Colonial Empires By Maureen O’Grady

Review of the Age of Exploration In the 1400’s, Europeans explored the world for many reasons: * to find a sea route to the spices of ________ * to find gold, silver, and precious __________ * to expand their knowledge of the world * to build and control larger ____________ * to expand the ____________ religion * to find natural __________ for their newly created factories * to open up new markets for their newly created products

Review of the Age of Exploration Which statement best summarizes the reasons for European exploration? A. European explorers were trying to prove that the earth was flat. B. Europeans were looking to find ways to ease the overcrowding in their cities. C. The monarchs of Europe were trying to develop and use new sailing techniques. D. The Europeans were trying to expand their territories, gather riches, and spread their religion. and the answer is………

Review of the Age of Exploration The Europeans were trying to expand their territories, gather riches, and spread their religion. What mnemonic device have we learned to remember this information? the 3G’s God, Gold, and Glory

Beginning of Colonies Once an area was “discovered,” it was claimed by the country who financed (or paid for) the expedition. The countries would set up colonies (territories controlled by people from a foreign country). The colonies helped the European countries make a lot of money. This economic ($) theory, called mercantilism, called for using colonies to increase a nation’s wealth by gaining access to: cheap/free labor - natural resources market for goods -trade routes

Impact of the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change. The development of machines prompted entrepreneurs to build factories. The ability to mass produce items created a great demand for low-cost raw materials and profitable markets to sell their goods. shipped to England cotton grow in India turned into cloth by British machines and workers material purchased by Indians cloth shipped to India

Imperialism This thirst for new land, natural resources, cheap labor, and new trade opportunities, prompted the European powers to expand into Africa, Asia, and the Americas. This desire to create overseas empires is called imperialism. Between 1875 and 1895, a handful of European powers seized over 25% of the world’s population. Some of the major players were Portugal, Spain, England, and France.

Portugal Thanks to Prince Henry the Navigator’s leadership, the Portuguese were able to explore a great portion of Africa’s coast. They only found a little of the gold that they were looking for, but soon realized sugar was their ticket to riches. The Portuguese set up plantation colonies in places like Brazil. They grow sugar cane there and imported Africans to work the land as slaves.

Spain Thanks to Christopher Columbus, the majority of Spain’s colonies were in the New World. When he reached land, he started claiming it for Spain, the sponsor of his voyages. His explorations opened the door to further exploration and enormous wealth. The majority of South America and the western part of what is today the USA became part of the Spanish empire. Like the Portuguese, the Spanish found that growing crops was very profitable.

England The British Empire was by far the biggest in world history. At the peak of its power, it was often said that “the sun never sets on the British Empire.” Which means that because of the empire spanning the globe it ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of it numerous colonies. England had colonies on the continents of North America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. When one thinks of the British Empire they think of places like the 13 Colonies, present day Canada, India, and Australia.

England England established settler colonies on North America. Large numbers of people from the mother country, England, moved to the new colony to start new lives. The local people or tribes, were often moved off the more desirable land by force. In Australia, the newcomers were prisoners sent there by the English court system. This was due to the overcrowding of their jails. The impact felt by the native people, the Aborigines, was enormous.

England Australia was important to England for other reasons, too. * British gov’t wanted to station some of its navy there since it was in the southern hemisphere * it was an economic base to expand trade * the British didn’t want the French to have it

France Along with England and Spain, France was one of the world’s dominant empires. It had colonies around the world. They controlled islands in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the South Pacific, the North Pacific, and the North Atlantic. They had power in parts of Canada, South America, SE Asia, and NW Africa.

Scramble for Africa During the late 1800’s, several countries wanted more overseas land. The result was the “Scramble for Africa.” Several European countries divided the continent among themselves. No major country, including Great Britain, France, and Germany wanted to be without colonies.

Why the Scramble for Africa? 1. Africa was rich in resources: diamonds gold copper tin land for growing peanuts, palm oil, cocoa, and rubber Africa was a market for European goods. Some European countries showed national pride by competing for colonies in Africa. During the 19th century, many Europeans viewed themselves as the most advanced civilization. Some felt they needed to “civilize” people in the rest of the world.

Consequences of Imperialism There were both negative & positive consequences: improved knowledge of the world slavery increased trade spread of disease cultural diffusion (spreading ideas about who you are – language, religion, dress, food…) disruption of culture (one group’s way of life loses value, gets pushed to the side) countries were stripped of their wealth wars were fought

Today’s Impact The impact of colonization and imperialism are still present in our lives today: Languages – Spanish in Mexico, _______ in India _________ – many different ethnicities in the Americas Religions - Christianity in Latin America, parts of Africa Place Names – Florida is Spanish for ______________,