1. Africa, India and the New British Empire, 1750-1870 Chapter 25

2. Suddenly European leaders, especially the British, who had seemed content to be just trading partners, sought to control areas politically, militarily, culturally, economically And they could Military, communications and transportation technologies made conquest possible Ideas at home made it seem like the right thing to do, both morally and to keep the factories running and employing people back home

3. Changes and Exchanges in Africa In the century before 1870 Africa underwent dynamic political changes and a great expansion of foreign trade Indigenous African leaders, Middle Eastern and European imperialists built powerful new states and expanded old ones As the slave trade died under British pressure, trade in other goods rose sharply In return Africans imported large quantities of machine made textiles and firearms Let’s look at different regions

4. New African States Internal forces produced clusters of new states in two parts of sub-Saharan Africa between 1750 and 1870 In southern Africa a powerful Zulu kingdom arose In inland West Africa Islamic reformers created the Sokoto Caliphate and companion states

5. Shaka For centuries the Nguni people had farmed and raised cattle in the fertile coast-lands of SE Africa When a drought hit the area at the beginning of the 19 th century, a military genius named Shaka created the Zulu kingdom in 1818 Strict military drill and close-combat tactics made the Zulu the most powerful and feared fighters in southern Africa Shaka expanded the kingdom by raiding his neighbors, seizing their cattle and capturing their women and children Many displaced refugees Some neighboring states dreated their own states—the Swazi north of the Zulu, Lesotho in southern Africa’s moutains—both Lesotho and Swaziland are states today Shaka forged a powerful identity for his people

6. Islamic Reform Movements Another cluster of powerful states in the savannas of West Africa Islam had long been a force in the politics of the region But Islam made slow progress with the rural people of Africa so rulers had been tolerant of non-Muslims In the 1770’s, however, scholars began preaching against the accommodation of non-believers And called for the forcible conversion of “pagans” Called a “jihad” it also added to the lands of Muslim rulers The largest of these was the Hausa states in northern Nigeria The united Hausa states were called the Sokoto Caliphate Centers for Islamic learning and reform Schools to train boys in Koranic study spread, and the great library at Sokoto attacted many scholars Suppressed local indigenous practices, occasional jihad against unbelievers Many slaves from among the unbelievers, who grew food, making it possible to seclude women in the house

7. Modernization of Egypt In NE Africa the ancient state of Egypt underwent growth and modernization Napoleon’s army had withdrawn from Egypt in 1801, but Egyptians considered this a shocking display of European strength and Egyptian weakness A wake-up call Muhammad Ali ruled Egypt from 1805-1849 and began a series of reforms to modernize Africa European technical expertise and debts to Europeans to pay for it In the 1830’s Egypt was the strongest Islamic state in the world By the end of his reign the population of Egypt had nearly doubled, trade with Europe had expanded by almost 600% Ali’s grandson Ismail placed even more emphasis on westernization, “my country is in Europe now” The American Civil War an opportunity, but when over Egypt slipped into terrible debt and had to give concessions to its European lenders

8. Modernization of Ethiopia State building and reform also underway in Ethiopia Beginning in the 1840’s modern weapons were bought from Europe Then manufactured in Ethiopia, but attempts to coerce more technical expertise backfired when they kidnapped some British officials England invaded The leader committed suicide to avoid being taken prisoner, and the British withdrew

9. Here come the Europeans-Algeria France’s conquest of Algeria—provided grain for France’s conquest of Egypt, but never paid for it Causing difficult diplomatic relationships, then France invaded in 1830 because the govt was unpopular at home and hoped to stir patriotic feelings and govt support 18 year war, finally won by killing farm, animals, destroying crops and slaughtering villagers No way to start a relationship

10. Explorers of the Interior Using their own funds (so Romantic) or financed by geographic societies they wished to uncover the secrets of inner Africa Often they wished to trace the great rivers inland—to find the source of the Nile And to look for mineral wealth Dr. Livingstone, a Scottish missionary doctor explored southern and central Africa to find locations for Christians missions made his way all over the place with usually warm receptions Henry Morton Stanley fought his way through, and of course found Livingstone in 1871

