HANDOUT ON IMPERIALISM

Student Learning Competencies

1. State the causes, methods and effects of imperialism.

2. Relate imperialism to the intensification of the Industrial Revolution.

Definition of Imperialism

Imperialism is monopoly capitalism that aims at creating a global empire by controlling the markets
of the world, subjugating other nation’s economically, politically, and culturally, and gaining cheap
labor, raw materials, and controlling markets to sell off their finished products.

Imperialist methods include:

1. Divide and rule tactics, exacerbating ethnic, regional, and religious differences and creating
new differences to keep the local populace from having a united resistance.
2. Violent suppression of opposition (with the use of the Maxim gun which was the first
automatic machine gun.
3. Direct military takeover.
4. Indirect rule by engaging local collaborators with promises of wealth and power.
5. The use of religion to make the people submit to the yoke of oppression.
6. Quota system to make the populace work harder with threats of punishment such as the
cutting of hands in Congo.
7. Establishing a “protectorate” as a guise to colonize.
8. Establishing a partnership to fight a common enemy with promises of treaties and trade.

Reasons why Industrial revolution is closely related to imperialism:

1. Capitalist cutthroat competition drives corporations to intensify mass production in which

the key is technological and industrial development.
2. Mass production would require new sources of raw materials which can be found in the
colonies.
3. Mass production would require new markets to sell products to.
4. Competition means increasing profits by lessening the cost of production. One way to lessen
costs of production is to get cheap labor or even slave labor from the colonies.
5. Industrial development would complement the build up of armaments needed for
imperialist expansion.

Features of Imperialism

1. Dominance of monopolies.

A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations
University reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year
2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. The bottom half
of the world adult population owned 1% of global wealth.[10] Moreover, another study found
that the richest 2% own more than half of global household assets.[11]

2. Merging of bank capital with industrial capital.

 The collapse of the Lehman Brothers and the AIG, two of the world’s biggest banks created a
global financial crisis because they have assets distributed over many large corporations around
the world.

3. Export of capital as differentiated from the export of commodities.

 Speculative capital which can be easily transmitted through the internet can make or break
any local economy.
 When the stock market crashes, the global economy also crashes because this represent the
export not only of commodities but also the export of capital on a global scale.

4. Formation of a new global financial oligarchy.

The Global 500 has 25 percent of gross world output, and the Fortune 500 has 42 percent of U.S.
gross national product. The
world economy grows by two
to three percent per year;
transnational corporations
grow by 8 to 10 percent. The
ten largest corporations
revenues are $801 billion,
more than the hundred
smallest countries.

The IMF-World Bank is the

bank of the world’s largest corporations which aims at making owing countries subject to
tyrannical conditionalities.

5. Territorial division of the world according to the greatest capitalist powers.

Ex. European Union, North American Free Trade Organization, Shanghai Cooperation Organization
etc.

DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM

Source: Henry Schwarz; Sangeeta Ray (2004). A Companion To Postcolonial Studies. John
Wiley & Sons. p. 271. http://books.google.com/books?id=eyiZafDHpqoC&pg=PA271.

IMPERIALISM COLONIALISM
SIMILARITIES Both Colonizes weaker groups
Both compelled by competition and the search for resources, markets, and cheap
labor.
DIFFERENCES Does more than colonize; also fights rival
imperialists, maintains an empire, creates war
alliances, develops and sell arms, creates proxy
wars on the local and international level, and
creates hegemony in economic, political, socio-
cultural and military spheres.
Imperialism is not necessary an outcome of
colonialism but can lead to it.
Colonizers may not necessarily
be imperialists vying for global
domination.
Colonialism is an outcome of
imperialism.

IMPERIALISM IN AFRICA

 The first wave of colonialism in Africa resulted in modern day slavery but the Europeans
were never able to penetrate deeply into African territory because of virus that killed many
of Europeans as well as their horses.
 With the industrial revolution, the invention of steamships and railroad systems was able to
solve the problem of transportation and the discovery of new medicines to counter malaria
and other African viruses immunized the Europeans.
 The motive behind this new wave of colonization was brought about by imperialist interests
in raw materials such as rubber, palm oil, gold, diamonds, ivory, cotton, coffee, tea, cloves,
and minerals.

