Colonial Encounters 1750 - 1914

A Second Wave of European Conquests Focused on Asia and Africa Several new players - Germany, Italy, Belgium, U.S., Japan Was not demographically catastrophic like the first phase Was affected by the Industrial Revolution In general, Europeans preferred informal control (e.g., Latin America, China, the Ottoman Empire)

Imperialism in Africa - 1914

Imperialism in Asia - 1914

The Threat of Military Force Original European military advantage lay in organization, drill, and command structure Over the nineteenth century, Europeans developed an enormous firepower advantage (repeating rifles and machine guns) Numerous wars of conquest - the Westerners almost always won

Becoming a Colony India and Indonesia: grew from interaction with European trading firms - assisted by existence of many small and rival states Most of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands: - deliberate conquest - “the scramble for Africa” based on inter-European rivalry (25yrs) Decentralized societies were the hardest to conquer

Scramble for Africa

New Colonies Australia and New Zealand: more like the colonization of North America - massive death due to disease Taiwan and Korea: Japanese takeover was done European-style United States and Russia continued to expand Liberia: settled by freed U.S. slaves Ethiopia and Siam (Thailand) avoided colonization skillfully

Liberia

Cooperation Some groups and individuals cooperated willingly with their new masters - employment in the armed forces - elite often kept much of their status and privileges - shortage of European administrators made it necessary to rely on them Governments and missionaries promoted European education - growth of a small class with Western education - governments relied on them increasingly over time

Rebellions Periodic rebellions - Indian Rebellion (1857–1858), based on a series of grievances - Indian Rebellion began as a mutiny among Indian troops - Rebel leaders advocated revival of the Mughal Empire - Widened India’s racial divide; the British were less tolerant of natives - Led the British government to assume direct control over India

Indian Rebellion of 1857

Race and Tribe Race was a prominent point distinguishing rulers from the ruled - Education for colonial subjects was limited and emphasized practical matters - The best-educated natives rarely made it into the upper ranks of the civil service Racism was rampant in areas with a large number of European settlers (e.g., South Africa) - South Africa, whites attempted to industrialize based on cheap African labor

Changes in Africa Colonial states imposed deep changes in people’s daily lives Colonizers were fascinated with counting and classifying their new subjects - In India, appropriated an idealized caste system - In Africa, identified or invented distinct “tribes” Colonial policies contradicted European core values and practices at home - colonies were essentially dictatorships - colonies were the antithesis of “national independence” - racial classifications were against Christian and Enlightenment ideas - many colonizers were against spreading “modernization” to the colonies - in time, European contradictions undermined colonial rule

A Global Economy Demand for African and Asian raw materials - subsistence farming diminished - need to sell goods for money to pay taxes - desire to buy new products Artisans were largely displaced by manufactured goods

Forced Labor Forced Labor - states demanded unpaid labor on public projects - caused widespread starvation (no time to grow crops) Many areas resisted the forced cultivation of cash crops - German East Africa: major rebellion in 1905 against forced cotton cultivation - Mozambique: peasant sabotage and smuggling kept the Portuguese from achieving their goals there

Cash-Crop Agriculture Many were happy to increase production for world markets - considerable profit to small farmers In Ghana, African farmers developed export agriculture - leading supplier of cocoa by 1911 - created a hybrid peasant-capitalist society Labor shortages led to exploitation Many colonies specialized in one or two cash crops, creating dependence

Cocao Farming

Economies of Wage Labor: Working for Europeans Wage labor in European enterprises was common - low pay, bad conditions, high death rate - massive migration to Asian plantations Especially in Africa, people moved to European plantations because they had lost their own land

Leopold in The Congo

Types of Work Working in Mines - Malaysian tin mines attracted millions of Chinese workers - appallingly high death rates - South African diamond mines created worker migration - African miners were exploited, kept on short-term contracts Colonial cities attracted many workers - were seen as centers of opportunity - segregated, unsanitary, overcrowded - created a place for a native, Western-educated middle class - created an enormous class of urban poor that could barely live

Women and the Colonial Economy: An African Case Study In pre-colonial Africa, women were usually active farmers, had some economic autonomy In the colonial economy, women’s lives diverged ever more from men - men tended to dominate the lucrative export crops - women were left with almost all of the subsistence work Large numbers of men migrated to work elsewhere       - women were left home to cope, including supplying food to men in the cities - women coped in a variety of ways

Opportunities for Women The colonial economy also provided some opportunities to women - especially small trade and marketing - sometimes women’s crops came to have greater cash value - some women escaped the patriarchy of husbands or fathers - led to greater fear of witchcraft and efforts to restrict female travel and sexuality

Women Farming in Africa Today

Assessing Colonial Development What was the overall economic impact of colonial rule? - defenders: it jump-started modern growth - critics: long record of exploitation and limited, uneven growth Colonial rule did help integrate Asian and African economies into the world - though in many cases, that process had already been underway Colonial rule did introduce some modernizing elements - administrative and bureaucratic structures - communication and transportation infrastructure - schools - health care

Social Effects Colonial rule did not lead to breakthroughs to modern industrial societies - when India won independence, it was one of the poorest developing countries British rule certainly did not help overcome poverty

Poverty in India

Education Getting a Western education created a new identity for many - the almost magical power of literacy - escape from obligations like forced labor - access to better jobs - social mobility and elite status Many people embraced European culture - created a cultural divide between them and the majority of the population

Education Many of the Western-educated elite saw colonial rule as the path to a better future - in India, they organized reform societies to renew Indian culture - combined Western ideas and classic Hindu texts - European education as a tool to win freedom from oppressive tradition - hopes for renewal through colonial rule were disappointed Europeans did not treat their Asian and African subjects as equal partners - denigrated the colonized cultures

Religion Widespread conversion to Christianity in New Zealand, the Pacific islands, and non-Muslim Africa - around 10,000 missionaries had gone to Africa by 1910 - by the 1960s, some 50 million Africans were Christian Christianity was attractive to many in Africa - military defeat shook belief in the old gods - Christianity was associated with modern education - Christianity gave opportunities to the young, the poor, and many women - Christianity spread mostly through native Africans

Christianity Adapts Christianity was Africanized - continuing use of charms, medicine men - some simply demonized their old gods - wide array of “independent churches” was established Christianity did not spread widely in India - but it led intellectuals and reformers to define Hinduism

African Religion Distribution

“Race” and “Tribe” Notions of race and ethnicity were central to new ways of belonging By 1900, some African thinkers began to define an “African identity” - united for the first time by the experience of colonial oppression - some argued that African culture and history had the characteristics valued by Europeans (complex political systems, etc.) Some praised the differences between Africa and Europe - Edward Blyden argued that each race had a distinctive contribution to make to the world - Africa’s contribution was communal, cooperative, and egalitarian societies

Apartheid

20th Century Africa In the twentieth century, such ideas reached a broader public - hundreds of thousands of Africans took part in World War I - some Africans traveled widely The most important new sense of belonging was the idea of “tribe” (ethnic identity) - ethnic groups were defined much more clearly, thanks to Europeans Africans found ethnic identity useful - migrants categorized themselves ethnically - organized mutual assistance based on ethnicity

Nelson Mandela