1. Cultural Changes and Challenges 1750-1914
Edited by: Mr. Barkhau
Shamelessly stolen from:
Cultural Changes and Challenges

2. A Second Wave of European Conquests
First Wave of European Colonialism
Second Wave of European Colonialism
1500s s
1750 – 1900
In the Western Hemisphere (Americas)
In Africa and Asia
Spain and Portugal = were major players; NOT ANYMORE DUN DUN DUN
New countries involved = Germany, Italy, Belgium, the U.S., Japan
Devastated native populations
No massive devastation done to native peoples
Europeans chose the path of conquest and outright colonial rule
Europeans preferred informal control (cheaper & less likely to cause war)
Construction of 2nd-wave European empires in Africa and Asia involved military force or the threat of using it
Although they would have preferred non-violent takeovers, Europeans often had to fight in wars of conquest to create their empires
Always won in the end  superior militaries and weapons

3. Colonial Asia in the Early 20th Century

4. Colonial Africa in the Early 20th Century

5. Various Paths to Colonial Status
India and Indonesia = colonial conquest grew out of earlier interactions with European trading companies
India = became controlled by Britain
Indonesia = became controlled by the Dutch
Neither country had a clear-cut plan for conquest
Conquest evolved slowly as local authorities and European traders made and unmade a variety of alliances
Acquisition of India and Indonesia = fairly easy because both were fragmented territories with no political unity
British authorities meeting with Mughal leaders

6. Various Paths to Colonial Status
Australia and New Zealand = both taken over by the British
Similar to the earlier colonization of North America
Conquest accompanied by: massive European settlement and diseases that reduced native numbers
Became settler colonies = “neo-European” societies in the Pacific
White Settlers in Australia

7. Various Paths to Colonial Status
Africa, mainland Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands = occurred later = in the 2nd half of the 19th century
More abruptly and deliberately than anywhere else

8. The “Scramble for Africa”
Until the 1800s = Europeans knew very little about Africa
1840 = David Livingstone went to Africa
Traveled around and explored there for 30 years
He lost contact with the outside world for 6 years in the 1860s
American Journalist Henry Stanley was sent to look for him -- ended up leading several expeditions himself
Journeys of Livingstone and Stanley increased interest in Africa and its many resources
Meeting of Livingstone and Stanley

9. The “Scramble for Africa”
One European country after another began to claim parts of Africa
Able to take African territories easily because they had superior weapons and a lot of money
= the Berlin Conference = Several European nations met in Berlin to decide how to divide up Africa
No African leaders invited
Peaceful negotiations made between the European powers that officially decided “who got what”
By 1914 = Europeans controlled 90% of Africa
European powers often had to use extensive and bloody military action to maintain control within their acquired African territories
The Berlin Conference

10. Varying Responses to European Encroachment
Some tried to enlist Europeans in their own internal struggles for power or in their external rivalries with neighboring states
Some tried to pit imperial powers against each other
Some wanted to fight back against the Europeans
Some believed resistance was futile and acceptance of the situation was the only option
Some negotiated with Europeans in an effort to keep as much independence and power as possible
African Resistance to Colonial Rule

11. Under European Rule: Cooperation
Many groups and individuals willingly cooperated with colonial authorities
Many men found employment, status, and security in the European-led armed forces
Colonial rulers = expensive, in short supply, and could rarely communicate with their subjects
Result = local intermediaries needed
Local intermediaries = typically from elite or governing families
Local intermediaries = could retain their status and gain wealth by exercising authority at the local level

12. Under European Rule: Cooperation
Many found it beneficial to pursue Western education
Western-educated class served the colonial state, European businesses, and Christian missions as teachers, clerks, translators, and lower-level administrators
Some with even more education = became lawyers, doctors, engineers, journalists, etc.

13. Under European Rule: Rebellion
Periodic rebellions (both big and small) = a constant problem for colonial regimes everywhere
Most famous colonial rebellion = the Indian Rebellion of
Also known as: the Sepoy Rebellion or Sepoy Mutiny
Sepoys = Indian soldiers in the service of European powers

14. Indian Rebellion of
Triggered by the introduction into the colony’s forces of a new cartridge smeared with animal fat from cows and pigs
Remember: Indian troops = Hindus and Muslims
Hindus = find cows sacred
Muslims = regard pigs as unclean
Both = viewed this military “innovation” as a plot to harm them and convert them to Christianity
Indian troops in Bengal mutinied against their British superiors

15. Indian Rebellion of
Indian Rebellion spread from Bengal to other regions and other social groups
Many social groups within India were upset with British colonial rule
Local rulers = lost power
Landlords = deprived of their estates and/or rent
Peasants = overtaxed and exploited by urban moneylenders and landlords
Weavers = unemployed (displaced by machines)
Religious leaders = opposed to Christian missionary preaching

16. Indian Rebellion of
Crushed in 1858  but important results followed:
Widening of the racial divide in colonial India between native Indians and their British rulers  eroded British tolerance for their subjects
British = became more conservative and cautious when it came to trying to change Indian society  didn’t want another rebellion
British government assumed direct control over India  ended the British East India Company’s rule there

17. Colonial Empires with a Difference
Major factor distinguishing the rulers from the ruled = race
Education for colonial subjects = very limited
Limited to practical subjects
Europeans were afraid that education and knowledge would lead to power for colonial subjects

18. Colonial Empires with a Difference
Colonies with large European settler populations = blatant pattern of racial segregation
Example = apartheid
Racial segregation in South Africa
Racial system provided for separate: “homelands,” educational systems, residential areas, public facilities, etc.

