The Age of Imperialism 1850-1914

Chapter 11

• Industrialization stirred ambitions in many European nations. They wanted more resources to fuel their industrial production. They competed for new markets for their goods. Many nations looked to Africa as a source of raw materials and as a market for industrial products. As a result, colonial powers seized vast areas of Africa during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

• Between the 1870s and 1900, Africa faced European imperialist aggression, diplomatic pressures, military invasions, and eventual conquest and colonization. At the same time, African societies put up various forms of resistance against the attempt to colonize their countries and impose foreign domination. By the early twentieth century, however, much of Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia, had been colonized by European powers.

• The European imperialist push into Africa was motivated by three main factors, economic, political, and social. It developed in the nineteenth century following the collapse of the profitability of the slave trade, its abolition and suppression, as well as the expansion of the European capitalist Industrial Revolution. The imperatives of capitalist industrialization—including the demand for assured sources of raw materials, the search for guaranteed markets and profitable investment outlets—spurred the European scramble and the partition and eventual conquest of Africa. Thus the primary motivation for European intrusion was economic.

IMPERIALISM• A policy in which a strong nation seeks to

dominate other countries politically, economically, or socially.

• In the mid-1800’s, on the eve of the European domination of Africa, African peoples were divided into hundreds of ethnic and linguistic groups. Most continued to follow traditional beliefs, while other converted to Islam or Christianity. These groups spoke more than 1,000 different languages. Politically they ranged from large empires that united many ethnic groups to independent villages.

• Europeans had established contacts with sub-Saharan Africans as early as the 1450’s. However, powerful African armies were able to keep the Europeans out of most of Africa for 400 years. In fact, as late as 1880, Europeans controlled only 10% of the continent’s land, mainly on the coast.

• Furthermore, European travel into the interior on a large-scale basis was virtually impossible. Europeans could not navigate African rivers. The introduction of steam-powered riverboats in the early 1800’s allowed Europeans to conduct major expeditions into the interior of Africa. Disease also discouraged European exploration.

• Finally, Africans controlled their own trade networks and provided the trade items.

• Those Europeans who did penetrate the interior of Africa were explorers, missionaries, or humanitarians who opposed the European and American slave trade. Europeans and Americans learned about Africa through travel books and newspapers. These publications competed for readers by hiring reporters to search the glove for stories of adventure, mystery, or excitement.

David Livingstone(1813-1873)

• David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, abolitionist and physician known for his explorations of Africa, having crossed the continent during the mid-19th century.

• In the official role of a "medical missionary," he set forth to Africa, arriving in Cape Town, South Africa in March of 1841. A few years later, he married Mary Moffat; the couple would have several children.

• Livingstone eventually made his way north and set out to trek across the Kalahari Desert. In 1849, he came upon Lake Ngami and, in 1851, the Zambezi River. Over the years, Livingstone continued his explorations, reaching the western coastal region of Luanda in 1853. In 1855, he came across another famous body of water, the Zambezi Falls, called by native populations "Smoke That Thunders" and which Livingstone dubbed Victoria Falls, after Queen Victoria.

• By 1856, Livingstone had gone across the continent from west to east, arriving at the coastal region of Quelimane in what is present-day Mozambique.

Dr. David Livingstone

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Henry Stanley(1841-1904)

• Stanley was a Welsh-born American journalist and explorer, famous for his search for David Livingstone and his part in the European colonization of Africa.

• In 1867, Stanley became special correspondent for the New York Herald. Two years later he was commissioned by the paper to go to Africa and search for Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone, of whom little had been heard since 1866 when he had set off to search for the source of the Nile. Stanley reached Zanzibar in January 1871 and proceeded to Lake Tanganyika, Livingstone's last known location.