 The Berlin Conference in 1884-1885, attended by 14 European countries with no

representative from Africa agreed to partition Africa among themselves and to unite against
any form of African rebellion. Portugal expanded its control over Angola and Mozambique,
Belgium took over the giant Congo region, and Germany gained new colonies in southern
Africa. Britain and France, the big winners, gained new territory in West Africa, and Britain
built a network of colonies in East Africa running from South Africa to Egypt. The French
occupation of Morocco and the Italian conquest of Tripoli, after 1900, completed the
process. Only Ethiopia remained fully free, defeating an Italian force in 1896.
Effects:

 Imperialism in Africa had disastrous consequences leading to the slavery of about 10 million
Africans, the death of at least 10 million people on Congo as a result of the Belgian King
Leopold II policies on the rubber trade, the first genocide in Africa against the Herero
peoples of Namibia by Germany (where scorched earth war tactics were used killing about
60,000 tribes people), the unending proxy wars of Uganda, to the modern day ethnic
cleansing in Rwanda claiming one million lives due to the colonial policies of divide and rule.
 Only Ethiopia was not colonized. This is because their leader Emperor Menelik II traded
precious ivory for European guns and got the help of Westerners to train their locals in
modern warfare. When Italy tried to colonize them, they were able to defend themselves
which made Ethiopia the only free nation in Africa at that time.
 The Boer wars (1899-1902) is also worth mentioning as the Dutch descended Boers
colonized South Africa and Britain fought off the Dutch to gain control of South Africa. Boer
War, conflict in southern Africa between Britain and the allied, Afrikaner-populated
Transvaal (or South African Republic) and Orange Free State, in what is now South Africa;
also known as the South African War. The discovery of gold and diamonds in the 1800’s
intensified the conflict resulting to British dominance in South Africa.
 Divide and rule policies continued to the modern times as ethnic conflicts and strife led to
civil wars in Nigeria, Uganda and other African countries. In Uganda, Idi Amin massacred
approximately 300,000 people from other ethnic groups mostly Bugandans. The one Idi
Amin forcefully replaced by coup d’etat also killed about a hundred thousand opponents
from other ethnic groups.

IMPERIALISM AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

The Ottoman Empire was the largest empire when the Age of Exploration begun. The whole empire
stretched out covering North Africa, Mesopotamia, Iran, the Balkans, lands surrounding the Black
Sea, and Saudi Arabia. During the time of the Industrial Revolution, the empire was stuck to trading
and consumption and was not able to pursue technological development and commodity
production. As a result, it lagged behind and became the “sick man of Europe”. In time the whole
empire slowly collapsed in a series of defeats and treaties that carved out its territory.
Reasons for the Decline of the Ottoman Empire

1. Too much exportation of raw materials drained the resources of the empire.
2. Too much importation of luxury items drained the empires wealth.
3. Landlordism and the return to aristocracy became dominant as the central government had
been usurped by powerful local lords called ayan (Turkish for “notables”) and derebeys
(“men of local influence”). Janissaries who were professional soldiers also advocated the
return to aristocracy by acquiring land and privileges. They were the steady economic base
of traders.
4. Black market and bureaucrat capitalism led to corruption and increased unfair trade and
inflation.
5. Economic hardships and unrest led to rebellion such as the Young Turks, Janissaries’
rebellion, Arab Rebellion among others.
6. They were defeated in the wars in the Battle of Lepanto and the Battle of Vienna and many
battles such as the war with Russians and Austrians that concluded with treaties that sliced
out their territory.
7. Nationalist revolutions drove out the Ottomans in many places (Greece, Rumania, Serbia,
Montenegro, Bulgaria)
8. French, British, Italians and Russians sliced out their territory in Northern Africa, Saudi
Arabia, Iran, Iraq.

1805- Mohammed Ali made Egypt virtually independent.

1829- Greece won its independence; Serbia gained self rule.

1830- France took over Algeria and made it a colony.

1878- The Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) ended with a decisive victory for Russia. As a result,
Ottoman holdings in Europe declined sharply; Bulgaria was established as an independent
principality inside the Ottoman Empire, Romania achieved full independence. Serbia and
Montenegro finally gained complete independence, but with smaller territories. In 1878, Austria-
Hungary unilaterally occupied the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Novi Pazar.
Although the Ottoman government contested this move its troops were defeated within three
weeks.

1881- the French army occupied Tunisia.

