British Imperialism By: Bethany Aull

Old Imperialism Sixteenth Century –New Trade Routes to the East –Missions –Resources, riches –Colonies Europe lost interest in colonization Britain expanded economically in the Victorian Era

Lopsided World Industrial Revolution widened the gap between –Industrializing nations – higher standard of living Britain North America –Non-industrializing nations Africa Asia Latin America

Market Power By 1815, India, Canada, Australia, and other scattered areas belonged to Britain Efficiency of production in Britain allowed it to sell goods easily in other countries, eliminating competition After the Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, Britain was like a market monopoly until 1914

Age of New Imperialism 1870 – 1914 Reasons –Economic –Military/Political –Humanitarian/Religious –Technology –Social Darwinism

Economic Reasons Need for markets Raw materials Source of investments

Military and Political Reasons Need for military bases National security Source of pride –Rise in nationalism

Humanitarian and Religious Goals White man’s burden Spread of Christianity Social Darwinism –Superiority of Western society

Social Darwinism Charles Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest” applied to humans Justification for those higher on the evolutionary ladder to take over the lower

Technology New medicine New weapons Transportation

The Suez Canal Britain bought controlling interests in 1875 –Faster connection to the East, especially convenient with Britain’s India Protectorate over Egypt in 1882 Other Western powers got “African fever” Britain took the Sudan to ensure its authority in Africa

Scramble for Africa Africa unexplored Congress of Berlin –No single European power could claim Africa –“Scramble for Africa” Between 1878 and 1914, continent divided –France – largest colonial empire –Britain – most populated territories

The Cape Colony Southern Africa –Valuable mineral resources –Home of original Dutch settlers, the Boers In 1859, British sided with the Boer farmers against the native Zulus –Destroyed Zulu empire

The Boer War Cecil Rhodes prime minister in 1890 –Wanted to annex the Boer Republic War between British and Boers from 1899 to 1902 Britain finally annexed the two Republics and in 1910 combined its South African colonies into the Union of South Africa Government run by white British and Boers

The Dark Continent Expanding Britain’s empire in Africa Khartoum massacre Horatio H. Kitchener –Omdurman (1898) –Winston Churchill –Fashoda Crisis

The Brightest Jewel Britain took control of India in 1763 India became part of the British Empire in 1858

The Opium War Large quantities of opium sold to China Chinese government tried to stop the import War from 1839 to 1842 –Treaty of Nanking –China open to European imperialism

The Open Door Boxer Rebellion in 1899 –Crushed in 1901 United States Open Door policy

Imperialism in the Middle East Britain got involved in –Island of Cyprus –Iran –Iraq –Kuwait –Qatar –Bahrain Pipelines in Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf

Consequences Organization of a global economy Areas colonized –cultures stamped out –native industries obliterated –Exploitation of materials and labor disenabled colonies to industrialize themselves –Conflicts within colonies Conflicts among imperialistic nations

The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire

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