• In November 1871 he found the sick explorer, greeting him with the famous words: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Stanley's reports on his expedition made his name. Henry Stanley

Henry Stanley(1841-1904)

• When Livingstone died in 1873, Stanley resolved to continue his exploration of the region, funded by the Herald and a British newspaper. He explored vast areas of central Africa, and travelled down the length of the Lualaba and Congo Rivers, reaching the Atlantic in August 1877, after an epic journey that he later described in 'Through the Dark Continent' (1878).

• Failing to gain British support for his plans to develop the Congo region, Stanley found more success with King Leopold II of Belgium, who was eager to tap Africa's wealth.

• In 1879, with Leopold's support, Stanley returned to Africa where he worked to open the lower Congo to commerce by the construction of roads. He used brutal means that included the widespread use of forced labour. Competition with French interests in the region helped bring about the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) in which European powers sorted out their competing colonial claims in Africa. Stanley's efforts paved the way for the creation of the Congo Free State, privately owned by Leopold.

• In 1890, now back in Europe, Stanley married and then began a worldwide lecture tour. He became member of parliament for Lambeth in south London, serving from 1895 to 1900. He was knighted in 1899. He died in London on 10 May 1904.

Henry Stanley

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• Stanley set out explore Africa himself and trace the course of the Congo River. His explorations sparked the interest of King Leopold II of Belgium, who commissioned Stanley to help him obtain land in the Congo. Between 1879 and 1882, Stanley signed treaties with local chief on the Congo River valley. The treaties gave King Leopold II of Belgium control of these lands.

• Leopold II claimed that his primary motive in establishing the colony was to abolish the slave trade and promote Christianity. However, he licensed companies that brutally exploited Africans by forcing them to collect sap from rubber plants. As a result, humanitarians around the world demanded changes. In 1908, the Belgian government’s seizure of the Congo alarmed France. Earlier, in 1882, the French had approved a treaty that gave France the north bank of the Congo River. Soon Britain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were also claiming parts of Africa.

REASONS FOR IMPERIALISM OF AFRICA1. Industrialization of Europe

– As European nations industrialized, they searched for new markets and raw materials to improve their economies.

2. Belief in European Superiority & Nationalism– Europeans viewed an empire as a measure of national greatness. As the competition for colonies intensified, each country

was determined to plant its flag on as much of the world as possible.

3. Social Darwinism– Europeans believed that the white race was the best or “fittest” race of people. They believed it was the responsibility of

white men to spread their culture and civilization to the African continent. Sometimes this resulted in Europeans introducing new technology, medicine, farming techniques, and other ideas to the African people. However, it also meant that the Europeans felt they had the right to take land from the Africans, including valuable natural resources. Europeans believed they had the “right” to rule over the African people.

4. Natural Resources– Because of the Industrial Revolution, many natural resources in Europe were in short supply. As the Europeans explored

Africa, they realized this continent contained valuable supplies of natural resources, including diamonds and gold. The search for riches inspired the Europeans to conquer more and more land in Africa.

5. Technology– Improvements were made in communication, transportation, and weapons. These improvements enabled countries in

Europe to take over countries in Africa. Being able to communicate with the Morse code radio gave explorers the ability to explore new places with confidence. If the explorers needed help or supplies, they could easily communicate with others and get the help they needed. Improvements in transportation included the steam engine, locomotive, automobile, and airplane. The use of steam boats allowed explorers to travel faster and travel farther into the center of the African continent. With the invention of the Maxim gun inn 1884, explorers could conquer people as well as protect themselves from wild animals.

• The scramble for Africa territory between European nations begun in earnest about 1880. At that time, the French began to expand from the West African coast toward western Sudan. The discoveries of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886 in South Africa increased European interest in colonizing the continent. No European power wanted to be left out of the race.