11. Abolition The successful slave revolt ended slavery in the largest plantation colony of the W Indies Elsewhere slave revolts brutally suppressed Which drew the attention of humanitarians Both England and US made it illegal for their citizens to import slaves in 1807 Once the greatest slave traders, the British became the most enthusiastic abolitionists They sent ships to patrol the African coast and prevent the slave trade, but is was difficult to stop

12. Legitimate Trade Instead of slaves, Africans began to trade other things And the trade continued to grow The most important trade good though, was palm oil which was used for soap, candles and lubricants The trading states of the Niger Delta the leading exporters of this palm oil The British took over the small colony of Sierra Leone as a base for their anti-slave trade naval operations Other Western influences included the Republic of Liberia founded by and African Americans

13. Secondary Empires in Eastern Africa As the slave trade lessened on the west coast, it continued and increased on the east coast To the Middle East and North Africa, and also kept on the coast for plantations Traders made their way from the coast inland and brought out ivory and other goods Often trading for weapons which spread violence into the interior

14. India Under British Rule The people of South Asia felt the impact of European commercial, cultural and colonial expansion more than the Africans Nearly all of India, with 3 times the population of Africa, came under British rule The (British) East India Company founded in 1600 and over the next 250 years British interests commandeered the colonies and trade of the Dutch, fought off the French and Indian challenges and picked up the pieces of the decaying Mughals By 1858, India was British

15. Company Men As Mughal power weakened they were defeated by Iranians forces in 1739 who sacked Delhi An upraising of Marathas in the Deccan left them with holdings larger than the Mughals Various other states broke with the Mughals and established their own trade relationships with the Europeans Hard-driving and ambitious “company men” convinced Indian Princes to allow them to establish trading posts on the Indian coast They used native troops, or sepoys, to guard these posts In divided India these troops came to hold the balance of power

16. The Black Hole of Calcutta IN 1691 Britain’s East India Company persuaded a nawab (a Muslim Prince) to establish a trading post at a little fishing port of Calcutta In 1756 a new nawab wanted more tribute and overran the post He imprisoned a group of EIC men in a small cell where many died of suffocation To avenge the deaths of these men, a large force overthrew the nawab The weak Mughal emperor allowed the EIC to rule Bengal directly in 1765 Now the EIC collected taxes, as well as the profits from trade A similar military takeover occurred in southern India in Madras (Chennai) The third major area the EIC annexed was the city of Bombay (Mumbai) Some areas around Bombay remained in the hands of local princes who accepted the political control of the EIC

17. 1818-1856 In 1818 the East India Company controlled more people than in all of western Europe with 50 times the population of the NA colonies they had lost The British Raj wished to remake India along British lines and change her through social reform, economic development, and with new technology It was difficult to do given the strength of India’s traditions and culture The EIC’s main goal was to create a powerful and efficient government backed by military power and with Christian missionaries working to convert Indians Few Indians converted, but missionaries exerted efforts to “reform” Indian society Two competing approaches by the British to Indian society, some wanted to change India, but their was also a tradition to study Indian culture The British and Indian elites sometimes worked together, and sometimes against each other, but both worked to exploit the Indian population New jobs in trade, but also the decimation of traditional industries like textiles

18. Sepoy Rebellion, 1857 aka Revolution of 1857 Various local rebellions in response to the changes attempted But the big one was the Sepoy Rebellion—200,000 sepoys, 38,000 British troops Which began when troops were required to rip open with their teeth paper wrapped ammunition cartridges which were greased with animal fat—from cows? From pigs? Both Muslims and Hindus were offended Although the procedure was quickly changed, the rebellion spread to the general population It took a year of hard and brutal fighting to end the uprising And it marks the beginning of India’s independence movement

