CHAPTER 12 Power, Conquest, and a World System

Veterans of Colonial Armies Second half of the 19 th century France created a black African army called the Tirailleurs Senegalais. Bought slaves to fill the army ranks Later turned to levying a draft on their colonies and After WWII, a volunteer force The French used the army to conquer areas that became French colonies in Africa The army fought in the trenches in WWI and suppressed rebellion in colonial possessions

Veterans of Colonial Armies WWII African troops were essential to the conquest of North Africa and Italy, and to taking back France Later years of French colonialism African troops fought at the battle of Dien Bien Phu that ended the French colonial venture in Vietnam in 1954 Many Tirailleurs Senegalaise feel neglected by history and by France Their story reminds us that history is written by the powerful and often presented as a narrative of their inevitable triumph

European Expansion Motivations Christianize the world Find a wide variety of wonders, both real and imagined Amass great wealth Developments Rise of a banking and merchant class Growing population New ship design that was better at sailing into the wind Diseases carried by Europeans to native populations Disease Europeans brought death and destruction in the form of microbes Many native populations perished within 20 years

Pillaging To strip an area of money, goods, or raw materials Through the use of physical violence or the threat of such violence Sometimes a colonial act towards indigenous peoples Examples: In 1531, Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahuallpa and received $88.5 million in gold and $2.5 million in silver (current value) as ransom After the British East India Company came to power in India, it plundered the treasury of Bengal, sending wealth back to investors in England

Forced Labor Europeans forced peoples whose lands they conquered and their own lower classes to work for them Practiced African slavery on a larger scale than any people before them 15 th century through the 19 th century 11.7 million slaves were exported from Africa to the Americas More than 6 million left Africa in the 18 th century alone The use of slave labor was extremely profitable for both slave shippers and plantation owners Created continuous warfare and impoverishment in the areas from which slaves were drawn

Monoculture Plantations Specialized in the large-scale production of a single crop for sale to distant consumers Created the demand for slaves Sugar Most important monoculture crop of the 18 th century 1650 to British consumption increased some 2500 percent 1800 to sugar production grew another 2500 percent From 245,000 tons to more than 6 million tons per year

Joint Stock Companies Firms managed by a centralized board of directors but owned by shareholders Predecessors of today’s publicly held corporations To raise the capital for large scale ventures, companies would sell shares Each share entitled its purchaser to a portion of the profits (or losses) from the company’s business Advantages A great deal of capital could be raised rapidly, so business ventures could be larger than previously possible The key goal of joint stock companies was to provide profits to their shareholders

Dutch East India Company The Dutch East India Company (VOC) is a model example of a joint stock company Chartered by the Dutch government to hold the monopoly on all Dutch trade with societies of the Indian and Pacific oceans Shares were available on reasonable terms and were held by a cross-section of Dutch society Led by a board of directors called the Heeren XVII Was empowered by the Dutch Republic to to make treaties, occupy lands, levy taxes, raise armies, and even declare war Through the 17 th century, the VOC used its powers to seize control of many of the Indian Ocean islands Among these were Java, including the port of Jakarta, Sri Lanka, and Malacca By the 1670s, the Dutch had gained complete control of all spice production in what is now Indonesia

Dutch East India Company’s Principal Holdings and Demise The Heeren XVII were dismissed by the Netherlands government in 1796 after an investigation revealed corruption and mismanagement On December 31, 1799, the VOC was dissolved

The Era of Colonialism Colonies were created when nations established political domination over geographical areas and political units Reasons: To exploit native people and resources To be a settlement for surplus European population To occupy key strategic locations 1500s and 1600s The Americas were colonized, but most other areas of the world did not come under colonial control until the 19 th century Between 1492 and 1600, over 55,000 Spaniards immigrated to the New World The 19 th century The Industrial Revolution gave Europeans decisive advantages in technological sophistication and quantity of arms Although Indian wars continued until the late 19 th century, Europeans were victorious almost everywhere due primarily to disease

Cortés and Effects of Disease When Cortés appeared in 1519, the Aztec leader Montezuma gave him gifts and opened the city of Tenochtitlán to the Spanish When it became clear that the Spanish were their enemies, the Aztecs expelled them in a battle that cost the Spanish 2/3 of their army When Cortés returned in 1521, a smallpox epidemic had killed up to half the Aztecs Had the Aztecs not been devastated by disease, they likely would have again defeated Cortés

Colonizing in the 19 th Century By the beginning of the 19 th century, industrialization was underway in Europe and North America. Consequences: It enabled Europeans and Americans to produce weapons in greater quantity and quality than any other people It created an enormous demand for raw materials that could not be satisfied in Europe

Making Colonialism Pay Once colonies had been seized, they had to be both administered and made profitable Businesses based in the colonizing country could operate free of competition Colonies created a zone of protection for older British industry and newer French manufacturers, thus enabling high profits for firms in these nations Costs of the colonies were borne by colonial populations and by colonizing tax payers Profits from colonialism went to shareholders of companies operating in the colonies

Making Colonialism Pay Colonial subjects had to be made to produce the goods colonizing societies wanted and to labor in ways that would be profitable to the colonizers Methods used to force colonial subjects into labor: Control of local leaders Forced labor Forced production of particular commodities Taxation Direct propaganda through education

Colonial Educational Policies Colonial education was designed to convince subjects that they were cultural, moral, and intellectual inferiors Education in 19 th century India encouraged children to aspire to be like Englishmen In France’s African colonies, children were directly taught to obey their colonial masters Corvée Labor The unpaid work demanded of native populations One of the most direct ways European governments tried to make their colonies profitable

Belgium in the Congo King Leopold II of Belgium committed atrocities against the people of the Congo, including cutting off the hands of disobedient or unproductive slaves How is colonialism both psychological and physical violence?

Colonialism and Anthropology Evolutionary theories of the 19 th century described a world in which all societies were evolving toward perfection This concept served as a rationale for colonization Colonialism determined the locations of fieldwork British Commonwealth anthropologists tended to work in British colonies French anthropologists worked in French colonies Americans worked within U.S. borders or in areas of American influence and control in the Pacific

Decolonization Most of the nations of the Americas had gained their independence in the 18 th and 19 th centuries WWII All peoples of the world had been affected by Western expansion After the war, African and Asian colonies began gaining their independence Many nations that were part of the Soviet Union received their independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s Reasons Civil disobedience Changing political structures Changing economic structures

UN Resolution 1514 In December 1960, the United Nations declared: “All peoples have the right to self determination” “Immediate steps shall be taken … to transfer all powers to the peoples of [countries that have not yet achieved independence]” Ensured decolonization