BERLIN CONFERENCENovember 15, 1884-February 26, 1885

• Meeting at which representatives of European nations agreed upon rules for the European colonization of Africa. Actual text of Berlin Congress

BERLIN CONFERENCENovember 15, 1884--February 26, 1885

• The Congress of Berlin was not the start of the "Scramble for Africa," but it laid down the rules that governed the European conquest of Africa for the next fifteen years. It was unusual because international conferences were usually held to sort out the aftermath of a war, but almost never to settle problems before they led to war. But all of the major powers had reasons to attend, especially France, Britain and the new powerhouse, Germany. Although there were many issues at stake, the most important one was the future of the Congo River basin.More Info on Berlin Conference

• From the late 1700’s to the late 1800’s, a series of local wars shook southern Africa. Around 1816, a Zulu chief, Shaka, used highly disciplined warriors and good military organization to crate a large centralized state.

• Shaka’s successors were unable to keep the kingdom together against the superior arms of the Europeans.

• In 1879, after Zulu king Cetshwayo refused to dismiss his army and accept British rule, the British invaded the Zulu nation. In July 1879, however, the Zulus lost the Battle of Ulundi and their kingdom. The Zulu nation fell to British control in 1887.

Shaka

Cetshwayo

BOERS• Dutch word for “farmers.”• Member of the Dutch and Huguenot population that settled in

southern Africa in the late 17th century.• Also known as Africaners.• The first Europeans to settle in South Africa had been the Dutch. The

Dutch came to the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 to establish a trade station for their ships sailing between the Dutch East Indies and the Netherlands.

• When the British took over the Cape Colony permanently in the early 1800’s, they and the Boers clashed over British policy regarding land and slaves.

• In the 1830’s to escape the British, several thousand Boers began to move north in a movement called the Great Trek. The Boers soon found themselves fighting fiercely with Zulu and other African groups whose land they were taking.

BOER WAR (South African War)1899-1902

• War in which the Boers and British fought for control of territory in South Africa.

• Diamonds and gold were discovered in southern Africa in the 1860’s and 1880’s. Suddenly, adventurers from all parts of the world rushed in to make their fortunes. The Boers tried to keep these “outsiders” from gaining political rights. The Boers blamed the British and in 1899, took up arms against them.

• Britain finally won the war. In 1910, the Boer republics were joined into a self-governing Union of South Africa, which was controlled by the British.

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BOER WAR (South African War)1899-1902

IMPERIAL MANAGEMENT METHODS1. Indirect Control– Countries relied on existing political elites and

institutions to govern its colonies. It interfered much less with the indigenous peoples traditions and customs. However, most decisions came from the parent country, and local rulers rubber-stamped and enforced these decisions, maintaining their power.

2. Direct Control– Countries would appoint leaders and set up their own

colonial bureaucracy and did not train local leaders.

FORMS OF IMPERIALISM1. Colony– A country or territory governed internally by a foreign power.

– Example: Somaliland in East Africa was a French colony

2. Protectorate– A country or a territory with its own internal government but under

the control of an outside power.– Example: Britain established a protectorate over the Niger River delta

3. Sphere of Influence– An area in which an outside power claims exclusive investment or

trading privileges.– Example: Liberia was under the sphere of influence of the United States

4. Economic Imperialism– An independent but less-developed country controlled by private

business interest rather than other governments.– Example: The Dole Fruit company controlled pineapple trade in Hawaii

PATERNALISM• Policy of treating subject people as

if they were children, providing for their needs but not giving them rights.

ASSIMILATION• Policy in which a nation

forces or encourages a subject people to adopt its institutions and customs.

Unsuccessful African Resistance1. West Africa against the French was led

by Samori Touré.2. Algeria’s almost 50 year resistance to the

French.3. Maji Maji Rebellion in German East

Africa against the Germans.

Successful African Resistance1. Ethiopia was the only African nation

that successfully resisted the Europeans.

Menelik II• He became emperor

of Ethiopia in 1889.• He successfully played

Italians, French, and British against each other, all of whom were striving to bring Ethiopia into their spheres of influence. Menelik II

Battle of Adowa(March 1-2, 1896)

• In 1889, shortly after Menelik II had signed a treaty with Italy, he discovered differences between the wording of the treaty in the Ethiopian language and in Italian.