1912- The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War (also known in Italy as guerra di Libia, "the Libyan war",
and in Turkey as Trablusgarp Savaşı) was fought between the Ottoman Empire and Italy from
September 29, 1911 to October 18, 1912. Italy seized the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania and
Cyrenaica, together forming what became known as Libya, as well as the Isle of Rhodes and the
Greek-speaking Dodecanese archipelago near Anatolia.

1913- Greece, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Rumania became independent.

Imperial Russia sought to gain access to the Mediterranean sea from its ports on the Black Sea which
led to the Crimean Wars. (Ottomans controlled the two straits that connects the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean sea.)

1914- Following the Ottoman declaration of war on the Allies in November 1914, Britain formally
annexed Cyprus, which it had occupied since 1878.
Austria-Hungary were also interested in the Balkans.

Profiting from the civil strife, Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, but
it pulled its troops out of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, another contested region between the Austrians
and Ottomans, to avoid a war. During the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) in which the Ottoman Empire
lost Libya, the Balkan League declared war against the Ottoman Empire. The Empire lost the Balkan
Wars (1912–13). It lost its Balkan territories except East Thrace and the historic Ottoman capital city
of Adrianople during the war.

Treaty of San Stefano- the combined force of Russians and Balkans forced Turks to grant
independence to Serbia, Montenegro, Rumania in 1878; where Bulgaria’s boundaries would extend
to the Aegean Sea and will be occupied by Russian troops.

1908- revolt by Young Turks who wanted to rebuild the empire further weakened the Ottoman
empire.

1912- Italy took over Tripoli in North Africa which became Libya. Greece took Crete. Turks driven
out of Europe when Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Serbia declared war on Turkey.

1923- Treaty of Lausanne formed the Republic of Turkey which exists to this day.

IMPERIALISM IN INDIA

 When the British first colonized India, the nation was divided in separate kingdoms so the
British kept the whole nation divided by collaborating with local lords and kingdoms. The
British East India Tea company became the largest corporation during that time.
 The Sepoy mutiny which was caused by the Indian soldiers in different areas serving under
the British command created a national consciousness to fight the colonizers. The sepoys
were composed of hindus and muslims who were aggravated by the mixture of beef and
pork fat used in reloading their Enfield rifles and launched a rebellion.
 The British used the Sepoy mutiny as a pretext to take over and directly colonize the whole
of India with Queen Victoria as the Empress.

IMPERIALISM IN CHINA

 In the beginning, Imperial China have very strict policies against foreign trade in the sense
that they don’t need anything from the west while the Europe needed Chinese silk,
porcelain, tea and other products.
 The British forced them to trade by promoting the addiction to opium which came from
India. By 1830’s millions of Chinese became addicts.
 Chinese coffers which were originally filled with silver out of the sale of silk and other
products, were emptied due to the buying of opium.
 When China acted with the banning of opium and started the Opium Wars, the British saw
this as a trade war arguing that their right to trade was being curtailed. British ships, soldiers
and weapons defeated China in every battle until China agreed to their demands.
 The Treaty of Nanking gave the British the right to trade in 5 port cities and to gain
possession of Hong Kong. This paved the way for other foreign countries to have trade
relations with China.
  This led to massive poverty and starvation in China coinciding with the flooding of the Yellow
River. The discontent led to the formation of rebel societies such as the White Lotus, the
Triad society, and the Taiping fighting foreign influence and the Manchu Dynasty.
 The Taiping Rebellion meaning Great Peace was nearly successful as it called for land
reform, equal rights of women, ban of cigarettes, liquor, and opium was eventually defeated
with the combined force of the Manchu Dynasty, landlords, and European countries where
about 20 million died in the war.
 Although the Taiping Rebellion was defeated, it weakened the Manchu Dynasty (who was
also fighting the Muslims in the North and other peasant uprisings). This gave the British and
the French to attack the imperial capital forcing the emperor to flee.
 This situation further gave foreigners more inroads into Chinese society until they all carved
out their territories in China where the French dominated the south, the Germans controlled
Shantung peninsula, the Russians dominated the north, Japan took the island of Okinawa,
and the British owned Hong Kong.
 Chinese leaders disagree about modernization:
o Dowager Empress Tz’u-hsi (Tsoo-shee) never really understood the need for China to
industrialize although they built shipyards, railroads and had western science and
mathematics translated into Chinese.
o Li Hung-chang believed in modernization but this belief was not shared by the other
officials.
o Defeat in the Sino-Japanese war made China realize that they need to modernize.
o The new Manchu emperor K’uang-hsu (gwang-shoo) supported the modernization
ideas of K’ang Yu-wei with educational reforms, throwing useless traditions, political
reforms only to be dethroned again by the Dowager Empress supported by those
afraid of change.
o This lack of political will led to China succumbing to the demands of foreigners for an
open door policy.
o This led to unrest and the launching of the Boxer Rebellion which was repelled by
the combined troops of Britain, USA, Japan, Germany and Russia.
o Sun Yat-sen Father of Modern China organizes a successful nationalist revolution
based on the principles of nationalism, democracy or people’s rights, and people’s
livelihood. The Koumintang (nationalist party) overthrew the Manchu dynasty and
planned for the complete removal of all foreign powers on Chinese soil. The last
emperor (5 years old) abdicated in 1912.
o The next president was the former general of the Manchu dynasty Yuan Shih-kai
(yoo-ahn shir-kye) disbanded the parliament, defeated Sun Yat-sen, and restored
the monarchy. US and other western nations supported him against falling into a
Japanese protectorate. After his death China fell into chaos with warlords fighting all
over and foreigners slicing up China among themselves.

