Colonialism & Imperialism , Nationalism

 Colonialism is where one country physically exerts complete control over another country and Imperialism is formal or informal economic and political domination of one country over the other.

9/7/22

the practice of economic exploitation of less developed countries is called neo-colonialism. 

1st phase  of colonization: began in 16th cen, with the colonization of Asia, Africa & America.

 voyages of discovery 

Spain occupied South &  Central America 

Portugal occupied Brazil 

England & France occupied North America 

At that time only 1/5th of Africa(Mainly Coastal) - Slave trade 

In Asia - Europeans came mainly for Trade 

Portugese,Holland,England,France made trading posts  in asia 

1st Phase of  colonization ended by 18th century 

Because the Industrial Revolution increased the production capacity of Western states astronomically, there was an enormous hunger for raw materials to satisfy demands. Thus, the Western powers sought colonies where raw materials were abundant and where they could be appropriated at little to no cost. Of course, their eyes were on Africa, which was rich in oil, ivory, rubber, wood, cotton, cocoa beans, copper, gold, iron, cobalt, diamonds, etc.

 

Additionally, the colonies gave the Western powers a ready-made market for their goods, as the colonized people were left with little to no legal recourse to produce their own finished products. Asia’s textile markets were vast, and winning them was the grand prize for European imperialism.

• Cheap Labour - Slaves were available, however England abolished slavery in 1833

• most of the European nations followed a protectionist policy, by imposing high tariffs and duties on imported goods. 
• Selling was only made  possible through political domination which was further possible by colonization 
• India - cotton, East Indies - Rubber, 
• English Promoted cultivation of Opium in india, they smuggled it to China to purchase  Silk and Tea.
• Capital invested in Asia/Africa would fetch more RoI around 20%, rather than 3% in Europe 
• they established financial institutions & Banks  in their colonies
• Establishment of Railways 
• Improvement in transportation : Steamships, Railroads, Waterways, due to IR - steel & steam engine 
• Extreme Nationalism - 19th cen, Germany & italy become unified nations; Chauvinism, Superiority over other people 
  Imperialism became fashion; Writers felt proud calling their acquired territories as their colonies.
• to make their colony safe,concept of  buffer state,further led to more colonization 
• people of colonies were taken into their armies & butchered 
• Civilizing Mission Concept : Rudyard Kipling asked his countrymen to shoulder what he called the White man's burden ; Jules Ferry in france said "Superior races have the duty of civilizing the inferior races"
• Christian missionaries were allowed  "educating those fellowmen for whom jesus died"
• Explorers and adventurers helped spreading Imperialism, indicated opportunities.

Conditions that favoured Imperialism in Asia & Africa 

• IR had not come to this region
• Hand-tools, backward , inefficient military
• weak unstable governments - old ways of governing

CONQUEST OF ASIA 

• DECLINE OF MUGHALS  
• 1857 DIRECT CONTROL 
• MONOPOLY OF TRADE 
• NO LONGER ANY NEED TO  BRING MONEY FROM ENGLAND - HOME CHARGES 
• INDIA - KNOWN AS BRIGHTEST JEWEL OF BRITISH EMPIRE 
• 1877 EMPRESS TOOK THE SAME TITLE AS MUGHAL RULERS 
• FORCED INDIGO PLANTERS 
• EXCLUDED INDIANS FROM HIGH OFFICES 

IMPERIALISM IN CHINA 

• OPIUM WARS 
• CHINA SILK & TEA IN EXCHANGE OF OPIUM 
• PHYSICAL & MORAL DAMAGE TO CHINESE 
• 1839, CHINESE SEALED OPIUM CARGO 
• BATTLE, DEFEATED BY BRITISH 
• PAID HEAVY FINES 
• HONG KONG WAS TURNED OVER TO ENGLAND 
• ENGLAND & FRENCH FOUGHT OVER CHINA 
• JAPAN TRIED TO INCREASE INFLUENCE OVER KOREA 
• CHINA FOUGHT WITH JAPAN, JAPAN WON
• CHINA HAD TO PAY HEAVY DAMAGES  TO JAPAN 
• FRANCE,RUSSIA,BRITAIN GAVE HEAVY LOANS TO CHINA , LATER DIVIDED CHINA INTO SPHERES OF INFLUENCE, 
  GERMANY GOT KIAOCHOW BAY, HWANG HO 
  RUSSIA - LIAOTUNG PENINSULA , MANCHURIA 
• FRANCE TOOK KWANGCHOW BAY 

