Transcript Slide 1

THE PRINCIPLES OF IMPERIALISM
“EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM”
AP World History
Unit 4
“OLD IMPERIALISM”
Occurred between 16th and 18th centuries.
 European powers did not usually acquire territory
but rather built a series of trading stations.
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Respected and frequently cooperated with local
rulers in India, China, Japan, Indonesia, and other
areas.
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Except for Spain in Americas and Portugal in Brazil.
These were areas where trade flourished between
locals and European coastal trading centers.
Economic penetration of non-European regions in
the 19th century.
THE NEW IMPERIALISM: MOTIVES AND METHODS
The New Imperialism was a massive explosion of
territorial conquest.
 The imperial powers used economic and
technological means to reorganize dependent
regions.
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This brought them into the world economy as suppliers
of food and raw materials, and as consumers of
industrial products.
In Africa and other parts of the world, this was
done by conquest and colonial administration.
THE TOOLS OF THE
IMPERIALISTS
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The Industrial Revolution provided technological innovations
that made it possible for Europeans and Americans to build
the “New Imperialism.”
Steamships, the Suez Canal, and submarine cables gave
European forces greater mobility and better communications
than Africans, Asians, or Latin Americans.
The discovery that quinine could be used to prevent malaria
allowed Europeans to enter Africa in large numbers for the
first time.
The invention of the breech loader, smokeless powder, and
the machine gun widened the gap in the use of firearms and
made colonial conquests easier than ever before.
IMPERIALISM AND THE
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
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The Industrial revolution brought about a greater need
for raw materials.
As a result many European countries began to seek raw
materials from the continents of Asia, Africa, and South
America.
While seeking out these raw materials the Europeans
established their rule on these continents expanding an
empire.
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Colonialism!
Western imperialism was not new.
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Europeans had been influencing or conquering parts of the
world since the 1400’s.
Columbus
 Spanish
 U.S. grew from coast to coast during 1700’s.
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IMPERIALISM
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Imperialism:
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Colonialism:
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Process through which a state attempts to
control the economic, political, and/or
cultural makeup of another state.
The most developed form of Imperialism
whereby the controlling state invades
another state/region so as to exploit its
resources and/or for the purposes of largescale production.
Between 1815-1914 the West (Europe
and America) increased their control of the
world’s land mass from 35%-85%!
NEW IMPERIALISM
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In the 1870s, Europeans
colonized Asia and Africa by
using military force to take
control of local governments.
Exploited local economies for
the raw materials required by
Europe’s growing industry.
Imposing Western values to
benefit the “backwards”
colonies.
EUROPEAN MOTIVES FOR
COLONIZATION
1.
Industrial Revolution.
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2.
European Racism.
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Sources of raw materials.
Markets for finished goods.
“White Man’s Burden”
Social Darwinism.
European Nationalism.
Missionary Activities.
Military and Naval Bases.
Places to dump unwanted or excess population.
Social and Economic Opportunities.
Humanitarian Reasons.
CAUSES OF IMPERIALISM
ECONOMIC
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Industrialization gave the West the ability to
conquer other parts of the world.
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Large-scale industrial production made Western
factories demand more raw materials.
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This could be seized from less powerful nations.
Western nations needed markets for the goods
produced.
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As well as more reasons to do so.
Colonies would serve as potential markets.
Immense wealth allowed the Western world to
conquer far-off places.
MILITARY
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Industrialization provided new weaponry for the
armies and navies of the West:
Ocean-going fleets.
 Modern rifles and rapid-fire artillery.
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Native populations rarely resisted Western military
forces.
 Growing need of Western nations to maintain
bases and coal/oil stations around the world for
naval and civilian fleets.
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Ships required repairs and refueling stations at
strategic locations globally.
SOCIAL
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Europe’s rapid population growth during the
1800’s played a role in prompting imperial
activity.
 Immigration
to the Americas was an outlet.
 Millions came to the Americas.
 Another outlet was to leave home for colonial life.
 Ambitious
or desperate families
attempted to make their fortunes this way.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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Instrumental in allowing the West to conquer and
colonize.
Knowledge was power.
 Advances in transportation, communication, and warfare
brought by the Industrial Revolution enabled Western
nations to build empires.
 New wave of exploration allowed for better knowledge of
the geography of the world.
 Medical advances
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 Made
possible for Europeans and Americans to press into tropical
regions.

Quinine helped relieve symptoms of malaria & yellow fever.
CULTURAL
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Sense of racial superiority was
widespread among Westerners.
 Created
a sense that Western
nations were entitled to conquer
& colonize areas that appeared
“backwards” or “primitive”.
 Cecil
Rhodes, British imperialist, “I
contend that we are the finest race
in the world, and the more of it we
inhabit, the better.”
CULTURAL
In some cases, the belief was “justified” in
crude and prejudiced ways.
 In other ways, the theory of social Darwinism
was used to argue in favor of imperialism.
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 Misguided
application of “survival of the fittest”
and natural selection.
 People
who were technologically and culturally advanced
were permitted to conquer those who were less.
CULTURAL
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Social Darwinism.
 West
had a sense of racial superiority Darwin’s
theory of “natural selection” and “survival of the
fittest” applied to the human societies.
 Destruction and conquest of weaker races was
nature’s way of improving the species.