IMPERIALISM IN JAPAN

 Commodore Matthew Perry led US ships into Tokyo bay and forced them to trade in 1853
under the Tokugawa shogunate.
 Choshu and Satsuma Daimyos led the uprising to end the Shogunate, Honor the Emperor
(Sonno!) and expel the Barbarian foreigners (Joi!). After many defeats dealt by the joint
British, American, and French, they were able to adopt western fighting methods and
weapons and won.
 Meiji meaning enlightened government
a. removed the shogunate (tradition),
b. put up a constitutional monarchy with the Charter Oath,
 c. ended feudalism with land reform,
d. implemented a “closed door policy”, modernized Japan,
e. disbanded the samurai with the organization of the Japanese imperial army
f. put Japan on the road to modernization and scientific development.

 Before long, Japan was already equal to the European powers as they were even able to
defeat Russia over the control of Manchuria, exported military equipment to allies during
World War 1, took over German territories in China, make a protectorate of China and
become the strongest nation in Asia.

Prepared by:

Ferdinand V. Veridiano SST3

December 14, 2022

WORK SHEET ON IMPERIALISM

Student Learning Competencies

1. State the causes, methods and effects of imperialism in different countries/continents.

2. Relate the different responses of the colonized peoples.

Instructions: The class is divided into 4 groups. Using their past lessons, they are assigned one
country/continent to fill in the blanks. Afterwards there would be a quiz bee style competition
among all the groups.

AFRICA
How imperialism took
over the continent.

How imperialism
extracted profits from
the country
(economic)

What political
machinations were
used to subjugate the
people?

What cultural
justifications were
done to deceive the
people?

What important
events should be
remembered for
having long rage
impact?

What crimes against

humanity were done ?
Name the horror
stories

What were the

different responses of
the colonized people?
 OTTOMAN EMPIRE
How imperialism
took over the
continent.

How imperialism
extracted profits
from the country
(economic)

What political
machinations were
used to subjugate
the people?

What cultural
justifications were
done to deceive
the people?

What important
events should be
remembered for
having long rage
impact?

What crimes
against humanity
were done ? Name
the horror stories

What were the

different responses
of the colonized
people?
 INDIA
How imperialism
took over the
continent.

How imperialism
extracted profits
from the country
(economic)

What political
machinations were
used to subjugate
the people?

What cultural
justifications were
done to deceive the
people?

What important
events should be
remembered for
having long rage
impact?

What crimes
against humanity
were done ? Name
the horror stories

What were the

different responses
of the colonized
people?
 CHINA
How imperialism took
over the continent.

How imperialism
extracted profits from
the country
(economic)

What political
machinations were
used to subjugate the
people?

What cultural
justifications were
done to deceive the
people?

What important
events should be
remembered for
having long rage
impact?

What crimes against

humanity were done ?
Name the horror
stories

What were the

different responses of
the colonized people?

Prepared by:

Ferdinand V. Veridiano SST4

December 15, 2022