USA FEARED CHINA WOULD COMPLETELY PARCELED AND ITS TRADE WOULD COMPLETELY CUT OFF 

SO USA ADOPTED 

OPEN DOOR "ME TOO POLICY"

ALL COUNTRIES WOULD HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS TO TRADE 

BRITISH SUPPORTED THE USA 
THINKING THAT THIS POLICY WOULD DISCOURAGE ANNEXATION OF CHINA BY RUSSIA & JAPAN 

The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising against foreigners that occurred in China about 1900, begun by peasants but eventually supported by the government. A Chinese secret society known as the Boxers embarked on a violent campaign to drive all foreigners from China. Several countries sent troops to halt the attacks.

DESPITE THIS REVOLUTION, FOREIGN POWERS WON AND CHINA HAD TO PAY HEAVY FINES 

CHINA HAD BEEN REDUCED TO THE STATUS OF AN INTERNATIONAL COLONY 

CUTTING OF CHINESE MELON 

Imperialism in South & SE Asia

• sri lanka initially occupied by Portuguese and then bu dutch and british 
• Dutch lost Malaya to British 
• Hence control of Malacca was controlled by British 
• when Britain was fighting over opium wars in china; france was acquiring SE Asia 
• France built Railways in Burma 
• Later Burma occupied by British in 1886
• Filipinos revolted against Americans 
• but revolt was suppressed and Phillipines became american colony 

Imperialism in Central & Western Asia 

• central asia, iran, Afghanistan, tibet 
• russia annexed whole central Asia and headed over Afghanistan and iran etc
• England wanted him(Russia) to stop, so as to defend its territories in India and so 
• Russia & England setup banks in iran to gain economic control
• North iran - Russian influence, South Iran- British, Central Iran - Neutral
• when Russian revolution made russia busy, British occupied Iran
• Meanwhile oil found in Iran and British & USA grabbed the opportunity by establishing their companies in Iran  [standard oil company of USA, Anglo Persian oil company - British ]
• Both agreed not to interfere Tibet
• British agree not to interfere Afghanistan
• Germany expanded over turkey, built railways, promoted economic interests, later France & England also joined and they divided turkey, 
• WW1 changed the scenario, Germany & Turkey allied, both defeated in WW1
• hence, turkey was fined and Germany was completely overthrown by USA/UK/Russia
• USA & UK established control over Arabian peninsula 

Japan 

• Japan was open for trade after USA compelled it
• this was followed by Russia,Britain, France etc 
• in 1867 Meiji Restoration : Japan became modernize
• within a few decades, became fully Industrialized nation {Reverse Engineering}
• But it has a few Raw material, so expansion was necessary 
•  China provided ample opportunities, for japan's imperialist designs. 
• Anglo japan Treaty of 1902, made japan a super power in china 
• 1904-05 Japan defeated Russia, hence Sakhalin was ceded to Japan 
• 1910, Korea became a colony of japan 
• it shows that Imperialism was not limited to any one people or region, rather it was the result of greed for economic and political power. 

• IMPERIALISM IN AFRICA ......Pending

 

Imperialism of America 

• by 1820's, almost all countries of america attained independence from Spain/Portugal 
• USA emerged as a super power
• after a short lived civil war[1861-65] there was abolition of slavery in 1865
• USA purchased Louisiana, Florida, Alaska 
• 1900 USA had 3rd strongest Navy
• USA made influence over china after opium wars, 
• after USA-Spanish war, controlled Philippines 
• taken Puerto Rico and Guam from Spain 
• USA also claimed, his right to civilize the backward countries, 
  interfered politically and promoted its economic interests 
• 1823: Monroe Doctrine : threatened other European powers not to trade in Western hemisphere 
•  forced Germany and Britain to lift blockade and declare US alone, right to intervene 
• did many interventions in Mexico 
• the policy of US was described as the Big Stick Policy, "International Policeman"
• Dollar diplomacy, give huge loans, and the exploit their natural resources, raw material and market for pumping final goods
• Panama was earlier the Part of Colombia, A french company started digging canal, 
• later this project was purchased by USA by paying hefty amount
• Colombian parliament refused 
• in 1903, USA financed and organised a revolt in Panama and overthrew the existing govt 
• Established a new govt of panama, who gave Panama canal to USA, on lease 
• occupation of Panama still lies with USA 

