8.4: Imperialism -T-

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 2

AGE 8. The Time of Citizens and Steam Engines

8.4  Modern Imperialism

-T-

Main questions:

• What was imperialism and were the reasons for imperialism?
• How did the Berlin Conference lead to the Scramble for Africa?
• Dutch imperialism: how did the Dutch use the cultivation system to rule their colony in Asia: the Dutch Indies?
• What were the effects of imperialism?

people in this lesson

Multatuli

Rudyard Kipling

Word Duty

KEY WORDS

imperialism: the occupation of large parts of the world by European nations

white supremacy: the racist view that ‘white’ Europeans are better than other people

Berlin Conference: representatives of European nations met to discuss how Africa should be divided amongst them

Scramble for Africa: the division and occupation of Africa by European powers

Dutch Indies: the name the Dutch gave to their colony on the Indonesian archipelago

cultivation system: a system in which the Dutch forced Indonesian farmers to work for them

Aceh war: military conflict between the Dutch colonial army and rebels from the Aceh island

monoculture, agricultural system in which a country mainly grows one kind of crop.

Important dates in this lesson:

• 1799: Dutch Indies now formal colony of the Netherlands

• 1830: Cultivation System

• 1873 - 1914: Aceh war

• 1885: Berlin Conference

Introduction

For hundreds of years, Europeans traded with Africa and Asia. They mostly stayed along the coast, where they built trading posts and plantations. This changed during the nineteenth century. A search for raw materials and the motivation to rule a huge empire led to imperialism, the occupation of large parts of the world by European countries.

summarize

1. What is imperialism?
2. Which 2 reasons for imperialism are mentioned?

This is the original Watercolour painting by James E McConnell, painted in 1973

The Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion of Zululand in South Africa, a Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1,800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians.

The white man’s burden

In 1899, the British novelist Rudyard Kipling wrote ‘The white man’s burden’. In this famous poem he describes a task for Europeans - the ‘white men’ - to bring civilisation all over the world.

Kipling’s poem is filled with a feeling of white supremacy. This kind of racism was a cultural reason for Europeans to send their armies to Africa and Asia to take over lands. The burden, as Kipling calls it, had to be carried as best as possible to teach ‘savages’ about education, medical care and especially Christianity. People outside the Western world were seen as less developed and sometimes portrayed as such. The colonies would flourish as long as a European country governed it.

summarize

1. explain how white supremacy was a cause for imperialism

This cartoon depicts a representation of Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem “The White Man’s Burden”. It was now Britain’s and the United States’ (which had annexed the Philippines) moral duty to develop and modernise the conquest lands in order to help carry the foreign ‘barbarians’ to civilisation. Published in 1899.

Rudyard Kipling also wrote The Jungle Book.

Economical and political 

reasons for imperialism

European imperialism also had economic motives. Europeans wanted to make more profit from their industries by controlling a cheap supply of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal. They were also looking for raw materials, such as natural rubber from Malaysia, cotton from India and copper from South-Africa. In European factories these raw materials were transformed into finished goods that could be sold in the colonies. For example: cotton was used for textiles, and clothes made of this were sold back to the colonies. In this way the colonies became big markets for European goods.

There was also a political reason for imperialism: European countries wanted to show how powerful they were. Especially the British were very proud of the empire they built during their Victorian Age. It became the largest empire the world has ever seen.

summarize

1. describe the economic motive for imperialism
2. describe the political motive for imperialism

The scramble for Africa

But the British were not the only players. A race for imperialistic power started in which France and the Netherlands expanded the colonies they already owned. Belgium, Italy and Germany joined in after the Berlin Conference in 1885. During this conference, the representatives of fifteen European countries discussed how Africa should be divided amongst them. At this scramble for Africa, no representatives of African tribes were invited. The borders of forty new countries were drawn on the map with straight lines through centuries old tribal areas and borders. Suddenly hostile tribes were about to share one country while other tribes were divided over different countries. In many states this led to a lot of tension among the population.

