Imperialism

What is Imperialism? Imperialism occurs when a powerful nation controls a weaker country or region Powerful nations are industrialized countries The Industrialized countries had the weapons, stable governments and powerful leaders to take over weaker ones The Industrialized nations set up a colonies within the weaker region

Why did Imperialism Occur? Factory owners need the natural resources and raw materials to produce goods Factories needed natural resources and raw materials like coal, iron, gold, silver, tin and copper to keep factories running The colonies provided these resources and a market to sell finished goods The members of the colony were only allowed to buy goods from the industrialized nations controlling them

Africa In the early 1800’s Africa was known as the, “dark continent” because very little was known about the inland of Africa Diverse cultures developed throughout Africa along with hundreds of languages and varies governments Some people lived in centralized states, villages and herding or food gathering society Africa was filled with an abundance of Natural resources and raw materials

Berlin Conference Journalist Henry Stanley ventured into the middle of Africa bringing back ideas of riches and natural resources European leaders met in Berlin, Germany to decide who would control which regions of Africa, no Africans were invited The conference stated that a European Power could not claim any part of Africa unless it had set up a government office there This led to European powers to send officials to African regions to set up governments by using force so that they could claim the land for their country

Cecil Rhodes Europeans were convinced of their superiority and believed they had a mission to civilize the world Cecil Rhodes, a British imperialism promoter declared, “ The more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race…If there be a God, I think that he would like me to paint as much of Africa British red as possible” Rhodes wanted to build a railroad system which would connect North and South Africa

Cape-Cairo Railroad

Imperialism in China

Opium War British merchants discovered that they could make a large profit for trading a drug called opium for Chinese tea Chinese became addicted to the drug Chinese outlawed the drug and ordered Britain to stop selling the drug but the British refused Chinese war ships fought with British ships over the trade of Opium The British defeated the Chinese easily because the Industrialized nation of Great Britain had the latest weapons and China, the non-industrialized nation had outdated weapons

Sphere of Influence European powers moved quickly to carve out spheres of influence in China Sphere of Influence, an outside power claimed exclusive investment and trading privileges Open Door Policy called to keep Chinese trade open to every country on equal basis

Boxer Rebellion Chinese who were tired of outside control in their country trained to fight off foreigners in their country They were called “Boxers” their goal was to drive out foreigners from China The Boxers attacked foreign communities across China The Boxers were defeated by the Western European powers and Japan

Imperialism in India

Sepoy Rebellion Sepoys were Indians who fought for the British Wanted to remove foreign influence in India Sepoys rebelled against the British Sepoys brutally massacred British men, women and children British crushed the revolt and took revenge by killing thousands of unarmed Indians

Meiji Restoration

Foreign Pressure Japan heard about China’s defeat to the industrialized nation of Britain during the Opium War Japan feared that they were next The United States sent American ships and Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to demand that they open trading ports Japan agreed because they feared the U.S. and their weapons

Meiji Restoration Meiji reformers wanted to strengthen Japan against the West Japanese leaders sent officials to study about western governments, economics, technology and customs

Reforms Under the Meiji Government Strong-centralized government A legislature was formed to make laws Economy Government set up banking systems, railroads, improved ports, telegraphs and postal system Government built and started business and then sold them to wealthy families Social Changes - Government set up schools to teach about new western technology