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Imperialism

THE HIGH TIDE OF IMPERIALISM: Focus questions

The Spread of Colonial Rule

The Colonial System

The Emergence of Anticolonialism

THE HIGH TIDE OF IMPERIALISM: Focus questions

What were the consequences of the new imperialism of the nineteenth century for the colonies and the colonial powers?

How do you feel the imperialist countries should be evaluated in terms of their motives and stated objectives?

The Spread of Colonial Rule

In the nineteenth century, a new phase of Western expansion into Asia and Africa began.

Now European nations began to view Asian and African societies as sources of industrial raw materials and as markets for Western manufactured goods.

Now the prodigious output of European factories was sent to Africa and Asia in return for oil, tin, rubber, and the other resources needed to fuel the Western industrial machine

The Spread of Colonial Rule: The Motives

One major motive for colonial expansion was economic.

Political overtones

The questions of national grandeur and moral purpose as well.

In the minds of nineteenth century Europeans, economic wealth, national status, and political power went hand in hand with the possession of a colonial empire. colonies brought

Colonies brought tangible benefits in the world of balance-of-power politics as well as economic profits, and many nations became involved in the pursuit of colonies as much to gain advantage over their rivals as to acquire territory for its own sake.

For some, colonialism had a moral purpose, whether to promote Christianity or to build a better world.

The Spread of Colonial Rule: The Motives

One major motive for colonial expansion was economic.

One major reason for colonial expansion, of course, was the Industrial Revolution.

Promoters of this view maintained that modern imperialism was a direct consequence of the modern industrial economy.

The Spread of Colonial Rule: The Motives

industrializing countries in the West needed vital raw materials that were not available at home

They needed a reliable market for the goods produced in their factories. This factor became increasingly crucial as producers began to discover that their home markets could not always absorb domestic output and that they had to export their manufactures to make a profit.

THE HIGH TIDE OF IMPERIALISM

As Western economic expansion into Asia and Africa gathered strength during the nineteenth century, it became fashionable to call the process imperialism.

Imperialism referred to the efforts of capitalist states in the West to seize markets, cheap raw materials, and lucrative avenues for investment in the countries beyond Western civilization.

THE HIGH TIDE OF IMPERIALISM: The Tactics

Before the 19th Century, for the most part, the Western presence in Asia and Africa had been limited to controlling the regional trade network and establishing a few footholds where the foreigners could carry on trade and missionary activity.

After 1800, the demands of industrialization in Europe created a new set of dynamics. Maintaining access to industrial raw materials such as oil and rubber and setting up reliable markets for European manufactured products required more extensive control over colonial territories.

THE HIGH TIDE OF IMPERIALISM:

As competition for colonies increased, the colonial powers sought to solidify their hold over their territories to protect them from attack by their rivals.

During the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the quest for colonies became a scramble as all the major European states, now joined by the United States and Japan, engaged in a global land grab.

In many cases, economic interests were secondary to security concerns or the requirements of national prestige.

In Africa, for example, the British engaged in a struggle with their rivals to protect their interests in the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.

THE HIGH TIDE OF IMPERIALISM

By 1900, almost all the societies of Africa and Asia were either under full colonial rule

THE Colonial System

What types of administrative systems did the various colonial powers establish in their colonies, and how did these systems reflect the general philosophy of colonialism?

THE Colonial System

What types of administrative systems did the various colonial powers establish in their colonies, and how did these systems reflect the general philosophy of colonialism?

THE Colonial System

Indirect rule

Direct rule

THE Colonial System

In some cases, indirect rule could be realized in cooperation with local political elites, whose loyalty could be earned, or purchased, by economic rewards or by confirming them in their positions of authority and status in a new colonial setting.

THE Colonial System

Sometimes, however, this policy of indirect rule was not feasible because local leaders refused to cooperate with their colonial masters or even actively resisted the foreign conquest. In such cases, the local elites were removed from power and replaced with a new set of officials recruited from the mother country.

THE Colonial System

In general, the societies most likely to actively resist colonial conquest were those with a long tradition of national cohesion and independence, such as Burma and Vietnam in Asia and the African Muslim states in northern Nigeria and Morocco.

In those areas, the colonial powers tended to dispense with local collaborators and govern directly. (Direct Rule)

THE Colonial System

Overall, colonialism in India, Southeast Asia, and Africa exhibited many similarities but also some differences.

Some of these variations can be traced to political or social differences among the colonial powers themselves.

The French, for example, often tried to impose a centralized administrative system on their colonies that mirrored the system in use in France,

The British sometimes attempted to transform local aristocrats into the equivalent of the landed gentry at home in Britain.

Other differences stemmed from conditions in the colonies themselves.

The Philosophy of Colonialism

By bringing the benefits of Western democracy, capitalism, and Christianity to the tradition-ridden societies of Africa and Asia, the colonial powers were try to justify their colonialisms

But what about the possibility that historically and culturally the societies of Asia and Africa were fundamentally different from those of the West and could not, or would not, be persuaded to transform themselves along Western lines?

In that case, a policy of cultural transformation could not be expected to succeed and could even lead to disaster.

Assimilation or Association?