CULTURAL
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Genuine conviction that it was the duty of white
Westerners to teach and modernize the darker-skinned,
supposedly “primitive” peoples, of Africa and Asia.
English poet Rudyard Kipling, “White Man’s Burden”.
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Attitude was well-meaning and heartfelt, but also
condescending.
European and American missionaries, doctors, and
scientists, and colonial officials sometimes did good in the
places they visited.
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They did so out of a subconscious sense of racial superiority, and
often trampled on the beliefs and ideas of the natives.
Interesting fact, he also wrote The Jungle Book.
MIGRATION AND ADVANTAGES
EUROPEAN MIGRATION
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Between 1815 and 1932 more than 60 million people
left Europe.
Migrants went primarily to European-inhabited areas:
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North and South America
Australia
New Zealand
Siberia
European migration provided further incentive for
Western expansion.
Most were poor from rural areas, but not from the
poorest classes.
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Due to oppressive land policies.
WESTERN ADVANTAGES
Strong economies.
 Well-organized governments.
 Powerful armed forces.
 Superior technology and medicine.
 Maxim gun.
 Quinine.
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FORMS OF IMPERIAL CONTROL
POLITICAL
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Usually in the form of a colony.
Governors and soldiers sent to control the people.
Direct Rule:
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The actual administration of government by representatives
of the imperial power, usually supported by military and
civilian services.
French tried direct rule.
Indirect Rule:
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Ruling through cooperation with a native ruler or rulers who
profit from the relationship.
British used indirect rule.
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Example was the Raj in India.
ECONOMIC
Domination of the economy and trade of the
weaker nation.
 In fact, this also affects political decisions and,
therefore, sovereignty.
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 In
the 20th century would come to be known as
“neo-colonialism”.
PROTECTORATE
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A stronger nation “protects” a weaker nation
from others.
 It
still has great influence over the affairs of the
“protected” nation
 Supposed to listen to advice of mother country.
Local rulers left in place.
 Costs less to run than a colony.
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SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
An area over which a
powerful nation claims a
“vital interest” and, in
reality, claims the right to
exert dominance.
 An outside power claimed
economic (trading)
privileges.
 China was the best
example.
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HOW IMPERIALISTS CHANGED
LOCAL SOCIETY
IMPERIALISTS USUALLY…
Substituted the local government system, legal
system, and education system with their own.
 Substituted local economic practices with their
own.
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Example include land ownership and trade.
Substituted local cultural practices.
Examples include language, dress, and social customs
 Video clip from the movie The Rabbit Proof Fence.
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 Showing
the efforts to change the culture of the Aborigines
in Australia.
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Sometimes brutally, sometimes using a
sympathetic local groups.
LAND CONTROLLED BY OTHER
IMPERIALISTS…
BESIDES THE BRITISH
THE FRENCH
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French Indochina.
 Laos,
Cambodia, and Vietnam
French Africa
 Islands in the Caribbean.
 Tahiti.
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THE RUSSIANS
Siberia.
 Spheres of influence in Manchuria & Korea.
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THE UNITED STATES
Guam
 Philipines
 Cuba
 Puerto Rico
 Hawaii
 Samoa & other Pacific
Islands
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THE JAPANESSE
Taiwan
 Sphere of influence in
Korea & Manchuria.
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IMPACT OF IMPERIALISM
PERCENTAGE OF EUROPEAN POSSESSIONS
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European countries and their possessions as a
percentage of the world land mass.
 1800
= 55%
 1878 = 67%
 1914 = 84%
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WOW…this looks like it would be a great
concept for a map assignment! 
THE WORLD ECONOMY
AND
THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
EXPANSION OF THE WORLD ECONOMY
The industrial revolution greatly expanded the
demand for spices, silk, agricultural goods, and
raw materials in the industrialized countries.
 The growing need for these products could not be
met by traditional methods of production and
transportation.
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The imperialists brought their colonies into the
mainstream of the world market and introduced new
technologies.
The greatest change was in transportation.
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Canals, steamships, harbor improvements, and
railroads cut travel time and lowered freight costs.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
The economic changes brought by Europeans
and Americans altered environments around
the world.
 Forests were cleared for tea plantations.
 Plant species were identified and classified.
 Commercially valuable plants were transported
from one tropical region to another.
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TRANSFORMATION OF THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
The expansion of permanent agriculture and
the increased use of irrigation and water
control led to increased agricultural production
in both well-watered and dry areas of the
tropics.
 Agricultural development supported larger
populations, but it also put more pressure on
the land.
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TRANSFORMATION OF THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
Railroads consumed vast amounts of land,
timber, iron, and coal while opening up
previously remote land to development.
 The demand for gold, iron, and other minerals
fueled a mining boom that brought toxic run-off
from open mines and from slag heaps.
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THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
LEGACY OF IMPERIALISM
POSITIVE:
THE BENEFITS
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Infrastructure development.
 Ports,
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roads, railroads, etc.
Advantages of European institutions.
 Schools,
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hospitals, legal systems, etc.
Economic development of resources.
NEGATIVE:
THE DISADVANTAGES
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Exploitation of native populations for “cheap labor”.
Resources were exported to the advantage of Europe.
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Some depleted.
Dependency on economic systems.
Later, no preparation for independence.
Devaluation of traditional cultures.
Long term legacy of poverty in the world economic
system.
Led to independence movements after WWII.
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Some peaceful and some violent.