European Imperialism
Imperialism: a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.
Imperial Nations developed several different ways of organizing and governing the many territories in their empires.
Colony: a territory governed by a foreign power
Protectorate: a territory that has its own government but is controlled by a foreign power
Sphere: of influence a territory in which a country claims exclusive political or economic rights.
Imperial Nations developed several different ways of organizing and governing the many territories in their empires.
Colony: a territory governed by a foreign power
Protectorate: a territory that has its own government but is controlled by a foreign power
Sphere: of influence a territory in which a country claims exclusive political or economic rights.
SEPOY MUTINY
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The British East India Company won rights to trade with India in the 1600s. They started small and gradually took more and more territory. To defend this territory from invaders the company built up its own army, made up of British and Indian troops called Sepoys. By 1857 there were 230,000 Sepoys in the British East India Company’s army and only 40,000 British soldiers. That an almost 6-1 ratio. At this time the Indians and British had a fairly good relationship founded in respect. Both countries were benefiting from the relationship. India produced raw materials for Britain – cotton, indigo and jute. India also exported spices, sugar, tea and wheat. British manufactured goods sold to India and railroads were built in the area. However, in May 1857 a rebellion amongst the Sepoys broke out as they took up arms against the British soldiers.
A Cause of the Sepoy Rebellion: The Enfield Rifle
The mutiny was, literally, triggered by a gun. Sepoys throughout India were issued with a new rifle, the Pattern of 1853 Enfield Percussion cap rifled musket - a more powerful and accurate weapon than the old smoothbore Brown Bess they had been using for the last several decades. The innovations were that the firing mechanism switched from the old, unreliable Flintlock to Percussion caps, and rifling inside the musket barrel ensured accuracy at much greater distances than was possible with old smoothbore muskets. One thing did not change in this new musket - the loading process, which did not change significantly till the introduction of metallic cartridges a few decades later. |
THE OPIUM WAR
Why did Great Britain go to war over the sale of illegal drugs? During the 1700s tea became a popular drink among the British. China was the sole source of tea. Despite Britain’s position as the world’s greatest industrial power, China had little interest in buying anything Britain produced. So, to pay for its tea habit, Britain sent vast quantities of silver to China. Year after year, silver was leaving Britain for China, and little money was coming back.
To correct the imbalance, Britain needed to find a product that the Chinese would buy, and it found one—opium. Opium had been grown in Asia for centuries, but the Chinese emperor had outlawed the opium trade in 1729. Even so, British traders had been smuggling in small quantities of opium from Britain’s territories in India for years. Because of the desire to send silver back to Britain, the British East India Company increasingly ignored opium smuggling in the territory it controlled.
Opium had a devastating effect on China. Workers and peasants fell victim to the drug. It is impossible to know exact figures, but some historians estimate that as many as 1 out of every 10 Chinese were addicted to opium. The drug’s destructive effects on Chinese society led the emperor to stand firm against the British smuggling. Commissioner Lin Zixu wrote a letter to Queen Victoria, stating the Chinese case.
“Let us ask, where is your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries—how much less to China!” The British never responded to Lin’s letter. When Lin ordered the destruction of British opium stored in the city of Guangzhou, the British struck back by sending warships to China. The Opium War had begun.
To correct the imbalance, Britain needed to find a product that the Chinese would buy, and it found one—opium. Opium had been grown in Asia for centuries, but the Chinese emperor had outlawed the opium trade in 1729. Even so, British traders had been smuggling in small quantities of opium from Britain’s territories in India for years. Because of the desire to send silver back to Britain, the British East India Company increasingly ignored opium smuggling in the territory it controlled.
Opium had a devastating effect on China. Workers and peasants fell victim to the drug. It is impossible to know exact figures, but some historians estimate that as many as 1 out of every 10 Chinese were addicted to opium. The drug’s destructive effects on Chinese society led the emperor to stand firm against the British smuggling. Commissioner Lin Zixu wrote a letter to Queen Victoria, stating the Chinese case.
“Let us ask, where is your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries—how much less to China!” The British never responded to Lin’s letter. When Lin ordered the destruction of British opium stored in the city of Guangzhou, the British struck back by sending warships to China. The Opium War had begun.
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BOXER REBELLION
In 1900, in what became known as the Boxer Rebellion (or the Boxer Uprising), a Chinese secret organization called the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists led an uprising in northern China against the spread of Western and Japanese influence there. The rebels, referred to by Westerners as Boxers because they performed physical exercises they believed would make them able to withstand bullets, killed foreigners and Chinese Christians and destroyed foreign property. From June to August, the Boxers besieged the foreign district of Beijing (then called Peking), China’s capital, until an international force that included American troops subdued the uprising. By the terms of the Boxer Protocol, which officially ended the rebellion in 1901, China agreed to pay more than $330 million in reparations.
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EUROPEAN MOTIVES:
Desire for Natural Resources: 1. Europeans want oil, rubber, diamonds (Africa) and cotton (India) 2. The British East India dominated India politically, economically and culturally (beneficial to large Empire and feed industrial markets) Cultural Superiority 1. Eurocentricism -Belief that European culture is superior to others 2. White Mans Burden by Rudyard Kipling 3. Use religion as a mask for underlying motive – build religious schools convert natives to Christianity |
MOTIVES IN AVATAR
Desire for Natural Resources: 1. Humans want to obtainUnobtanium from moon of Pandora to save Earth from energy crisis 2. The Resources Development Administration dominated Pandora and the Na’vi Cultural Superiority 1. Parker and the military are completely dismissive of Na’vi culture 2. Examples: there are millions of trees they can move – it’s a tree 3. “These people have to learn we don’t stop” |
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