European Colonialism and Imperialism

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European Colonialism and Imperialism
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What was Colonialism?
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Colonialism

• Oxford English Dictionary definition an
  alleged policy of exploitation of backward or
  weak peoples by a large power.
• Must involve colonies

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What was Imperialism?
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Imperialism

• OED the policy of extending the rule or
  influence and power of one people/ruler/country
  over another
• Many forms and degrees
• Economic influence
• opening (i.e. China and Japan)
• Colonialism

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The Rise of Global Inequality

• In 1750 European standard of living about the
  same as the Rest of the world
• Industrial Revolution left the Rest behind,
  Britain leading
• Non-Western parts of the world stagnated
• Imperialism extended these gains
• The Rest are still recovering

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Economic imperialism

• Growing World Market
• Globalization
• Why?

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Trade became faster, more efficient. How?

• Railroads, after 1830

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Steam ships
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Suez Canal (completed 1869)
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Suez Canal (completed 1869)
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Panama Canal (completed 1914)
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Panama Canal (completed 1914)
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From the mid-nineteenth century France, Germany,
and Britain invested massively abroad
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The Opening of China and Japan

• Opium triangle Britain-India-China
• Opium wars 1839-1860
• British force Qing Dynasty to trade Opening
  of China
• China divided into spheres of influence
• US Navy forced Japan to open its ports to foreign
  trade (1853-1858).

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Emigration from Europe, 1800s

• The Great Migration
• Population of Europe increased from 188 million
  to 432 million between 1800 and 1900
• An underestimate, because between 1815 and 1932
  60 million people left Europe
• Emigration peaked, 1900-1914
• About one third of all European emigrants came
  from Britain and Ireland
• German emigration peaked later (1880s) than
  British, and Italians and East Europeans left
  even later (increasing through 1914).

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Emigration from Europe (cont.)

• Less than half of European emigrants went to the
  USA.
• Others went to Asiatic Russia, Canada, Argentina,
  Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.
• Most European migrants were young, unmarried
  peasant farmers or village craftsmen.
• Some ethnic groups, such as Italians or those
  from the Balkans, had a high rate of return to
  their homelands.
• For some emigrants, such as Jews from the Russian
  empire, and the Irish in the British empire,
  emigration was an escape from oppression and
  poverty.