Imperialism in Asia

1. Imperialism in Asia Armando González Marín Alberto Granados Valeria Moheno Rubén Espinosa

2. Europeans in Southeast Asia • The major colonizers of Southeast Asia were Europeans, Japanese and the U.S. All in all, there were seven colonial powers in Southeast Asia: Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, the United States, and Japan.  From the 1500s to the mid-1940s, colonialism was imposed over Southeast Asia.  • For hundreds of years, Southeast Asian kingdoms had been engaged in international commercial relations with traders from East Asia (China), South Asia (India), and West Asia (the “Middle East”).  Asian sojourners also brought religion, customs, traditions, and court practices to the region. Hence, their relationship was economic and cultural at the same time. Moreover, local Southeast Asian rulers used and indigenized practices of kingship institutions from South Asia (rajadharma) and West Asia (sultanate). • European travelers did not only have economic relations with Southeast Asians but also imposed their political—and in some cases, cultural—domination over Southeast Asian peoples and territories. Hence, European colonialism covered a large chunk of Southeast Asian history.  • Aside from European colonials, Japanese and U.S. colonials controlled much of Southeast Asia. Japanese aggression took place during the “Pacific War” of World War II. The Japanese occupied much of Asia, including Southeast Asia.  The U.S. colonized the Philippines in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War of 1898.  • Southeast Asian response to colonialism was both collaboration and nationalism in all its forms.

3. Motives of the colonozation in southeast asia • There are three motives for colonialism: political, economic, and cultural.  Reasons for colonialism are manifold: to expand territory, to seek mercantilist profit, to import cheap raw materials, and to extract precious metals.  The booming economies needed an assured supply of raw materials, assured new markets and new places in which to invest.  • Political Aggrandizement • Aggrandizement of Political Power • Nationalism • Territorial Expansionism to Other Areas • Increased National Pride • Increase Military Might • Status as World Power • Intra-European Competition and Rivalry • European “Age of Discovery” = Southeast Asian “Age of Colonialism”. One phenomenon, two interpretations

4. 2.Economic Profits: • Commercial Enterprise and International Trade • Need to Strengthen the economy by increasing wealth • Mercantilism: Precious Metals • Accumulation of Capital • Sea Route to the East • Because the spice trade could make them wealthy, explorers were motivated to find a faster and cheaper sea route. The European routes were blocked by powerful rivals such as the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa and later the Turkish merchants of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). Their ships had control of the eastern Mediterranean where trade with the Arabs abounded. After Vasco da Gama's famous voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, the Portuguese had to battle Muslim forces and rival traders to gain a piece of the spice trade. The rulers of Portugal and Spain sought different routes to the Indies. While the Portuguese concentrated their efforts to the south and east, the Spanish sought alternative routes to the west. 

5. 3.Search for Raw Materials, esp. Spices (Moluccas: Spice Islands”) Spices such as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or cloves were like treasures to Europeans. All these products were produced in India, Ceylon, and the Moluccas (known as the Spice Islands).   • 1800s: Industrial Revolution • Search for New Raw Materials • New Markets http://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/ty/colonialism_%20in_se%20asia.htm

6. British In India British economic interest in India began in the 1600s, when the British East India Company set up trading posts at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. At first, India’s ruling Mughal Dynasty kept European traders under control. By 1707, however, the Mughal Empire was collapsing. Dozens of small states, each headed by a ruler or maharajah, broke away from Mughal control. In 1757, Robert Clive led East India Company troops in a decisive victory over Indian forces allied with the French at the Battle of Plassey. From that time until 1858, the East India Company was the leading power in India.

7. Britains jewel of the CROWN Britain’s “Jewel in the Crown” At first, the British treasured India more for its potential than its actual profit. The Industrial Revolution had turned Britain into the world’s workshop, and India was a major supplier of raw materials for that workshop. Its 300 million people were also a large potential market for British made goods. It is not surprising, then, that the British considered India the brightest “jewel in the crown,” the most valuable of all of Britain’s colonies.

8. Rebellion in India A garrison commander was shocked when 85 of the 90 sepoys refused to accept the cartridges. The British handled the crisis badly. The soldiers who had disobeyed were jailed. The next day, on May 10, 1857, the sepoys rebelled. They marched to Delhi, where they were joined by Indian soldiers stationed there. They captured the city of Delhi. From Delhi, the rebellion spread to northern and central India. Some historians have called this outbreak the Sepoy Mutiny. The uprising spread over much of northern India. Fierce fighting took place. Both British and sepoys tried to slaughter each other’s armies. The East India Company took more than a year to regain control of the country. The British government sent troops to help them.

9. Imperialism In China The primary motive of British imperialism in China in the nineteenth century was economic. There was a high demand for Chinese tea, silk and porcelain in the British market. However, Britain did not possess sufficient silver to trade with the Qing Empire. Thus, a system of barter based on Indian opium was created to bridge this problem of payment.  The subsequent exponential increase of opium in China between 1790 and 1832 brought about a generation of addicts and social instability. 

10. Opium wars Clashes between the Qing government and British merchants ultimately escalated into the infamous Opium Wars. As a result, the British were given the island of Hong Kong and trading rights in the ports of Canton and Shanghai.

11. The rise of Modern Japan When the United States sends a naval delegation, led by Commodore Matthew Perry, to "open" Japanese ports in 1853, the Japanese are well aware of the "Unequal Treaties" that have been imposed upon China in the previous ten years (since the Opium War of 1839-42) as a result of the superior military power of the Western nations. The Japanese respond to the challenge of the West.

12. Meiji Reforms Reform-minded samurai, reflecting the enormous changes that have taken place in the preceding Tokugawa period, effect political change. They launch the reform movement under the guise of restoring the emperor to power, thereby eliminating the power of the shogun, or military ruler, of the Tokugawa period. The emperor's reign name is Meiji; hence the title, "Meiji Restoration" of 1868. The Japanese carry out this modernization by very deliberate study, borrowing, and adaptation of Western political, military, technological, economic, and social forms — repeating a pattern of deliberate borrowing and adaptation seen previously in the classical period when Japan studied Chinese civilization (particularly in the 7th century to 8th century). Economic, political, and social changes that have taken place during the preceding 250 years of peace under the Tokugawa shogunate (1600-1868) lay the basis for the rapid transformation of Japan into a modern industrial power, with a constitution, a parliament, a national, compulsory education system, a modern army and navy, roads, trains, and telegraph — in less than 50 years.

13. Japan empire Sino- Japanese war Japan's successful transformation into a modern, military power is demonstrated first in 1894-95 and then in 1905-6. Japan defeats China, long the preeminent power in East Asia, in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5 over influence in the Korean peninsula. Japan defeats Russia, a major Western power, in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905-06 over rights in Manchuria and Korea. Chinese reformers and revolutionaries base themselves in Japan; Western nations take note of Japan's new power. Japan, which had isolated itself from international politics in the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), enters an international system of the late 1800s where imperialism dominates. Japan rapidly becomes a major participant in this international system and seeks particular imperialist privileges with its East Asian neighbors, China and Korea. Russo- Japanese war

14. Bibliography http://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/ty/colonialism_%20in_se%20asia.htm http://www.painesville-township.k12.oh.us/userfiles/699/Classes/26475/Chapter%2011%20Section%204.pdf http://blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/moderneurope/tao-he/ http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/kpct/kp_meiji.htm