World Politics in a New Era

1
World Politics in a New Era

• Imperialism and Its Victims

2
Origins of Imperialism

• Definition of imperialism
• Three foundations of European imperialism
• The search for trade routes to Asia
• Strengthening the European home country
• European superiority in technology (Example
  Seafaring)
• Some emphasized territorial conquest, whereas
  others concentrated on control of trade routes

3
Spain and Portugal Dividing the World

• Avoid conflict over their competing expansion
• Spain and Portugal established an imaginary line
  in 1494
• The Treaty of Tordesillas
• Spain was granted possession of all lands to the
  west of this line
• Portugal was granted all the lands to the east
• Spain had authority in the New World except
  Brazil
• Portugal gained supremacy over Africa and the
  Indian Ocean

4
Spanish Colonial Administration

• Emphasized the acquisition of territory
• Aided by a number of factors
• Gunpowder and muskets
• Native Americans had less immunity to diseases
• Foreign intervention was often welcome by the
  people
• Large bureaucracy in the Spanish territories

5
Portuguese Colonialism

• Based on trade
• Content to establish trading ports
• In Brazil, the Portuguese turned to growing
  sugarcane
• Large plantations
• African slaves were imported to compensate for
  the lack of indigenous labor

6
Independence from Spain and Portugal

• Spain
• The Napoleonic Wars
• Proscription on free trade
• Independence encouraged by Great Britain
• Fight for independence 1810 through 1825
• Simon Bolivar
• Portugal
• Brazil gained its independence with relatively
  little conflict
• Colonies in Africa would wait until the 1970s

7
Dutch Empire

• Founding of the Dutch East India Company 1602
• Controlling key strategic trading ports, straits,
  and coasts
• Spices of the Dutch East Indies
• Tea plantations on the island of Ceylon
• Impact of the Napoleonic Wars
• Lost the Dutch East Indies during World War II
  but retained some Caribbean islands

8
Anglo-French Rivalry

• Principal colonial competition for most of the
  eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
• Different strengths and weaknesses
• The British Isles made foreign invasion unlikely
• British trade for raw materials and food
• France had to devote large resources to its
  standing army
• France was more inward-looking in economic
  matters
• British population pressures encouraged
  emigration
• Britain had consistent advantages over France

9
Frances Bid for Empire

• Areas in North America, the western half of
  Hispaniola, and other Caribbean islands
• Established trading posts in the Indian Ocean
• Never attracted a great number of French settlers
• Early empire collapsed as a result of the Seven
  Years War
• France rebuilt an empire after the Napoleonic
  Wars in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific

10
Frances Bid for Empire

• Saw role as bringing culture and civilization to
  backwards people
• Decolonization was a particularly difficult
  ordeal for the French empire
• Precipitated by the disastrous results for France
  in World War II
• Only a few Caribbean and Pacific islands remain
  overseas departments today

11
British Empire

• Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries
• Jamestown, Virginia (1607)
• Additional colonies in North America and the
  Caribbean
• English hegemony in North America lasted only a
  few years
• Nineteenth and twentieth centuries
• Burma and Malaya Australia and New Zealand
• Self-government in Canada, Australia, and New
  Zealand
• Britain used its superior naval and strategic
  resources to secure the proverbial lions share
• The Boer War (1899-1902)
• By the eve of World War I, the sun never set on
  the British empire

12
Twilight of the British Empire

• The world wars
• Independence by Ireland, Arab states, India,
  Burma, Ceylon, and Israel
• In Africa, most colonies gained independence in
  the mid-1950s and early 1960s
• Followed by most of the Caribbean and South
  Pacific island territories over the next decade
• Decolonization was generally peacefully achieved

13
The Russians

• Relentless expansion (Sixteenth and Seventeenth
  centuries)
• East across Siberia and toward the Baltic Sea
• Trade and contact with Europe remained limited
• The reign of Alexander I (1801-1825)
• Influence peaked during the Cold War
• Massive military spending
• Continued inability to compete
• The Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991
• Collapse was rapid but mostly peaceful

14
The United States

• Expanded westward through North America in the
  nineteenth century
• In 1898 entered the ranks of the overseas
  imperialist powers
• Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam, and
  other Pacific islands
• Major power in the Pacific
• Informal control
• Friendly governments in Third World countries
  often led to disaster

15
Ottoman Empire

• Major force for more than 500 years
• Fourteenth through eighteenth centuries
• Conquered Constantinople, the rest of Turkey,
  Greece, parts of Albania, and the Balkans (See
  Map 5.3)
• Neutralized Persia and conquered most of the
  Middle East
• Consolidated the claim to be the protector and
  benefactor of Islam
• Brought economic gains
• Nineteenth and twentieth centuries
• Increasingly came under attack from Russia and
  Austria
• The sick man of Europe deteriorated
• Chaos sparked World War I and the end of the
  Ottoman Empire

16
German and Japanese Empires

• Produced numerous bloody wars between 1860 and
  1945
• Neither was effective in creating permanent
  structures
• Consequence of defeat by other countries

17
Decline of Imperialism

• Most empires were unable to survive the two World
  Wars
• Fragmenting pressure from the peoples subjected
  to their rule
• Costs of long-distance administration
• cCompetition from each other
• Nationalism and political sovereignty
• Empire became politically incorrect

18
Social Impact

• Two forms of colonialism
• Settler colonialism
• Examples North America, the Caribbean, Australia
• Elite colonialism
• Example South Asia
• Role of geography and climate
• East Asia avoided direct colonial rule
• Japan
• China

19
Economic Consequences

• Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific
• North America furs, timber, fish, tobacco, and
  cotton
• South America gold, silver, corn, and potatoes
• Africa slaves, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, tea,
  cotton, ivory, tropical hardwoods, copper, and
  gold
• Australia and New Zealand sheep and dairy
• In Asia, the purpose was to control overseas
  trade routes
• Create a degree of political and economic
  predictability

20
Cultural and Ideological Impact

• Colonialism and culture
• Traditions of rule of law, private property, and
  individual rights
• Divide and conquer in areas of elite colonialism
• Creation of countries in Africa and parts of Asia
  that made little if any political sense
• Colonialism and ideology
• European notions of liberty and democracy
• Anticolonialism