• Menelik II believed he was giving up a tiny portion of Ethiopia. However, the Italians claimed all of Ethiopia as a protectorate.

• Meanwhile, Italian forces were advancing into northern Ethiopia Menelik II declared war.

• Ethiopian forces successfully defeated the Italians and kept their nation independent.

• After the Battle of Adowa, Menelik II continued to stockpile rifles and other modern weapons in case another foreign power challenged Ethiopia’s liberty.

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Positive Effects of Colonial Rule in Africa

1. Colonialism reduced local warfare.2. Humanitarian efforts improved

sanitation and provided hospitals and schools.

3. Economic expansion of African products.4. Infrastructure was built including roads,

railroads, dams, and telephone and telegraph lines.

Negative Effects of Colonial Rule in Africa

1.Africans lost control of their land and their independence.

2.African traditional culture suffered a breakdown.

3.Division of the African continent into political boundaries.

• The European powers who carved up Africa also looked elsewhere for other lands to control. The Muslim lands that rimmed the Mediterranean Sea had largely been claimed as a result of Arab and Ottoman conquests. • The Ottoman Empire at its peak

stretched from Hungary in the north, around the Black Sea, and across Egypt all the way west to the borders of Morocco.

GEOPOLITICS• Foreign policy based on a consideration of the strategic

locations or products of other lands.• The study of geographic influences on power relationships

in international politics. Geopolitical theorists have sought to demonstrate the importance in the determination of foreign policies of considerations such as the acquisition of natural boundaries, access to important sea routes, and the control of strategically important land areas. The term was first employed in the early 20th century by the Swedish political scientist Rudolph Kjellén (1864–1922). Geopolitical factors have become less significant in the foreign policies of states because of improvements in communications and transportation.

• World powers were attracted to the Ottoman Empire due to its strategic location. The Ottomans controlled access to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic sea trade.

• The Russians, for example, desperately wanted passage for its grain exports across the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean. This desire strongly influenced Russia’s relations with Ottoman Empire. Russia attempted to win Ottoman favor, formed alliances with Ottoman enemies, and finally waged war against the Ottomans. Discovery of oil in Persia around 1900 and in the Arabian peninsula after World War I focused even more attention on the sea.

CRIMEAN WAR(1853-1856)

• Each generation of Russian czars launched a war on the Ottomans to try and gain land on the Black Sea. The purpose was to gain a warm-weather port.

• In 1853, war broke out between the Russians and the Ottomans.• Britain and France wanted to prevent the Russians from gaining

control of additional Ottoman lands. So they entered the war on the side of the Ottoman Empire.

• The combined forces of the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France defeated Russia.

• The Crimean War was the first war in which women, led by Florence Nightingale, established their position as army nurses.

• It was also the first war to be covered by newspaper correspondents.

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CRIMEAN WAR(Continued)

• The Crimean War (1853-1856) stemmed from Russia’s threat to multiple European interests with its pressure of Turkey. After demanding Russian evacuation of the Danubian Principalities, British and French forces laid siege to the city of Sevastopol in 1854. The campaign lasted for a full year, with the Battle of Balaclava and its “Charge of the Light Brigade” among its famous skirmishes. Facing mounting losses and increased resistance from Austria, Russia agreed to the terms of the 1856 Treaty of Paris. Remembered in part for Florence Nightingale’s work for the wounded, the Crimean War reshaped Europe’s power structure.

• The Crimean War was a result of Russian pressure on Turkey; this threatened British commercial and strategic interests in the Middle East and India. France, having provoked the crisis for prestige purposes, used the war to cement an alliance with Britain and to reassert its military power.

