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LG 4: Describe the political, economic, and social motivations for imperialism and explain the role technology played in imperialism.

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  • The White Man’s Burden
    • Rudyard Kipling, 1899 (British poet who spent time in British-controlled India; also wrote the Jungle Book)
    • Written as advice to the United States at the time of the Spanish – American War when the U.S. took control of places like the Philippines.
  • What do you think Kipling’s message to the USA was?
    • What evidence in the text justifies your answer?

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Motivations for European Imperialism

  • Describe the political, economic, and social motivations for European imperialism and explain the role technology played in European imperialism.(TEKS/SE’s 1E,8C,28B)

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  • Public policy of expansion and conquest followed by the European industrialized nations during the second half of the 19th century.
  • Primarily in Africa and Asia, Europeans established
    • Colonies,
    • Protectorates or
    • Spheres of influence
  • Often utilized military force to exert control

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  • Industrialization
    • created wealth and new technologies to conquer and control foreign lands.

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  • Modern ships powered by steam,
    • Steam Engine invented by James Watt
  • Modern rifles, machine guns, and long-range artillery
  • Telegraph (invented by Thomas Edison) and Railroads kept Imperial powers connected to conquered areas

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  • Treatments for tropical diseases
    • Quinine to treat Malaria
    • Treatments for Yellow Fever

  • Prior to Quinine, European explorers were unable to survive in the interior of Africa

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  • Industrialization allowed for mass production of commodities which in turn,
  • created an increased demand
        • for more natural resources to run the machines in the factories.
        • for more raw materials to produce the goods.
          • For example, cotton and rubber were not produced in European climate
          • Thus, these types of products were needed for import for industry/manufacturing
        • to find new sources of cheap labor to produce goods.
        • for new markets to sell the products.
        • to protect Imperial possessions (like colonies) and shipping lanes
    • How would you categorize this list of demands?
      • Political, Economic or Social?
      • While this was a major motivation for 19th century European Imperialism, it was not the only motive or justification for the policy.
      • How would you categorize Rudyard Kipling’s rationale for imperialism?

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        • IDEOLOGICAL
        • As Kipling’s poem suggests, some Imperialists believed than Non-Europeans were unable to rule themselves
          • Theories like Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest societies) supported the notion of European cultural, technological superiority and right to rule over “weaker” societies
          • Belief that Europeans had duty to “civilize” other societies
          • Racism: belief in European racial superiority

RELIGIOUS

        • Missionaries hoped to convert non-Christians to Christianity

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        • Western Europe’s balance of power was complicated by the creation of the new nations, Italy and Germany (1860s and 1870s.)

        • France and Great Britain were fueled to reassert their influence in light of these power shifts.
        • Traditional supremacy of Great Britain and France in Africa and Asia.
        • As new powers, Germany and Italy saw imperial expansion as a way to legitimize their status within Europe.

Fueled competition

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GOAL: You will be analyzing written and visual artifacts depicting European motives for empire building in the late 19th century.

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  • STEPS:
    • In Pairs, study the image or text
    • Complete chart by categorizing the motive illustrated in artifact by number
    • Complete chart by citing evidence from artifact that supports your categorization

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  • ECONOMIC:
  • POLITICAL:
  • SOCIAL:

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    • Make $$
      • Control foreign trade
      • Open up new markets
      • Obtain, Natural Resources, Raw materials and cheap labor
      • Invest for trade
      • Dominate commercial relations (as they did in Asia)

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    • Nationalism drove nations to compete with other countries
      • Acquire new territories
      • Boost national pride
      • Protection of conquered lands
      • Acquire strategic sites for trade ports and naval bases
      • Exercise Military Force

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  • RELIGIOUS & IDEOLOGICAL:
    • Spread Cultural values
    • Belief in Racial superiority (racism)
    • Belief in duty to “civilize” people in other parts of the world
    • Spread Christianity
    • Social Darwinism: “Survival of the Fittest”- only the strongest nations will survive.
      • Belief that all great nations should have empires controlling “weaker” nations

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#1: Open-shaft diamond mining in Kimberly, South Africa, 1872

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#2: A Methodist Sunday School at Guiongua, Angola, 1925

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#3: Germans taking possession of Cameroon in 1881

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#4: Quote from Henry Stanley in 1882

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#5: Africans bringing ivory to the wagon in South Africa, c. 1860

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#6: An advertisement for Pears’ Sope from the 1890s, and one stanza of the British poet Rudyard Kipling’s poem, The White Man’s Burden, written in 1899

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#7: Mrs. Maria C. Douglas, a doctor and missionary, and the first class of pupil nurses in Burma, 1888.

