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10. Colonial Encounters in Asia, Africa, Oceania

European conquests, second wave

first wave: 1500s-1600s takeover of Americas

second wave: 1750-1900

Asia, Africa, Oceania

major participants: Germany, Italy, Belgium, United States, Japan

minor participants: Spain, Portugal

Informal control

Europeans preferred informal control

no wholesale colonial takeover

economic penetration

occasional military intervention

reasons

cheaper

less likely to provoke wars

sometimes invoked conquest/colonial rule when necessary

Construction of empires

Using moments of weakness

used to strengthen control

“Each global drought was the green light for an imperialist landrush” (scholar talking about climatic instability of that caused monsoons in Asia, Africa to repeatedly fail)

1877: drought in Africa coincided with British success in taking over Zulu independence

late 1880s: famine in Ethiopia coincided with Italian efforts to subdue Horn of Africa

Military threat and force

increasingly in 19th: Europe possessed overwhelming advantages in firepower

recently invented repeating rifles, machine guns

often fought long and hard to create new empires (wars of conquest)

prevailed almost everywhere due to technological advantage

Peoples

all kinds of peoples lost political sovereignty and freedom of action

gathering and hunting bands (Australia)

agricultural village societies, chiefdoms (Pacific islands, parts of Africa)

pastoralists (Sahara, Central Asia)

states large and small

India

Southeast Asia

sometimes exchange of one set of foreign rulers for another (e.g. Hindus ruled by Muslim Mughals)

Colonial conquest

Interaction with European trading firms

trading firms authorized to conduct military operations, exercise political and administrative control over large areas

South Asia (e.g. India)

British East India Company played leading role (not government)

facilitated and invited by concurrent events

fragmentation of Mughal Empire

absence of overall sense of cultural or political unity

no clear-cut plan; evolved slowly as local authorities and European traders made/unmade alliances

Indonesia

Dutch

small and rival states

no clear-cut plan; some areas remained independent until early 20th

Africa

colonial conquest came later, during later 19th

more abrupt, deliberate than India, Indonesia

scramble for Africa

began with Berlin Conference of 1884-1885

organized by Otto van Bismarck, first chancellor of Germany

hoped that Europeans would claim lands and avoid wars among themselves

Africans could not resist Europeans’ weapons and professional armies; most African autonomy/self-governance ended

Europeans divided with little regard to ethnic and linguistic divisions

by 1914: only Liberia, Ethiopia outside European control

half-dozen European powers partitioned entire continent among themselves (1875-1900)

European leaders were surprised by own intensity of rivalries, speed with which they acquired huge territories

extensive process

endless but peaceful negotiations among Great Powers about who gets what

military action to make control effective

French took 16 years *1882-1898) to fully conquer recently-created West African empire led by Samori Toure

most difficult to subdue: decentralized societies without formal state structure

no central authority to negotiate or defeat

village-by-village conquest against resistance

South Africa: difficult for British

Battle of Isandlwana, 1879: British defeated by Zulu army

Boer War, 1899-1902: Boers (white descendants of earlier Dutch settlers in South Africa) fought but eventually succumbed to British

Pacific Oceania

Europeans, Americans attracted during 18th

exploration

scientific curiosity

missionary impulse for conversion

economic interests

sperm whale oil

coconut oil

guano

mineral nitrates, phosphates

sandalwood

competitive annexations of all of Oceania’s islands

Britain

France

Netherlands

Germany

United States

Australia

Chile

Disease

Australia, New Zealand were more similar to earlier colonization of North America

accompanied by large-scale European settlement and diseases

became settler colonies; “neo-European”

Polynesia, Amazonia, Siberia

disease wiped out peoples that lacked immunities

in Africa, Asia, most regions had broadly similar disease environment; less susceptible

Other areas

United States westward expansion

overwhelmed Native American populations

became involved in imperialist war in Mexico

sought territory; removed/exterminated native peoples

sent to “reservations”, boarding schools

sought to “civilize” remaining Native Americans

eradicated tribal life and culture

“Kill the Indian and Save the Man”

Asia

Japan in Taiwan, Korea was similar to European imperialism

Russia in Central Asia brought additional millions under European control; Russian Empire continued expansion

United States in Philippines, replaced Spain after Spanish-American War of 1898

freed American slaves migrated to West Africa; became colonizing elite in Liberia

Avoiding colonization

Ethiopia (West Africa), Siam (Thailand)

reasons

military, diplomatic skills

willingness to make modest concessions to Europeans

rivalries of imperialists

Ethiopia even expanded own empire; defeated Italy at Battle of Adowa (1896)

Locals’ responses

many initially sought to enlist Europeans in internal struggles or rivalries with neighbors

some tried to play off imperial powers against each other

some resorted to military action

societies became sharply divided

those who wanted to fight

those who believed resistance was futile

some negotiated to try to keep as much independence and power as possible

Buganda (East Africa): negotiated arrangement that enlarged their state, personally benefited elite class