19. Colonial Empires with a Difference
European powers were much more involved and “hands on” with their colonial states in the 19th century
Affected the daily lives of people far more than empires had in the past
Centralized tax-collecting agencies
New modes of transportation and communication
Imposed changes in landholding patterns
Integration of colonial economies into global trade network
Public health and sanitation measures
European factories on the west coast of Africa

20. Colonial Empires with a Difference
European colonizers felt the need to count, classify, and organize their colonial subjects
Wanted a way to manage the unfamiliar, complex, varied, and changing societies that they now controlled
Made colonial administration easier
Ex: In African colonies, Europeans identified and sometimes even invented distinct tribes  each with its own territory, language, customs, chief, etc.

21. Colonial Empires with a Difference
European colonial policies contradicted their own values and practices at home
European Nations
European Colonies
Becoming more democratic
Were mostly dictatorships (used to create order and stability)
Swept up in nationalism
Total opposite of national independence
Christian and Enlightenment idea of human equality
Racial divisions, ranked racial classifications, etc.
Industrialization and modernization
Modernization discouraged because Europeans did not want modernization to cause opposition to colonial rule

22. Colonial Economies

23. Economies of Coercion: Forced Labor and the Power of the State
Forced labor was often used to meet the demands of the colonial state  Examples:
Building railroads
Constructing government buildings
Transporting goods

24. Economies of Coercion: Forced Labor and the Power of the State
Most infamous cruelties of forced labor = in the Congo in the early 1900s
Governed by King Leopold II of Belgium
Forced villagers to collect rubber  they had daily rubber quotas
If rubber quotas were not met, villagers were tortured and/or killed
Shot, ears/limbs cut off, tied up with ropes around their necks and dragged away, etc.

25. Economies of Coercion: Forced Labor and the Power of the State
Several colonial states used “cultivation systems”
Peasants required to cultivate 20% or more of their land in cash crops such as sugar or tobacco to meet their tax obligation
Cash crops sold to government contractors at fixed, low prices
Cash crops resold in the world market for a very high profit
Sorting Tobacco Leaves in Java, 1930s

26. Economies of Cash-Crop Agriculture
In some places, colonial rule created conditions that facilitated and increased cash-crop production to the advantage of local farmers
Example: British authorities in Burma encouraged rice production among small farmers
Ended the prohibition on rice exports
Provided irrigation and transportation facilities
Passed laws that encouraged private ownership of small farms
British Authorities Surveying Rice Production in Burma

27. Economies of Cash-Crop Agriculture
Results of these policies in Burma:
Population boomed  in Burma AND in other parts of Asia
Rice exports soared
Small farmers able to buy their own land, build nice homes, buy imported goods, etc.
Standards of living improved sharply

28. Economies of Cash-Crop Agriculture
Profitable cash-crop farming = in the southern Gold Coast
British territory in West Africa
Modern-day Ghana
African farmers themselves developed this export agriculture
Planted cacao trees in huge quantities and became the world’s leading supplier of cocoa by 1911
Drying Cocoa Beans in the Gold Coast

29. Economies of Cash-Crop Agriculture
Problems with this success:
Labor shortage = led to employment of former slaves who were exploited
Labor shortage = led to migration of workers from the interior of Africa to the Gold Coast  caused ethnic and class tensions
Some men married women for their labor power, but didn’t take care of them
Many colonies only specialized in one or two cash-crops  hurt them when world market prices dropped
Breaking Open (Cracking) the Pods

30. Economies of Wage Labor: Working for Europeans
Millions of colonial subjects across Asia and Africa sought employment in European-owned plantations, mines, construction projects, and homes
Needed money
Lost land they needed to support their families
Sometimes forced by colonial authorities
Workers in a South African Mine

31. Economies of Wage Labor: Working for Europeans
European-financed plantations in Southeast Asia that grew sugarcane, rubber, tea, tobacco, and so on employed hundreds of thousands of workers
Workers = subject to very strict control
Often housed in barracks
Paid very little (and women made even less)
Disease was common  high death rates
Tea Plantation in Ceylon

32. Economies of Wage Labor: Working for Europeans
Even more land taken from local people in Africa than in Southeast Asia
Ex: South Africa in 1913  whites were 20% of the population, but controlled 88% of the land
“Squatters” = Africans who stayed and worked for the new landowners as the price of remaining on what had been their own land
Workers Harvesting Leaves on an African Tea Plantation

33. Economies of Wage Labor Working for Europeans
Another source of wage labor for many = mines
Major tin mines in Malaysia
Miners = mostly impoverished Chinese workers
Worked on strictly-controlled 3-year contracts
Horrible living conditions
Rampant diseases
Dangerous work = many accidents
High death rates
Chinese Tin Miners

