheaper and more abundant raw materials. Foreign populations were also viewed as vast markets where goods produced in domestic factories could be sold.

Nationalism

Nationalism or pride in one’s country, also contributed to the growth of imperialism. Citizens were proud of their country’s accomplishments, which sometimes included taking over foreign areas. As European nations became competitive with one another, there was an increased pressure to practice imperialism in order to maintain a balance of power in Europe.

As Europeans took over foreign lands, they viewed the culture of the native population to be inferior to their own. This concept became know as “The White Man’s Burden” after a popular poem by the same name was published by Rudyard Kipling in 1899. Some interpreted this poem to mean that it was the duty of imperializing nations to bring western culture and sensibility to the savage native populations that were encountered in far off lands. This is sometimes referred to as Social Darwinism, or the belief that all human groups compete for survival, and that the stronger groups will replace the weaker groups. Others saw it as a warning to western nations to stop the harmful practice of imperialism.

Results of Imperialism

In the short-term, imperialism was a very profitable foreign policy which came at the expense of the foreign regions where it was being practiced. Cultural diffusion also occurred, leading to an exchange of ideas between the West and the East. For example, European methods of education were adopted, leading foreigners to study ideas of liberty and democracy embraced during the Enlightenment and various political revolutions. This exchange eventually led to the demise of imperialism and colonialism throughout the world after World War Two.

Slavery

In the 1400s, the Portuguese established a number of trading outposts along the coastline of Africa. Later in the 1600s, the Dutch established the Cape Town settlement on the southwestern tip of Africa. Many of these early settlements were the starting point of the African Slave Trade that enslaved and forcibly sent many Africans overseas. The increase of slavery continued until the 1800s. After 1800 many European nations had passed laws banning the slave trade. However, the illegal slave trade continued well throughout the 1800s. This type of trade was known as the triangle trade.

Triangle/Triangular Trade

The Transatlantic Slave Trade had three stages:

STAGE 1

Slave ships from Britain left ports like London, Liverpool and Bristol for West Africa carrying goods such as cloth, guns, ironware and drink that had been made in Britain.

Later, on the West African coast, these goods would be traded for men, women and children who had been captured by slave traders or bought from African chiefs.

STAGE 2

African dealers kidnapped people from villages up to hundreds of miles inland. One of these people was Quobna Ottabah Cugoano who described in the autobiography how the slavers attacked with pistols and threatened to kill those who did not obey. They marched the captives to the coast where they would be traded for goods. The prisoners would be forced to march long distances, as Major Galan describes, with their hands tied behind their backs and their necks connected by wooden yokes.

On the African coast, European traders bought enslaved peoples from travelling African dealers or nearby African chiefs. Families were separated.

The traders held the enslaved Africans until a ship appeared, and then sold them to a European or African captain. It often took a long time for a captain to fill his ship. He rarely filled his ship in one spot. Instead he would spend three to four months sailing along the coast, looking for the fittest and cheapest slaves.

Ships would sail up and down the coast filling their holds with enslaved Africans. On the brutal ‘Middle Passage', enslaved Africans were densely packed onto ships that would carry them to the West Indies.

There were many cases of violent resistance by Africans against slave ships and their crews. These included attacks from the shore by ‘free' Africans against ships or longboats and many cases of shipboard revolt by slaves.

STAGE 3

In the West Indies enslaved Africans would be sold to the highest bidder at slave auctions. Once they had been bought, enslaved Africans worked for nothing on plantations.

They belonged to the plantation owner, like any other possession, and had no rights at all. The enslaved Africans were often punished very harshly.

Enslaved Africans resisted against their enslavement in many ways, from revolution to silent, personal resistance. Some refused to be enslaved and took their own lives. Sometimes pregnant women preferred abortion to bringing a child into slavery.

On the plantations, many enslaved Africans tried to slow down the pace of work by pretending to be ill, causing fires or ‘accidentally' breaking tools. Whenever possible, enslaved Africans ran away. Some escaped to South America, England or North America. Also there were hundreds of slave revolts.

Two thirds of the enslaved Africans, taken to the Americas, ended up on sugar plantations. Sugar was used to sweeten another crop harvested by enslaved Africans in the West Indies - coffee.

With the money made from the sale of enslaved Africans, goods such as sugar, coffee and tobacco were bought and carried back to Britain for sale. The ships were loaded with produce from the plantations for the voyage home.

Scramble for Africa

In the 1870s, the Belgian King Leopold sent emissaries to establish trade with native Africans in the Congo. This single act began a flurry of imperialistic activity as the other nations of Europe, including: France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Portugal.

Berlin Conference

To avoid conflict with one another in Africa, European leaders met in Berlin, Germany. With little regard or representation for native Africans, the European powers set about carving up Africa according to the following guidelines:

Any sovereign power which wanted to claim any territory should inform the other powers “in order to ... make good any claim of their own.”
Any such annexation should be validated by effective occupation.
Treaties with African rulers were to be considered a valid title to sovereignty.

By 1900, the only areas of Africa remaining independent were Liberia and Ethiopia.

Zulu Resistance

In the 1830s descendants of the original Dutch settlers, now called Boers, migrated into the interior of South Africa and began to engage in conflicts with the Zulu. These battles with the Boer settlers continued well into the late 1800s, but never truly threatened Zulu sovereignty.

The Zulu were a south African tribe that placed an emphasis on military organization and skill, as established by their legendary leader Shaka Zulu. Under Shaka’s rule, the Zulu broadened their land claims throughout southern Africa.

Eventually, the Zulu came into the conflict with the British army as they expanded their control over southern Africa and invaded the homeland of the Zulu.