The conference of Berlin, as illustrated in 'Illustrierte Zeitung', 1884 [WikiCommons]

summarize

1. explain how the Berlin conference caused the "scramble for Africa".
2. what were the effects of European colonisation of Africa for African tribes?

Building an empire in Asia (1)

In the Age of Discoverers, the Europeans had founded trading posts and colonies in Asia. England had conquered India, France had taken over Indo-China, and Portugal still held on to a few bases in Asia. During the Golden Age, the VOC started the Dutch rule on the Indonesian islands; but when the VOC went bankrupt in 1799, the Dutch government took over their possessions. From that moment, the colony was called the Dutch-Indies. Control over the Indonesian archipelago made the Dutch wealthy and a great imperialistic player in the world. In order to get as much profit as possible, the Dutch started the cultivation system (Dutch: ‘cultuurstelsel’) in 1830. Indonesian farmers were forced to use 20% of their soil to grow crops for the Dutch government, such as tea, sugar and coffee. 

summarize

1. When and why did the Indonesian islands become the "Dutch Indies"?
2. Explain the cultivation system (and why it was established)

 Indonesian farmer in de Dutch East Indies, c. 1900.

Native people working for their Dutch masters during the cultivation system in the Dutch Indies (Indonesia)

Building an empire in Asia (2)

If their land was not suitable they had to work for the government for 66 days. Local rulers were allowed to collect the taxes, and they even got bonuses, which led to exploitation of the farmers. The cultivation system led to famine and poverty and made the Dutch very unpopular.

Some inhabitants of Indonesian islands kept resisting imperialism, such as the people of Aceh. The Dutch army was technologically superior, but the local inhabitants resisted bravely. The Aceh war was the bloodiest war in Dutch colonial history. The natives defended their island in a war that lasted from 1873 until 1914. Historians estimate that it took the lives of more than a hundred thousand people.

Lieutenant General J.B. van Heutsz with his staff during the attack on Aceh, March 12, 1901.

summarize

1. explain who helped the Dutch to exploit the farmers (+ how and why).
2. why was the Aceh war fought? (+ who against who?)

Multatuli

Not every Dutch person supported the colonial rule in the Dutch Indies. In 1860 the book Max Havelaar was published. It was written by Multatuli. He had worked in the Dutch Indies as a civil servant and had seen and heard about the wrongdoings of the cultivation system. This motivated him to quit his job and return to Europe. There, he wrote about all the abuses of the Dutch government. The book became a bestseller. It showed the readers that the Netherlands were wealthy because others suffered. Max Havelaar initiated the end of the cultivation system in 1870.

Multatuli is the pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887). It is Latin for ‘I have suffered much.’

Effects of imperialism

Imperialism had an enormous impact on the European nations and their colonies. The Europeans changed the economy of colonies into a monoculture, in which a country mainly grows one kind of crop. They also changed the landscape when they built mines, railways and a road network in order to move products fast and easily. Cities were built according to European architecture, and at schools the children were taught about Christianity, European values and languages.

In these newly formed countries, the traditional culture was replaced with European culture. The Europeans also established an administrative order, which sometimes brought internal peace and gave children the chance to study. These highly educated natives later led the rebellion against their oppressors.

summarize

1. summarize the impact that imperialism had on their colonies. use key words for example
2. explain how giving native children the chance to study, later backfired on the colonizing countries.

A house in European style at Java, 1865.

Christian missionaries were part of European colonization. When Germany acquired colonies, German missionaries went there to educate and Christianize the indigenous peoples in the name of German culture. Here is the first-grade class in a missionary school (elementary school) in Windhuk, Southwest Africa around 1910.

You have finished with this lesson:
- You have read the texts
- You have made the summary
- You have done the practise questions.
Are you well prepared for a test or do you need additional help?

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