Patterns of Change: Imperialism

1. Patterns of Change:Imperialism KEY IDEA: Europeans embarked on a new phase of empire-building that affected both Africa and the rest of the world.

2. Colonial Control Takes Many Forms • European nations wanted to control more of the life of their conquered peoples. As a result, each colonized region operated under one of these forms: • colony—governed by a foreign power • protectorate—allowed its own government but was under the control of a foreign power. • sphere of influence—claimed as the exclusive investment or trading realm of a foreign power. • economic imperialism—controlled by private businesses rather than by a foreign government

3. Indirect Control • Indirect control relied on existing political rulers. • Each colony had a legislative council that included colonial officials as well as native members nominated by the colonial governor. • The assumption was that the councils would train the local leaders in the British methods of government.

5. Direct Control • The French and other colonial powers preferred direct control of their colonies. • The viewed the “uncivilized” natives as their children unable to handle the complexity of running a country. • They gave them everything that they needed but offered them no rights. This is called Paternalism.

6. Assimilation • The French supported the idea of assimilation. • They believed that in time the Africans would absorb French culture. • All local schools, courts and businesses were pattered after the French institutions and all citizens were required to speak French. • Assimilation failed.

7. British Control of Nigeria • Britain tried to rule Nigeria through indirect control. Because the area was huge and peopled by many different groups, it was difficult for the British to rule directly. • The British freed some of the slaves on the West African coast in return for their help with overtaking other groups. • The British used old tribal rivalries to gain land.

8. Indirect Control Doesn’t Always Work • When the British gained control of an area, they let local chiefs maintain order and collect the taxes. • The system did not always work. The British appointed chiefs. The British put chiefs in charge of people who had not ruled by chiefs before. Furthermore, the British greatly limited the power of the appointed chiefs. • Thus, the British were putting a new system in place, and it did not work well.

9. The Natives Rebel • Some Africans tried to resist imperialism. • Sometimes, African societies tried to enter into alliances with European in an attempt to negotiate their independence. • People in Algeria fought against the French for almost 50 years. • These attempts at resistance ultimately failed.

10. The Maji Maji Rebellion • In German East Africa, thousands died when they tried to use spiritual power to fight German machine guns. • The natives believed that a magic water would protect them from the bullets of German machine guns. • Nearly 26,000 natives were killed during that uprising. More than twice that number died as a result of starvation in the famine that followed.

11. Ethiopia Resists Colonial Rule • Only in Ethiopia did resistance succeed. There, Emperor Menelik II cleverly played one European country against another. • The Battle of Adowa- In 1896, he used European weapons to defeat an invading Italian army. This was one of the greatest Battles in the history of Africa With this victory, Ethiopia stayed independent.

12. Benefits of Colonial Rule • Africans did enjoy some benefits from colonial rule. • European governments put an end to ethnic conflict. • Colonial powers brought African economies fully into the world market and built railroads, dams, and telephone and telegraph lines

13. Disadvantages of Colonial Rule • For the most part, though, imperialism caused damage. Traditional African society was destroyed. • People were forced out of their homes and made to work under horrible conditions. • The political boundaries that Europeans drew had no relation to ethnic divisions in Africa. • These boundaries created problems many decades later when the colonies became independent nations.

14. Muslim Lands Fall toImperialist Demands KEY IDEA European nations expand their empires by seizing territories from Muslim states.

15. The Ottoman Empire : Loses Power • The Ottoman Empire, based in modern Turkey, had lasted for hundreds of years. After the death of Suleiman in 1566, the empire was divided into several competing factions. As a result, the Ottoman empire fell behind Europe in scientific, administrative and mechanical achievement. • By the 1800s, it was weak. In 1830, Greece won its independence and Serbia won the right to govern itself. • European nations eyed what remained of the empire hungrily

16. Oil! • The geography of the Ottoman Empire was very attractive to the European powers because the Ottomans had control of both the Mediterranean and Atlantic sea trade. • Russia, a land locked nation, tried to ally itself with the Ottomans in an attempt to gain access to the Black Sea. • Discovery of oil in Persia focused event more attention on the region.

17. Russia and the Crimean War • Russia hoped to win control of the Black Sea so it could ship grain across the Mediterranean Sea. • The Crimean War broke out in 1853. The Russians wanted to gain land on the Black Sea coast. The Russians were defeated by the Ottomans who had been joined by Britain and France. • Britain and France joined with the Ottomans because they did not Russia gaining any additional Ottoman land.

18. The Ottomans Lose Their Empire • Still, the Ottomans later lost almost all of their land in Europe and parts of Africa.

19. Egypt Tries Reform • By 1914, the empire was much smaller than it had ever been. • Muslim leaders, seeing this decline, decided to modernize their countries. They were inspired by the French Revolution.

20. Muhammad Ali Looks to the Future • In Egypt, Muhammad Ali broke away from Ottoman control. • He put in place reforms to change the army and the economy. He brought Egypt into the international market place. • He pushed Egypt’s farmers to grow cotton, a cash crop in demand in Europe. • However, peasants suffered when they were turned away from growing food.

21. The Suez Canal • Ali’s Grandson supported the construction of the Suez canal. This canal linked the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. • It was built with French money and Egyptian labor.

22. Money Trouble • The Suez canal became very important to the international community. • When Egypt could not afford to maintain the canal, Great Britain insisted on overseeing the financial control of the canal. In 1882, Britain occupied Egypt. • British control of the canal gave Great Britain greater access to its colonies in Asia and Africa.

23. Black Gold • In the early 1900s, oil was discovered in Persia. • A British company signed an agreement with Persia’s ruler to develop these oil fields. • Persians rebelled against their ruler-who was corrupt-and the growing influence of Europeans.

24. Persia Pressured to Change • In Persia, the Russians and the British competed for control with local powers. • Russia wanted to win Persia to have access to the Indian Ocean. • Britain wanted some land there as a barrier between Russia and its colony in India.

25. A Need for Cash leads to Revolt • Persia was in desperate need of money. As a way to raise additional capital, the Persian ruler began granting contracts to Western business. • In return for the money, these business bought the right in a certain area or develop a certain product. • Most of these contracts involved the oil industry.

26. The Tobacco Boycott • The Persians also began to grant contracts to the tobacco industry. • The Persian people, angry about the concessions to the West, began to boycott tobacco. • This boycott resulted in revolution. • The Russians and British were quick to try to fill the power vacuum left when the Persian leader was deposed.

27. In 1907, Britain and Russia divided Persia into two spheres of influence. • Persia remained under the control of the imperial powers until the 1950s.

28. The End