Despite early victories, the Zulu were eventually defeated by the technology and vast resources at the command of the British troops. Soon, all of southern Africa would come under British control.

Cecil Rhodes and the Boer War

Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in assuring British dominance of southern Africa. He founded the De Beers Mining Company, eventually controlling 90% of the world’s diamond production. After becoming prime minister of the Cape Colony (now South Africa) in 1890, he used his influence to strengthen British control over the region.

His master plan was to establish a Cape to Cairo railroad line that would link British colonial interests in Africa between Egypt and the Cape Colony in southern Africa. The Boers, however, provided heavy and eventually armed resistance to this proposal. After authorizing an aggressive invasion of the Boer Republic of Transvaal which ended poorly, Rhodes was removed from office. However, the seeds of the Boer War had been sown.

Great Britain decided to annex (make part of their empire) the Boer republics, and with Boer resistance came the Boer War (1899-1902). By all accounts the fighting was vicious, with the Boers employing guerilla tactics and the British eventually using 450,000 troops to achieve victory.

In 1910, the various British colonies in southern Africa were united as the Union of South Africa, eventually becoming the nation of South Africa after WWII.

Tribalism

Because European nation carved Africa up with no regard for traditional tribal boundaries, Africa still suffers from tribalism. Modern African nations often contain several different tribes that harbor ill feelings towards one another. Therefore, inter-tribal conflict is a common in Africa often leading to civil wars and power struggles within national governments.

Imperialism in China

Opium Wars

In the early 1800s, the British treasury was being depleted due to its dependence upon imported tea from China. The Chinese still considered their nation to be the Middle Kingdom, and therefore viewed the goods the Europeans brought to trade with Western factories in Canton, China. as nearly worthless trinkets. To solve this trade imbalance Britain imported opium, processed from poppy plants grown in the Crown Colony of India, into China.

Chinese officials attempted to ban the importation of the highly addictive opium, but ultimately failed. The British declared war on China in a series of conflicts called the Opium Wars. Superior British military technology allowed them to claim victory and subject the Chinese to a series of unequal treaties.

Unequal Treaties

According to the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, the Chinese were to:

Reimburse Britain for costs incurred fighting the Chinese
Open several ports to British trade
Provide Britain with complete control of Hong Kong
Grant extraterritoriality to British citizens living in China

Spheres of Influence

Eventually several European nations followed suit, forcing China to sign a series of unequal treaties. Extraterritoriality guaranteed that European citizens in China were only subject to the laws of their own nation and could only be tried by their own courts. Eventually western nations weary of governing foreign lands, established spheres of influence within China which guaranteed specific trading privileges to each nation within its respective sphere.

Eventually the United States demanded equal trading status within China, and rather than carve out its own sphere of influence, simply announced the Open Door Policy in 1899. This stated that all nations should have equal trading rights regardless of spheres of influence. While this may have prevented the further expansion of spheres of influences, it did little to restore Chinese sovereignty.

Chinese Reaction - Boxer Rebellion

Disgusted with the failed efforts of the Manchu Dynasty in ridding China of opium or foreign influence after the Opium Wars, Chinese citizens staged the Taiping Rebellion between 1850-1864. Already weakened, the Chinese officials turned to foreigners for help in putting down the rebellion, killing millions of Chinese in the process.

After the further insult of the Open Door Policy, Chinese nationalist staged the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Viewed as a threat to the profits they enjoyed in their imperialist spheres of influence, foreign nations formed an international coalition that ended the uprising. With this victory, additional concessions were granted to foreign nations within China.

Imperialism Japan as Victim and Oppressor

Meiji Restoration

Commodore Matthew Perry 1853, the U.S. sent a fleet of ships under the command of Commodore Mathew Perry to Japan in order to end the nation’s self-imposed isolation and open it to trade. Soon, the Britain, Russia, and Holland negotiated similar treaties.

The intrusion of the West would become a turning point for feudal Japan. The Tokugawa shogunate was criticized and ultimately overthrown for allowing western nations into Japan. In 1868, Emperor Mutsushito was restored to the throne. He decided that in order to withstand the imperialistic might of the West, Japan would need to adopt western ways. This movement would be known as the Meiji Restoration.

Japanese scholars were sent abroad to learn as much as possible about the West. Feudalism was abandoned in Japan in favor of a written constitution and the establishment of modern mechanized armed forces. Western technology was adopted which allowed the Japanese to fully industrialize in less than 50 years. By the end of the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese no longer feared that they would be imperialized. Rather, they set out to practice imperialism themselves.

Japan's Empire

In 1894-95 the Japanese engaged the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese War as they sought natural resources and trading rights on mainland Asia. These motives also brought them into conflict with Russia in the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. Japan achieved victory in both conflicts, and Europeans in Japan during the Meiji Restoration surprised the world in doing so. The destruction of the Russian Navy by the Japanese marked the first time an Asian nation had defeated one from Europe.

With the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan earned the following:

Chinese port city trading rights;
Control of Manchuria in China;
Korea became its protectorate;
Annexation of the island of Sakhalin

Japan was quickly emerging as a world-class power using western technology and methods while still maintaining its traditional cultural values.

During the early 1900s, Japan practiced imperialism throughout Asia. A campaign to rid Asia of European imperialism was waged in which Japan occupied nations once held by the French, British, and the Dutch. Native leaders were installed as part of puppet governments that were manipulated by the Japanese.

By 1940, Japan announced that it would form a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere which encouraged Asian nations to resist western imperialists in order to contribute to the industrial needs of the Japanese war machine. In fact, Japan was practicing its own form of imperialism by dominating its Asian neighbors.