• Anglo-French forces secured Istanbul before attacking Russia in the Black Sea, the Baltic, the Arctic, and the Pacific, supported by a maritime blockade. In September 1854 the allies landed in the Crimea, planning to destroy Sevastopol and the Russian Fleet in six weeks before withdrawing to Turkey. After victory on the River Alma, they hesitated; the Russians then reinforced the city and attacked the allied flank at the battles of Balaklava and the Inkerman. After a terrible winter, the allies cut Russian logistics by occupying the Sea of Azov; then, using superior sea-based logistics, they forced the Russians out of Sevastopol, which fell on September 8–9, 1855.

• In the Baltic, also a major theater, the allies captured the Åland fortress of Bomarsund in 1854, and destroyed Sveaborg, the Helsinki dockyard, in 1855. These operations detained 200,000 Russian troops in the theater. The British prepared to destroy Cronstadt and St. Petersburg in 1856, using armored warships, steam gunboats, and mortar vessels.

• Forced to accept defeat, Russia sought peace in January 1856. It had lost 500,000 troops, mostly to disease, malnutrition, and exposure; its economy was ruined, and its primitive industries were incapable of producing modern weapons. Allied war aims were limited to securing Turkey, although for reasons of prestige Napoleon III wanted a European conference to secure his dynasty.

• The Peace of Paris, signed on March 30, 1856, preserved Ottoman rule in Turkey until 1914, crippled Russia, facilitated the unification of Germany, and revealed the power of Britain and the importance of sea power in global conflict. It had a major influence on the conduct of the American Civil War. The use of the term Crimean and a fascination with striking events such as “the Charge of the Light Brigade,” have obscured the scale and significance of the conflict.

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• The Crimean War revealed the Ottoman Empire’s military weakness. Despite the help of Britain and France, the Ottoman Empire continued to lose lands.

• The Russians came to the aid of the Slavic people in the Balkans who rebelled against the Ottomans. The Ottomans lost control of Romania, Montenegro, Cyprus, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and an area that became Bulgaria.

• The Ottomans lost land in Africa too. • By the beginning of World War I, the Ottoman

Empire was reduced in size and in deep decline.

“GREAT GAME”• Geopolitical struggle between Great Britain

and Russia over Muslim lands in Central Asia.• Russia sought to extend its empire and gain

access to India's riches. Britain defended its colony and also attempted to spread tis empire beyond India's borders. • Afghanistan, which lay between the Russian

and British empires, became the center of their struggle.

Great Article on the "Great Game"

AFGHANISTAN• In the 1800’s, Afghanistan was an independent Muslim

kingdom.• Afghanistan’s dry, mountainous terrain and determined

people continually frustrated the invading imperial powers. • After decades of fighting, Great Britain finally withdrew from

Afghanistan in 1881.• In 1921, Britain formally agreed that its empire would not

extend beyond the Khyber Pass, which borders eastern Afghanistan.

• The newly formed Soviet Union, meanwhile, signed a nonaggression pact with Afghanistan in 1921. This agreement was honored until the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Muhammad Ali(1769—1849)

• He was an officer of the Ottoman army who in 1805 seized power and established a separate Egyptian state.

• Through the combined efforts of European powers, Muhammad Ali and his heirs were recognized as the hereditary rulers of Egypt.

• Muhammad Ali introduced a series of reforms to modernize Egypt. He modernized the army, set up a public school system, and helped create small industries. Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali(1769—1849)

• In 1831, Ali fought a series of battles in which he gained control of Syria and Arabia.• Muhammad Ali also directed a shift in the

Egyptian agricultural landscape by shifting to a plantation cash crop—cotton. This brought Egypt into the international marketplace but at a cost to the peasants. They lost the use of lands they traditionally farmed and were forced to grow cash crops in place of food crops.

Isma’il (1830-1895)

• Grandson of Muhammad Ali.• Viceroy of Egypt

under Ottoman suzerainty, 1863–1879, whose administrative policies, notably the accumulation of an enormous foreign debt, were instrumental in leading to British occupation of Egypt in 1882.

