NEW IMPERIALISM 1800s-1914

MOTIVES POLITICAL Gain Power Compete to expand territory Use and show-off military force Gain prestige by winning colonies

NATIONALISM 19TH Century Movement Pride in one’s country Unification Movements

NATIONALISM GERMAN UNIFICATION Led by Otto von Bismarck of Prussia 3 Major Wars (Denmark, Austria, and France) Completed - 1871

NATIONALISM ITALIAN UNIFICATION War, diplomacy, plebiscite Led by Count Cavour, Giuseppe Garibaldi, King Victor Emmanuel II War, diplomacy, plebiscite Completed - 1870

The Result An upset to the European “balance of power” established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815

THIS IS A CAUSE OF WORLD WAR I

MOTIVES EXPLORATORY Desire to explore the “unknown” or uncharted territory Conduct scientific research Determine causes and treatment of diseases Go on an adventure Investigate “unknown” cultures

European Explorers in Africa 19c  Europeans Map the Interior of Africa

Dr. David Livingston Dr. David Livingstone Sir Henry Morton Stanley

“Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?”

MOTIVES IDEOLOGICAL Based on cultural values. Belief that the white race was “superior” and other cultures were “primitive. It was the job of the Europeans to “civilize” peoples in other parts of the world. Great nations should have empires! Only the strongest nations will survive.

SOCIAL DARWINISM On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) Naturally Selected The “selected” passed on their variations

SOCIAL DARWINISM Cont.. Late 19th Century Belief Herbert Spencer “Survival of the Fittest”-1864 Progress comes from “the struggle for survival” As the “fit”—the strong—advanced while the weak decline

Explains the need for stronger countries to dominate weaker ones (Justification for European imperialism) Also  extreme nationalism

“THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN” Rudyard Kipling Urging “civilized” nations to extend their control over those who are not “civilized” Used in children’s books and advertisements of the time period. Humanitarianism

“THE WHTIE MAN’S BURDEN” Take up the White Man’s burden— Send forth the best ye breed— Go, bind your sons to exile To serve your captives’ need; To wait, in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild— Your new-caught sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child. Take up the White Man's burden— In patience to abide, To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride; By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain, To seek another's profit And work another's gain.

RELIGIOUS Desire to spread Christianity Superior to all other religions Protect European missionaries in other lands Want to acquire territory in order to Christianize people Spread European values and moral beliefs Educate peoples of other cultures End the slave trade in Africa

THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA

African Trade [15c-17c]

Pre-19c European Trade with Africa

Africa 1890

The Belgian Congo: "King Leopold's Ghost"

The Congo Free State or The Belgian Congo

King Leopold II: (r. 1865 – 1909)

Harvesting Rubber

International African Association Private holding company—1876 Hired Henry Morton Stanley to establish a colony in the Congo

Henry Stanley is in charge of his African men: "If you drop that, I will shoot!".

ATROCITIES Punishing “Lazy” Workers

5-8 Million Victims! (50% of Pop.) It is blood-curdling to see them (the soldiers) returning with the hands of the slain, and to find the hands of young children amongst the bigger ones evidencing their bravery...The rubber from this district has cost hundreds of lives, and the scenes I have witnessed, while unable to help the oppressed, have been almost enough to make me wish I were dead... This rubber traffic is steeped in blood, and if the natives were to rise and sweep every white person on the Upper Congo into eternity, there would still be left a fearful balance to their credit. -- Belgian Official

Belgium’s Stranglehold on the Congo

Leopold’s Conscience??

Berlin Conference 1884-1885 Established a set of agreed-upon rules regarding the competition among the great powers for colonies in Africa

Berlin Conference 1884-1885 The area along the Congo River was to remain under the control of Leopold II. No nation could stake a claim on the continent without notifying other nations. Territory could not be claimed unless it was occupied.

European Colonization/Decolonization Patterns Berlin Conference of 1884-85

Leopold Defends Himself in Paris, 1903 King Leopold (to Loubert) How about that!  John Bull claims that I tortured, robbed an murdered more than he did. . . Loubert : No, your Majesty, that's impossible.