19. But also, The end of company and Mughal rule Instead the British created a secretary of state in London to over see India policies, and a representative in India called a Viceroy Queen Victoria in 1858 guaranteed all Indians “equal protection of the law” and freedom to follow their various customs The Viceroys lived in great splendor, ala Mughals, with periodic great displays of pomp called durbars And treated the local “Princes” with elaborate courtesy And created a powerful and efficient Indian Civil Service, chosen by examination who held the important posts—but of about 1000 in 1900, only a few dozen were Indian Thousands of Indians worked in lesser posts to run India Because the British held unfortunate racist ideas about Indian

20. Infrastructure Investment After 1857 the British invested millions of pounds sterling improving harbors, building in cities, building and improving canals and irrigation Forests were felled to build plantations for tea, and opium, cotton and jute Trade grew rapidly Starting in 1840 a system of railroads was built—by 1870 the fifth largest system in the world Almost 5000 miles of track, and 14,000 miles of telegraph lines New mobility of Indians did lead to the spread of epidemic diseases, especially cholera

21. Indian Nationalism A realization that Indians had lost control of their destinies Deep divisions in about what India was, and should be Many educated Indians like western ideas—and the British were pretty good at establishing schools and colleges Many liked traditional Indian ideas as well But maybe widow burning (sati) and female infanticide should go, and the whole untouchable thing The educated middle classes for sure knew that British business policies were not good for Indians The first Indian National Congress met in 1885, they asked for less government expenditure on the military and more to alleviate the horrific conditions of the poor

22. Britain Builds an Empire in the Far East In 1750 Britain’s overseas empire was some plantations and some settler colonies in the Americas A century later it was focused on its holdings in India and the Far East How? Military victories pushed rivals aside Free trade over mercantilism Changes in shipbuilding increased the speed of overseas commerce New settler colonies in S Africa, New Zealand, and Australia

23. Dominance in the Indian Ocean Napoleon’s defeats ended French as serious rivals Napoleons invasion of the Netherlands led to the dismantling of most of the Dutch colonies—Britain moved into the Cape and seized Malacca and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Then Dutch Guiana and Trinidad The Cape Colony was valuable because of its location as a stop on the way to India But the 20,000 Dutch had a very strong identity as Boers, or Afrikaners And they wished to expand into the lands of Africans, which their new British rulers opposed Afrikaners from 1836-1839 made the “great Trek” leaving the British ruled Cape and moving to the fertile high plateau “veld” and founded the Orange Free State and the Transvaal

24. The Free Port of Singapore In 1824 this was a small fishing village with a superb harbor It became the center of trade attracting British merchants and Chinese businessmen and laborers The center of trade between the Indian Ocean and China

25. Burma A powerful kingdom by 1750 unsuccessfully attempted to annex Siam (Thailand) Then tried to expand into to the East, into British controlled Assam, which led to a war with the British Which the British won And Burma was annexed

26. Free Trade The goal of all this territorial expansion was trade, either to provide ports on the way, or as centers of distribution and production of materials A new philosophy in trade—Free Trade instead of Mercantilism The whole globe drawn into a rapidly expanding trading system of raw materials exchanged for manufactured goods Both sides benefitted, but no question the industrialized nations benefitted more From 1778-1860 British shipping quadrupled

27. Australia/New Zealand British colonists displaced the indigenous people of Australia and New Zealand At the time of Cook’s visit there were about 650,000 Hunter-gatherers in Australia and 250,000 Maoris in New Zealand Who were vulnerable to the diseases of Afro-Eurasians—by 1890’s only 93,000 indigenous people in Australia, 42,000 Maoris Penal colonies in Australia, then a discovery of gold in 1851 brought a million settlers, then a million more Drawn more slowly to New Zealand Both encouraged to be self-governing similar to Canada

28. New Labor Migrations Between 1834 and 1870 many thousands of Indians, Chinese and Africans went overseas to work especially on sugar plantations After 1870, tens of thousands of more Asians Linked to the end of the slave trade—there was still a need for labor People impoverished by changes in trade and economies signed on Although conditions were regulated, many died on the voyages from diseases All served under contracts of indenture—usually a 5 year contract with some pay Many stayed on in the country they were transported to