Assimilation implied an effort to transform colonial societies in the Western image

Association implying collaboration with local elites while leaving local traditions alone

Assimilation or Association?

French policy in Indochina, for example, began as one of association but switched to assimilation under pressure from those who felt that colonial powers owed a debt to their subject peoples.

But assimilation was never accepted as feasible or desirable by many colonial officials hence it aroused resentment among the local population, many of whom opposed the destruction of their native traditions.

In the end, the French abandoned the attempt to justify their presence and fell back on a policy of ruling by force of arms.

Assimilation or Association?

The British, whether out of a sense of pragmatism or of racial superiority, refused to entertain the possibility of assimilation and treated their subject peoples as culturally and racially distinct.

The Emergence of Anticolonialism

How did the subject peoples respond to colonialism, and what role did nationalism play in their response?

The Emergence of Anticolonialism

From the perspective of the more than half a century of independence movements since World War II, it seems clear that their primary response was to turn to nationalism as a means of preserving their ethnic, cultural, or religious identity.

The Emergence of Anticolonialism: Stirrings of Nationhood

Nationalism refers to a state of mind rising out of an awareness of being part of a community that possesses common institutions, traditions, language, and customs

Few nations in the world today meet such criteria.

Prior to the colonial era, most traditional societies in Africa and Asia were formed on the basis of religious beliefs, tribal loyalties, or devotion to hereditary monarchies.

The Emergence of Anticolonialism : Colonial heritage

The advent of European colonialism brought the consciousness of modern nationhood to many of the societies of Asia and Africa.

The creation of European colonies with defined borders and a powerful central government led to the weakening of tribal and village ties and a significant reorientation in the individual’s sense of political identity.

The introduction of Western ideas of citizenship and representative government produced a new sense of participation in the affairs of government.

With the advent of the age of imperialism, a global economy was finally established, and the domination of Western civilization over those of Africa and Asia appeared to be complete.

The Emergence of Anticolonialism

At the same time, the appearance of a new elite class based not on hereditary privilege or religious sanction but on alleged racial or cultural superiority aroused a shared sense of resentment among the subject peoples who felt a common commitment to the creation of an independent society.

By the first quarter of the twentieth century, political movements dedicated to the overthrow of colonial rule had arisen throughout much of the non-Western world.

Traditional Resistance: A Precursor to Nationalism

The beginnings of modern nationalism can be found in the initial resistance by the indigenous peoples to the colonial conquest.

Later patriotic groups have often hailed early resistance movements as the precursors of twentieth-century nationalist movements.

Thus, traditional resistance to colonial conquest may logically be viewed as the first stage in the development of modern nationalism.

Traditional Resistance: A Precursor to Nationalism

Such resistance took various forms.

In some cases resistance was led by the existing ruling class (Burma, Vietnam, Ashanti kingdom in Africa)

In some cases resistance came from a number of civilian and military officials

Sometimes traditional resistance to Western penetration appeared in the form of peasant revolts as in rural rebellions (Asian countries)

Traditional Resistance: A Precursor to Nationalism

Economic factors

Rural rebellions were not uncommon in traditional Asian societies as a means of expressing peasant discontent with high taxes, official corruption, rising rural debt, and famine in the countryside.

Under colonialism, rural conditions often deteriorated as population density increased and peasants were driven off the land to make way for plantation agriculture.

Burma is an example

Traditional Resistance: A Precursor to Nationalism

Religious basis

In Sudan, the revolt led by the Mahdi had strong Islamic overtones

Resistance again colonialist became even stronger when it had been sparked by economic issues, religious sensitivities, and nascent anticolonial sentiment.

Conclusion

BY THE FIRST QUARTER of the twentieth century, virtually all of Africa and a good part of South and Southeast Asia were

under some form of colonial rule.

With the advent of the age of imperialism, a global economy was finally established, and the domination of Western civilization over those of Africa and Asia appeared to be complete.

Pros <> Contras of colonialism

Defenders of colonialism argue that the system was a necessary if painful stage in the evolution of human societies.

Critics, however, charge that the Western colonial powers were driven by an insatiable lust for profits

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Traditional Resistance: A Precursor to Nationalism

Between these two irreconcilable views, where does the truth lie?

This chapter has contended that neither extreme position is justified.

Although colonialism did introduce the peoples of Asia and Africa to new technology and the expanding economic marketplace, it was unnecessarily brutal in its application and all too often failed to realize the exalted claims and objectives of its promoters.

Traditional Resistance: A Precursor to Nationalism

Existing economic networks---often potentially valuable as a foundation for later economic development---were ruthlessly swept aside in the interests of providing markets for Western manufactured goods.

Potential sources of native industrialization were nipped in the bud to avoid competition for factories in Amsterdam, London, Pittsburgh, or Manchester.

Training in Western democratic ideals and practices was ignored out of fear that the recipients might use them as weapons against the ruling authorities.

Traditional Resistance: A Precursor to Nationalism

The fundamental weakness of colonialism, then, was that it was ultimately based on the self-interests of the citizens of the colonial powers. Where those interests collided with the needs of the colonial peoples, those of the former always triumphed.