• Supported construction of the Suez Canal. Isma’il

SUEZ CANAL• The growing economic importance of the

Nile Valley along with the development of steamships gave Europeans a desire to build a canal east of Cairo to connect the Mediterranean and Red Seas.• In 1854 Ferdinand de Lesseps, a

Frenchman, signed a contract to build the Suez Canal.• The Suez Canal was completed in 1869.

SUEZ CANAL(Continued)

• It was built mainly with French money from private interest groups, using Egyptian labor.

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• British economic interests began in India in the 1600’s, when the British East India Company set up trading posts at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. At first, India’s ruling Mughal Dynasty kept European traders under control. By 1707, however, the Mughal Empire was collapsing. Dozens of small states, each headed by a ruler or maharajah, broke away from Mughal control. In 1757, Robert Clive led East India Company troops in a decisive victory over Indian forces allied with the French at the Battle of Plassey. From that time until 1858, the East India Company was the leading power in India.

EAST INDIA COMPANY• During the 18th century British power

in India increased as the power of the Mogul rulers declined. • To rule India, the British East India

Company had its own soldiers and forts. It also hired Indian soldiers, called sepoys, to protect the company’s interests.

SEPOYS•An Indian

soldier serving under British command.

“Jewel in the Crown”• India was considered the “Jewel in the Crown” for the British

Empire due to India's resources and location. • Britain exploited India's natural assets. In the picture to the

left, the British are metaphorically "milking" the raw materials out of India.

• They traded Indian pepper, cotton, Chinese silk, porcelain, fine spices, tea, and coffee. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain needed raw materials and new markets, which India had.

• India’s value of raw cotton exports increased from 10 million rupees to 60 million rupees in 1849 to 1869 and to 410 million rupees in 1913. India also imported more because of their growing exports: The value of finished cotton products imported into India rose from 50,000 in 1814 to 5.2 million in 1829 and 30 million rupees in 1890. These statistics meant that Britain took millions of rupees of raw materials and then sold the transformed materials back to India.

• Being considered the “Jewel in the Crown” also meant that India was strategically placed. India is in between England and China so it was perfect for the silk trade. England wanted to trade with China, and India is on the way to China

POSITIVE IMPACTS OF COLONIALISM IN INDIA

1. Building the 3rd largest railroad network in the world in India.

– Railroads enabled India to develop a modern economy and brought unity to the connected regions.

2. Building and improving infrastructure in India.– Infrastructure included: modern road networks,

telephone and telegraph lines, dams, bridges, irrigation canals, and sanitation.

3. Literacy increased in India.– The British founded schools, colleges, and universities.

4. British troops cleared India of bandits and put an end to local warfare.

NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF COLONIALISM IN INDIA

1. British held much of the political and economic power in India.

2. British restriction of Indian-owned industries.

3. British emphasis on cash crops.4. Increased presence of missionaries and

the attitude of most British officials threatened traditional Indian life.

Mangal Pandey(1827-1857)

• Indian soldier, whose attack on British officers on March 29, 1857, was the first major incident of what came to be known as the Sepoy, Mutiny

Mangal Pandey

SEPOY MUTINY• The widespread but unsuccessful

rebellion against British rule in India in 1857–1858. • Begun in Meerut by Indian troops

(sepoys) in the service of the British East India Company, it spread to Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, and Lucknow. • In India it is often called the First War of

Independence and other similar names.

SEPOY MUTINY(Continued)

• To regard the rebellion merely as a sepoy mutiny is to underestimate the root causes leading to it. British paramountcy—i.e., the belief in British dominance in Indian political, economic, and cultural life—had been introduced in India about 1820. The British increasingly used a variety of tactics to usurp control of the Hindu princely states that were under what were called subsidiary alliances with the British. Everywhere the old Indian aristocracy was being replaced by British officials. One notable British technique was called the doctrine of lapse, first perpetrated byLord Dalhousie in the late 1840s. It involved the British prohibiting a Hindu ruler without a natural heir from adopting a successor and, after the ruler died or abdicated, annexing his land. To those problems may be added the growing discontent of the Brahmans, many of whom had been dispossessed of their revenues or had lost lucrative positions.