Hawaii islands - important for shipping and trade with china 

USA settles their sugar planters there 

USA organised a revolt in Hawaii, against queen of Hawaii, and requested USA to annex Hawaii 

1898: Hawaii was annexed by USA 

similar thing happen for Samoan islands, which was divided by Germany, Britain and USA in 1899.

Imperialism adversely affected the colonies. Under foreign rule, native culture and industry were destroyed. Imported goods wiped out local craft industries. By using colonies as sources of raw materials and markets for manufactured goods, colonial powers held back the colonies from developing industries.

write both positive and negative impacts of colonialism/imperialism 

There were various strands of colonization. Identify them along with their characteristic features. What type of colony was India? Discuss. 

Colonialism is termed as building and maintaining colonies in one territory by people from another territory. 

Usually it was done for economic gains. i.e. to exploit the resources of the colonies. 

Depending upon the objectives of the colonialists, colonialism can be classified into different types.

Broadly they are: 

Settler colonialism: These colonies were established by the movement of large numbers of citizens from a mother country or metropole to the new colony. The indigenous tribes or the aboriginal people were often moved forcibly to other regions or exterminated. Eg. Hungary, Thailand, Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand etc. 

Dependencies: These were the colonies where the colonizers did not arrive as part of a mass emigration, but rather as administrators over existing sizable native populations. Examples in this category include the British Raj, Egypt, the Dutch East Indies, and the Japanese colonial empire. 

In some cases, large-scale colonial settlement was attempted in substantially prepopulated areas and the result was either an ethnically mixed population (such as the mestizos of the Americas) 

Plantation Colonies: These were the places which were climatically suitable for plantation crops. The white colonizers imported black slaves who rapidly began to outnumber their owners, leading to minority rule, similar to a dependency. Eg. Barbados, Jamaica etc. 

Trading Posts: the primary purpose of the colony was to engage in trade rather than as a staging post for further colonization of the hinterland. Eg. Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore etc. 

In India, the colonizers came as trading vessels first. They colonized the coastal areas like Pondicherry, Goa, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. Later with the increase in greed and power, their involvement in internal politics increased. Amongst the different colonizers, British finally succeeded in colonizing India and it became a dependency i.e. the colony governed by British Administration with majority of local Indian population.

What is nationalism? Why was nationalism on rise during the late 18th and 19th centuries? What were its fallouts? Discuss 

A sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups.

 Nationalism has a number of near-synonyms,

Patriotism is similar insofar as it emphasizes strong feelings for one’s country, but it does not necessarily imply an attitude of superiority.

Sectionalism resembles nationalism in its suggestion of a geopolitical group pursuing its selfinterest, but the group in question is usually smaller than an entire nation. 

Jingoism closely resembles nationalism in suggesting feelings of cultural superiority, but unlike nationalism, it always implies military aggressiveness. 

Rise of Nationalism: 

French Revolution: Napoleonic Code in 1804 

Romanticism and National Identity: Romantic movements in art and culture beginning in the early 19th century led to the development of various national identities in Europe. The British poet Lord Byron did much to increase the European public’s perception of nationalist uprisings.

Unification of Italy and Germany: 

Fallouts of Nationalism: Nationalism affected Europe during the 19th century by making Europeans feel superior to other countries and governments, ---> Colonization happened  

Nationalism is partly to blame for each of the wars as well because it was the primary reason why many of the European countries decided to build up their armies as well as their navy. 

It also was the reason for the great industrial movement and development in Europe, as the Europeans wanted to prove their greatness by inventing the latest tools and gadgets.