European Imperialism in Africa and Asia

* Drive (Why do it?)

- European industrialization created need for markets and raw materials

-> metals, coal, fiber plants, and rubber needed to feed factories

-> someone needs to buy all the goods produced

=> European factory workers only need so much cloth or so many forks

- competition

-> as European countries take colonies, other powers want to keep up

-> even before proof of benefits, a rush to cut up the world

-> England, France, Portugal, Spain, and Dutch in first

-> U.S., Belgium, Germany, and Italy play catch-up

* Ability

- steam ships radically cut passage time, increase transport capacity

- rail allows penetration of the interior

- quinine makes it possible to survive malaria

- machine gun allows you to exterminate pesky natives

- capital growth in Europe creates massive funds for use

* Models of control of the "The Natives"

- direct rule

-> the French, German, Belgian, and Portuguese model (usually)

-> paternalistic European professionals run the colonies

=> boss white man tells you what to do and how to do it

-> locals assimilated into European culture if possible

=> French taught French and French history as much as possible

=> destroys local culture as much as possible

-> European governors take all credit and blame

=> good in success, nightmarish when locals see your weaknesses

- indirect rule

-> the British model (usually)

-> relied on existing local leaders

=> those groups/individuals who don't cooperate are destroyed

=> those who do cooperate are rewarded

+> Brits looked of malleable (shapeable/controllable) respectable locals

=> British created leaders who were then dependent on Brits for their power

instead of dependent on their people

+> they care more about what is good for the Brits than for their own people

-> this process allows you to play the locals off against each other

=> blame for colonial oppression falls on local leaders

=> requests for improvement go through local leaders, so Brits barely have to

listen

-> does preserve some local customs and rules

=> cultures controlled and warped, but not destroyed

* Resistance

- with poor resources and technology, active resistance was difficult

-> colonial conquest was relatively easy after the machine gun and quinine

- careful use of diplomacy could give breathing room

-> Menelik II of Ethiopia played European powers off against each other

=> he had no army, so used the threat of others'

-> as he stalled, Menelik also built up a decent modern army

=> Italy finally did make a play and was beaten off at the Battle of Adowa

-> Ethiopia a lucky exception, not a replicable model

=> had their been diamonds in Ethiopia, it falls

- resistance often centered on everyday stubbornness

-> locals refused to show up for work details

-> European "improvements" were destroyed in the night

-> taxes evaded

-> created chieftains strangled in their beds

-> midnight and back-bush traditional ceremonies take place outside of the colonial v

vision

=> occasional rebellions like that of the Mau Mau Revolt in Kenya

* Long-term effects of colonialism

- African, Indian, Vietnamese, Pakistani, etc. nationalism

-> the invasion of European nations created counter-nationalisms

-> the arbitrary boundaries that the Europeans carved created nations out of nothing

=> often, boundaries united unconnected people

+> Nigeria, Congo, Kenya, etc. a hodge-podge of groups

=> often, these boundaries combined enemies

+> slaughter between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda

+> Muslims and Hindus in India

=> sometimes, boundaries divided united people

+> Middle Eastern Muslims

+> Kuwaiti border an issue for Iraq

-> the first independence leaders of Africa had learned the nationalistic model from Europe

=> an ironic triumph of assimilation

- undeniable benefits of colonialism

-> railroads and roads did unite areas

=> despite corruption and exploitation, they were still a benefit

-> European medical knowledge spread

=> horrifying African diseases treated

-> local warfare was reduced

=> now, everyone was oppressed by the same white people

-> schools, universities, hospitals, and literacy spread

- decline of African culture

-> European religion and law seriously impacted African religions

-> family and marriage structures limited to the European model by law where

possible

-> traditional education undermined by the obvious survival/success necessity of

European education

=> traditional educational models actively fought by colonial powers

-> more powerful African groups assimilated smaller, weaker African groups

=> a sort of subsidiary colonialism

=> need for anti-European unity pushed local groups to an unnatural uniformity

+> Sati in India as an invented "national" tradition

+> the Zulu state as pan-African amalgamation

-> local agricultural and economic models erased

=> communal ownership and control privatized

=> inter-group trade relations cut by borders and taxes

=> transition to cash crops often created famine as food crops abandoned

=> best land stolen by the Whites