6: Imperialism - 1800-1900
- Page ID
- 147171
- How and why did imperialism spread across the globe, creating "winners" and "losers" in a new far reaching capitalism?
- What were the consequences of imperialism for colonized peoples and for the world in general?
- How was colonial rule established by European nations and the U.S. in Asia, Africa, and Latin America?
- How did colonized peoples, workers, and native educated administrators take part in anti-imperialist movements?
Nineteenth-Century Neo-Imperialism
During the nineteenth century, expansion of global trade, European colonization, the industrial revolution, the growth of nationalism, and ideologies of race, all combined to lay a foundation for the world we live in today. Within older land based empires, members of distinct cultural, religious, and linguistic groups began to demand independence as separate nation-states. Inspired by ideas about freedom, equality, and consent of the governed, they imagined new shared political and cultural identities that could be the basis for nationhood and new ways of living.
Also during the nineteenth century, European nations and the United States imposed colonial rule, establishing overseas empires by expropriating land and exploiting labor in Africa and Asia. These colonial regimes purported to “civilize” or Christianize their subject peoples, however, their policies and practices, in large measure, proved otherwise. Colonized peoples were treated as second class citizens in their own lands, were turned into a laboring class serving the metropoles, and were generally treated as if their cultures, histories, and religions were inferior to those of the colonizers. The logic and strategies of colonizers were faulty and unstable, and in many cases, required violent action in order to maintain them.
Since colonial regimes required local administrators to govern territories within their empires, education was provided to some of the native people in the colonies. Over time, many of these educated administrators sought a return to their own cultures, religions, and political structures and began to articulate a vision for freedom from imperial rule. One of the most famous examples of this phenomenon is Mohandas K. Gandhi.
“Neo-imperialism” emerged during the latter half of the nineteenth century, especially in the new republics of Latin America. In this case, countries that had won their independence from the Spanish and Portuguese empires through hard fought wars faced yet another external challenge. That is, they became economically dominated by European and U.S. investors. Like the outright colonization that had preceded this new configuration, many Latin American republics were turned into access points for natural resources with their native populations generally serving as a severely underpaid and exploited workforce. In these cases too, the people of Latin America agitated for greater freedom, equality, and consent of the governed in response to the power imbalances they faced. One well known example of this phenomenon is the 1910-1911 Mexican revolution that led to the removal of the dictator, Porfirio Diaz.
- 6.1: Decline of the Land-Based Empires
- Land based empires that had existed for many centuries began to decline throughout the 19th century. The Ottomans, Russians, and Habsburgs found that their coalitions and social relations began to unravel. Minority ethnic and religious groups began to splinter off, demanding independent nationhood. Outside colonial regimes supported these breakaway movements for their own geopolitical and economic interests.
- 6.2: The British Commonwealth and the Spread of the British Empire
- The British Empire grew throughout the nineteenth century with the settlement and consolidation of territory in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India. In the case of Canada, it became an independent nation within the British Empire in 1867. Australia was settled with convicts between 1788 and 1859. New Zealand was annexed in 1840. In these territories, indigenous people were displaced as original owners of the land.
- 6.3: China and Japan
- The British asserted military dominance over Qing Dynasty China during the Opium Wars of 1840-42 and 1857-1859. In both cases, the Qing had to accept the opium trade carried on by the British even though though they did not want to. The British Navy was more powerful than that of the Qing and that is the reason the treaties in both wars were lopsided in favor of British interests. The Chinese people sought to rectify these conditions in the Tai-Ping and Boxer Rebellions.
- 6.4: The United States Civil War and United States Imperialism
- The United States Civil War was inextricably tied to the profitability of cotton production. Governor of Texas, Sam Houston, tried to prevent Southern states from seceding from the Union, but his warnings went unheeded. Southern political and economic leaders depended on slave labor to continue cotton production. Creating the Confederate States of America was an attempt to do so. With the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction, the U.S. began to pursue an overseas empire.
- 6.5: Latin America and Neoliberalism
- As Latin American nations were formed after revolutions against the Spanish and Portuguese, they were supported by the British government and British banks. Over time, dependency on British loans created indebtedness and a loss of autonomous decision making. This is called neo-imperialism because power and control were exerted through financial and economic means rather than military attack and occupation.
- 6.6: The European "Scramble for Africa"
- In 1803, the Dutch were the first to abolish the transatlantic slave trade. Britain and the U.S. were next in 1807. By 1836, the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Brazilian governments also abolished the trade. Still, the exploitation of the continent and its peoples did not end. By the end of the nineteenth century, European nations seized most of the continent of Africa as colonial possessions. This scramble was motivated by the desire to secure natural resources.
- 6.7: The Role of Military Technology in Colonial Domination
- The British, French, Dutch, Germans, Belgians, and Americans exerted power and dominance over colonized people through the use of military technology. During the 1870s, the British began using Gatling hand-cranked machine guns against the Zulu in Africa and the Bedouin in the Middle East. During the 1890s, the British switched to the maxim gun, the first machine gun capable of firing 600 rounds per minute. In addition to weapons and transportation by steamship, Europeans and Americans capitalize
- 6.8: Chapter Summary and Key Terms
- Imperialism, global capitalism, and racial hierarchies had developed in tandem over the nineteenth century. These interlocking systems produced "winners" and "losers" as some people were able to derive privileges from the new and emerging world order and others were not. Whether they were European, American, or Japanese, colonial regimes expropriated land and exploited labor. They saw themselves as racially superior with the rise of Social Darwinism and the beginning of the eugenics movement, an
Thumbnail: 1864 African American Infantry, Library of Congress, in the Public Domain.