34. Economies of Wage Labor: Working for Europeans
Major gold and diamond mines in South Africa
Workers = mainly impoverished Africans
Recruited on short-term contracts
Lived in all-male prison-like barracks surrounded by barbed wire
Forced to return home periodically so they didn’t establish a permanent family life near the mines
Painting of Two African Miners

35. Large Colonial Cities Examples: Nairobi, Cairo, Singapore, etc.
Racially segregated
Often unsanitary
Greatly overcrowded
Seen as meccas of opportunity for people all across the social spectrum
Western-educated people found opportunities as: teachers, doctors, professional specialists, clerks in European business offices, workers in European government bureaucracies, etc.
Singapore in the 1920s

36. The Main Railway Station
Large Colonial Cities
Working-class elite = skilled workers on railways or in ports
Also included workers in factories that processed agricultural goods or manufactured products such as beer, cigarettes, furniture, etc.
Urban poor worked as: construction workers, rickshaw drivers, food sellers, domestic servants, prostitutes, etc.
Cairo in the 1920s
The Main Railway Station

37. African Women and the Colonial Economy
In pre-colonial times African women:
Were active farmers
Were responsible for planting, weeding, and harvesting
Prepared the food
Cared for the children
Were allocated their own fields with which they could feed their families
Were involved in local trade activity
Enjoyed some economic independence

38. African Women and the Colonial Economy
Under colonial rule = men moved into wage labor or cash-crop agriculture
This put A LOT more responsibility on women:
Total responsibility for domestic food production
Had to also supply food to men in the cities
Took over traditionally male tasks  breaking the ground for planting, milking cows, supervising the herds, etc.

39. African Women and the Colonial Economy
Result = many men and women began to live separate lives and develop different cultures
Men in the cities working for wages
Women in the villages focusing on subsistence agriculture
Many married couples no longer lived together
Women started to build closer relationships with their own family instead of their husband’s
Many women became the heads of their households
Portrait of a Luo Woman from Kenya

40. Assessing Colonial Development
Clear results of economic development within European colonies in the 19th-20th centuries:
(1) Colonial rule facilitated the integration of Asian and African economies into a global network of exchange
More land and labor = devoted to production for the global market
(2) Nowhere did a breakthrough to modern industrial society occur
And, obviously, many of these ex-colonies have yet to develop a modern industrial society

41. Assessing Colonial Development
(3) The appearance of some elements of modernization
Modern administrative and bureaucratic structures
Schools  used to train the intermediaries that were so crucial to colonial rule
Communication and transportation  railroads, motorways, ports, telegraphs, postal services
Modest health care provisions  part of the “civilizing mission”
The Building of an African Railway, 1905

42. Identity and Cultural Change

43. Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Education
Many Western-educated people embraced other aspects of European culture as well:
Dressed in European clothes
Learned French or English
Built European-style houses
Got married in long, white dresses
Education created a new cultural divide = between the minority who had mastered the ways of their rulers and the majority who had not
The King of Siam and other young students, all dressed in European clothing

44. Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Education
Western-educated elites believed they were the key to modernizing their societies
Believed they could do so within a colonial framework and in association with colonial authorities
These educated elites = had these hopes crushed
Europeans generally declined to treat their Asian and African subjects as equals
Europeans constantly referred to their cultures as primitive and backward
Result = Western-educated elites turned against colonial rule and foreign imperialism and became leaders in struggles for independence
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” 

45. Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Religion
Religion = provided the basis for new or transformed identities
Widespread conversion to Christianity in: New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, non-Muslim Africa, etc.
By the 1960s = about 50 million Africans had converted to Christianity

46. Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Religion
In India = many turned toward a revived Hinduism
More distinct and unified
Purposes of this revived Hinduism:
Provide India with an accessible religion on an even keel with Christianity
Provide Indians with a feeling of worth when faced with the humiliation of colonial rule
Uplift India’s village communities
Offer spiritual support to a Western world caught up in materialism and militarism
Swami Vivekananda
One of India’s most influential religious figures of the 19th century

47. Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Race
New cultural identity = an “African identity”
Before = no one in Africa identified themselves as “African”
Based their identity on their: local community, religion, state/empire, etc.
Goal = to revive the cultural self-confidence of people in Africa by creating a larger, common, and respected “African tradition” equivalent to “Western culture”

48. Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Race
Scholar Edward Blyden argued that: the world’s races are different, but each has its own distinct contribution to make to the world
African Culture
European Culture
Cooperative and egalitarian societies
Competitive, individualistic, class-ridden societies
Harmonious relationship with nature
Dominate and exploit the natural order
Religious sensibility
Religious sensibility lost – more attention now to material gain

49. Cultural Change in the Colonial Era: Tribe
Most important new sense of belonging that developed during the colonial era = the idea of “tribe” or ethnic identity
Idea of an Africa sharply divided into separate and distinct “tribes” = a European idea
To help with colonial administration
People even had to identify their “tribe” on applications for jobs, schools, and identity cards