• Another serious concern was the increasing pace of Westernization, by which Hindu society was being affected by the introduction of Western ideas. Missionaries were challenging the religious beliefs of the Hindus. The humanitarian movement led to reforms that went deeper than the political superstructure. During his tenure as governor-general of India (1848–56), Lord Dalhousie made efforts toward emancipating women and had introduced a bill to remove all legal obstacles to the remarriage of Hindu widows. Converts to Christianity were to share with their Hindu relatives in the property of the family estate. There was a widespread belief that the British aimed at breaking down the caste system. The introduction of Western methods of education was a direct challenge to orthodoxy, both Hindu and Muslim.

• The mutiny broke out in the Bengal army because it was only in the military sphere that Indians were organized. The pretext for revolt was the introduction of the new Enfield rifle. To load it, the sepoys had to bite off the ends of lubricated cartridges. A rumour spread among the sepoys that the grease used to lubricate the cartridges was a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard; thus, to have oral contact with it was an insult to both Muslims and Hindus. There is no conclusive evidence that either of these materials was actually used on any of the cartridges in question. However, the perception that the cartridges were tainted added to the larger suspicion that the British were trying to undermine Indian traditional society. For their part, the British did not pay enough attention to the growing level of sepoy discontent.

SEPOY MUTINY(Continued)

• In late March 1857 a sepoy named Mangal Pandey attacked British officers at the military garrison in Barrackpore. He was arrested and then executed by the British in early April. Later in April sepoy troopers at Meerut refused the Enfield cartridges, and, as punishment, they were given long prison terms, fettered, and put in jail. This punishment incensed their comrades, who rose on May 10, shot their British officers, and marched to Delhi, where there were no European troops. There the local sepoy garrison joined the Meerut men, and by nightfall the aged pensionary Mughal emperor Bahādur Shah II had been nominally restored to power by a tumultuous soldiery. The seizure of Delhi provided a focus and set the pattern for the whole mutiny, which then spread throughout northern India. With the exception of the Mughal emperor and his sons and Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the deposed Maratha peshwa, none of the important Indian princes joined the mutineers.

• From the time of the mutineers’ seizure of Delhi, the British operations to suppress the mutiny were divided into three parts. First came the desperate struggles at Delhi, Kanpur, and Lucknow during the summer; then the operations around Lucknow in the winter of 1857–58, directed by Sir Colin Campbell; and finally the “mopping up” campaigns of Sir Hugh Rose in early 1858. Peace was officially declared on July 8, 1858.

• A grim feature of the mutiny was the ferocity that accompanied it. The mutineers commonly shot their British officers on rising and were responsible for massacres at Delhi, Kanpur, and elsewhere. The murder of women and children enraged the British, but in fact some British officers began to take severe measures before they knew that any such murders had occurred. In the end the reprisals far outweighed the original excesses. Hundreds of sepoys were bayoneted or fired from cannons in a frenzy of British vengeance (though some British officers did protest the bloodshed).

SEPOY MUTINY(Continued)

Video on Sepoy Mutiny

• As a result of the Sepoy uprising, the British Parliament transferred the powers of the British East India Company to the British government.• In 1876 Queen Victoria acquired the title

of Empress of India.

RAJ•British rule after India came under the British crown during the reign of Queen Victoria.

• In the early 1800’s, some Indians began demanding more modernization and a greater role in governing themselves. Ram Mohn Roy began a campaign to modernize and westernize India. Nationalism also began to surface in India.

• The slow pace of reform convinced most Indian nationalists they had to do more. In 1885 a small group of Indians formed the Indian National Congress (INC). At first it called only for a share in the governing process, not full independence. A split between Hindus and Muslims plagued the INC. Muslims began to call for a separate league to better represent the interests of India’s millions of Muslims. The Muslim League was formed in 1906.

