Imperialism in India, the Pacific, and Beyond

British East India Company In the 1600s the British East India Company gained trading rights on the fringe of the Mughal empire. As the Mughal empire declined, the British gained control. By the mid-1800s the company controlled three-fifths of India. The Mughal Empire

British East India Company Roads were improved and banditry was reduced. They pushed for social changes such as the ending slavery and the caste system. Sati, the practice of a wife’s killing herself on her husband’s funeral fire, was banned. The East India Company’s goal was to make money, which it did, but British policies aimed to improve India as well.

British East India Company British insensitivity to local customs led to the bloody Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. The sepoys were Indian soldiers hired to fight for the British. The British issued a number of rules that angered the sepoys and finally provoked them to rebel.

British East India Company Sepoys were ordered to serve overseas. For high-caste Hindus, such travel was forbidden. Company rules allowed Hindu widows to remarry. The sepoys saw this violation of Hindu practice as an attempt to Christianize them. New rifles were issued in 1857. To load the rifle one had to bite off the end of a bullet cartridge. The cartridges were greased with cow or pig fat. Cows were sacred animals to Hindus, and pigs were forbidden to Muslims.

British East India Company When sepoys were ordered to load their rifles they refused. These resisters were arrested for failing to follow orders. The sepoys rose in rebellion against the British. Some massacred British civilians. British troops retaliated, killing thousands of unarmed Indians.

British Rule in India After the Sepoy Rebellion, Britain took control of India from the East India Company. British troops were sent to India, and Indians were taxed to pay for them. Indians were angered at how Britain extracted great wealth from India.

British Rule in India British rule brought some benefits to India. Britain revised the legal system. They promoted equality and justice regardless of caste. There was more peace and order. Britain built rail and telegraph lines. Indians were able to travel and communicate more easily. Indians began to unite. Upper class Indians benefited the most. The upper classes benefited from a British education. Indian princes and landowners grew wealthy from trade.

British Rule in India When Britain flooded India with machine made textiles, it ruined India’s prosperous hand-weaving industry. However, changes favored the British. Britain felt they were helping India to modernize, but policies favored the British. The British encouraged farmers to grow cash crops. This led to deforestation, shortages of food, and terrible famine.

British Rule in India British leaders assumed that providing Indians with a British education would lead them to accept British culture and rule. In 1855 the Indian National Congress met to propose self-rule and democracy. Fearful that Hindus might dominate any government, Muslims began talking about a separate state. The opposite took place; educated Indians returned home and began nationalistic movements.

Central & Southeast Asia

Central & Southeast Asia Russian and British explorers mapped areas of central Asia as part of Imperial expansion. Tension between the two grew and became known as The Great Game.

Central & Southeast Asia The French built a large colony system in what became known as French Indochina. It included the 3 modern states of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Oceania

Oceania The English used Australia as a penal colony from 1788 Voluntary migrants follow; gold is discovered in 1851. Because indigenous people were nomadic foragers, migrants considered the content terra nullius – “land belonging to no one” and seized what they wanted to use. Similar disruptive practices in New Zealand

Pacific Imperialism The Pacific offered commercial opportunities Whalers Merchants seeking sandalwood, sea slugs for sale in China Coaling stations for steam ships Ports for navies Similar to the Scramble for Africa, the Pacific was split up among imperialistic nations.

Pacific Imperialism

U.S. Imperialism The Monroe Doctrine The U.S. had established significant commercial investments in the Americas. President James Monroe issued a proclamation that warned European states against imperialist designs in the western hemisphere.

U.S. Imperialism The United States continued its expansion with the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1875 and the annexation of Hawaii in 1893.

The Spanish-American War U.S. Imperialism The Spanish-American War U.S. declares war on Spain after an explosion sunk the battleship Maine in Havana harbor, 1898 Takes possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines U.S. intervenes in other Caribbean, Central American lands; occupies Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti Filipinos revolt against Spanish rule, later against U.S. rule

U.S. Imperialism

Japanese Imperialism The Meiji Restoration was summarized by the motto “A rich country, a strong military.” To reach this goal, leaders under Emperor Meiji decided to study Western ways. Members of the Japanese government traveled overseas in 1871 to learn about Western economies and technologies. Emperor Meiji

Japan embraced industrial technology. Japanese Imperialism Japan embraced industrial technology. Because Japan is a small island nation, it needed natural resources. It looked to Korea first and forced the peninsula to open its ports to Japan in 1876. Competition between China and Japan for control of Korea resulted in the First Sino- Japanese War, which Japan won easily.

Japanese Imperialism Next, Japan challenged Russia, its other rival in the region. The Russo-Japanese War ended in 1905 with a Japanese victory. Japan made Korea a protectorate, then annexed it and modernized the territory. Japanese repression of Korean culture and language bred nationalist resentment.