Resistance to Imperialism

Settler Colonies Some of the areas conquered by imperial powers were treated as settler colonies More similar to the Early Modern settlements in the Americas, Europeans actively migrated to and settled in certain colonies In colonies such as South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, British and Dutch settlers formed large European populations Additionally, settlers dealt with similar resistance from natives as did the American settlers in the 16th and 17th century While disease enabled the easier conquest of Aus/NZ, native Africans in South Africa posed a more organized resistance

Indian Rebellion – Sepoy Rebellion - 1857 In 1857, a mutiny of sepoys (Indian members of the Brit. East. India Co.’s military) began to rebel against BEIC rule in India Led by Mangal Pandey, this large-scale rebellion nearly overthrew the British in India Despite their efforts, the British Empire’s military backed the BEIC, and British rule was maintained However, after the rebellion, the British government took complete control of India from the BEIC From 1857 till after WWII, British rule in India would be known as the British Raj, and would be ruled strictly by the British government as a colony of the British Empire

Boxer Rebellion – China - 1898 By the 1890s, the Chinese people and government had been humiliated by the Opium Wars, and the intrusion of Westerners, Russia, and Japan To rid China of these intruders, and ends the ‘Spheres of Influence’ in China, a group of martial artists known as the ‘Boxers’ to the West rose up in rebellion Without the Qing gov. initially, rebels acted privately; however, seeing she needed to support the rebellion, Empress Cixi supported it soon after it began They violently overran many Western offices and businesses, and killed many European citizens, officials, and ambassadors While temporarily successful, a joint coalition force of Western forces easily and violently put down the rebels and the Qing gov. forces

Peripheral Societies While many civilizations were controlled in some way by industrialized nations by the 19th century, some nations began independently at that time For several decades, the Cherokee nation existed within the boundaries of the Unite States (forced during the Trail of Tears) While they were eventually absorbed into the US as a Reservation, they did achieve independent status for some time Additionally, independent nations formed in Hawaii, Siam (Thailand), and the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa

Zulu Kingdom In the 1820s, the Zulu king Shaka Zulu united (by peace and force) many of the South African tribes Around the same time, the British were engaged in the Boer Wars, as they forcibly took the colony of South Africa from the Dutch Once completed, both the British and Zulu territories expanded and collided While the British would invade and incorporate the Zulu Kingdom, the Zulus inflicted the worst native defeat to the British Empire The Battle of Iswalanda was won by the Zulu on Britain’s first invasion, and while the British won out on their second, it put an embarrassing mark on British reputation