Ram Mohun Roy(1772-1833)

• Indian religious and educational reformer. • Sometimes

called the “father of modern India.” Ram Mohun Roy

Ram Mohun Roy(Continued)

• Roy was born to a wealthy and devout Brahman family in Bengal. He early mastered several languages and subsequently employed them in a study of the religions of the world. After a successful administrative career in the British East India Company, he retired (1815) and devoted himself to rejuvenating Hindu culture. He sought to preserve essential Hinduism, which he recognized as a strong unifying force in India, while removing from it the elements of idolatry, discrimination against women, and the caste system. Thus, he founded in Calcutta (now Kolkata) the Atmiya Sabha [friendly association], an organization that served as a platform for his liberal ideas. Roy formulated, notably in The Precepts of Jesus (1820), an adaptation of Christianity that accepted its ethical and humanitarian teachings while rejecting its theology. To spread his teachings, Roy founded newspapers in English, Persian, and Bengali and established several secondary schools that used English educational methods. He felt that India would have to absorb Western ideas to become a modern state. In 1828 he replaced the Amityo Sabha with the Brahmo Samaj [society of god], an organization that exerted a deep and continuing influence on Indian intellectual, social, and religious life. In 1830, Roy became one of the first Indians to travel to Britain; he died there, and is buried in Bristol.

• Just as the European powers rushed to divide Africa, they also competed to carve up the lands of Southeast Asia. Western nations desired the Pacific Rim lands for their strategic location along the sea route to China. Westerners also recognized the value of the Pacific colonies as sources of tropical agriculture, minerals, and oil. As the European powers began to appreciate the value of the area, they challenged each other for their own parts of the prize.

Pacific Rim•The lands surrounding the pacific Ocean—especially those in Asia.

Map of Pacific Rim

• A Demand for Asian products drove Western imperialists to seek possession of Southeast Asian lands. European nations also grabbed land in Southeast Asia and the islands on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. They wanted the area for its resources and because it was close to China. The United States joined this quest for colonies. European powers found that these lands were good for growing such cash crops as sugar, coffee, cocoa, rubber, and fruit. As trade in these items grew, Europeans moved to take more land. The Dutch ran Indonesia, where their settlers remained at the top of society. The British took the port of Singapore plus Malaysia and Burma (modern Myanmar). Needing workers, the British brought many Chinese to Malaysia. France grabbed Indochina (modern Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam). They made farmers grow rice for export. Because most of the rice was shipped away, the farmers had less to eat even though they were growing more rice than before. One land—Siam (modern Thailand)—stayed independent. King Mongkut and his son modernized Siam without giving up power. Colonialism brought some features of modern life to these regions. However, economic changes benefited European-run businesses, not local people. The native peoples did benefit from better schooling, health, and cleanliness. Plantation farming brought millions of people from other areas to Southeast Asia. The mix of cultures and religions did not always go smoothly. Even today, some conflict between groups results from this period.

• In the late 1800s, the United States also began to seek colonies. In 1898, as a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States won possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands.

• Filipino nationalists fought Americans for their freedom, just as they had fought the Spaniards before. The United States defeated the rebels and promised to give the Philippines self-rule later. In the meantime, American businesses took advantage of Filipino workers.

• Some American businessmen grew wealthy from sugar plantations in Hawaii. In the 1890s, when Queen Liliuokalani tried to regain control of her country, they overthrew her. They declared a republic and asked the United States to annex—take possession of—Hawaii. In 1898, it became a territory of the United States.

Queen Liliuokalani(1838-1917)

• She was the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian islands.

• She felt her mission was to preserve the islands for their native residents.

• In 1898, Hawaii was annexed to the United States and Queen Liliuokalani was forced to give up her throne. Queen LiliuokalaniMore Information on Queen Liliuokalani

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