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#8 British cartoon showing the Chinese being savaged by European powers, and the poem The Partition of China 1897

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#9: Bagged groundnuts in pyramid stacks in West Africa

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#10: French capture of the citadel of Saigon, Vietnam

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#11: British Lipton Tea advertisement in the 1890s

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#12: British cartoon “The Rhodes Colossus” showing Cecil Rhodes’ vision of making Africa “all British from Cape to Cairo” 1892

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#13: An imperial yacht passing through the Suez Canal in Egypt at the opening of the canal in 1870

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#14 American Attitude about Imperialism, 1898

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#15 America’s View of European Imperialism, 1882

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Open-shaft diamond mining in Kimberly, South Africa, 1872

Imperial motives: ECONOMIC (African labor, exploiting natural resources for profit)

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A Methodist Sunday School at Guiongua, Angola, 1925

Imperial motives: SOCIAL: (Religious: Europeans spreading Christian values & education) or (Ideological: teaching European customs & beliefs)

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Germans taking possession of Cameroon in 1881

Imperial motives:

POLITICAL (nationalism: flag shows national identity or desire to possess new territory, European & African leaders meeting, European military presence)

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Quote from Henry Stanley in 1882

Imperial motive:

SOCIAL: (ideological belief in superiority of Europeans or that Europeans should “civilize” African)

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Africans bringing ivory to the wagon in South Africa, c. 1860

Imperial motives: ECONOMIC (collecting African resources)

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An advertisement for Pears’ Sope from the 1890s, and one stanza of the British poet Rudyard Kipling’s poem, The White Man’s Burden, written in 1899

Imperial motives:

SOCIAL (Ideological: belief in European superiority, need to “civilize” captive peoples, need to cleanse “dark corners of the earth”)

and

ECONOMIC (boats transporting goods to colonies, advertisement to sell product)

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Mrs. Maria C. Douglas, a doctor and missionary, and the first class of pupil nurses in Burma, 1888.

Imperial motives: SOCIAL: IDEOLOGICAL (teaching European values) or RELIGIOUS (education people of other cultures)

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British cartoon showing the Chinese being savaged by European powers, and the poem The Partition of China 1897

Imperial motives:

POLITICAL (Naiionalism: Europeans depicted as animals competing for piece of China) or

ECONOMIC (desire to trade in China to make cash) or

SOCIAL:

RELIGIOUS (Chinese depicted as heathen, calls on Christian duty to preach in China) or

IDEOLOGICAL (belief that foreigners should be “civilized” by Europeans)

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Bagged groundnuts in pyramid stacks in West Africa

Imperial motives:

ECONOMIC (Africans transporting indigenous goods)

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French capture of the citadel of Saigon, Vietnam

Imperial motives: POLITICAL (Nationalism & Militarism: exerting military force, battling for possession of territory, carrying flags to establish political control)

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British Lipton Tea advertisement in the 1890s

Imperial motives: ECONOMIC (goods from Ceylon transported to London, use of indigenous labor and resources, exportation of industrial technology) or POLITICAL (Nationalism: gaining national prestige through international trade)

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British cartoon “The Rhodes Colossus” showing Cecil Rhodes’ vision of making Africa “all British from Cape to Cairo” 1892

Imperial motives:

POLITICAL (Nationalism & Militarism- desire to control African territory, desire to boost national pride and gain power by winning colonies, desire to have military presence)

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An imperial yacht passing through the Suez Canal in Egypt at the opening of the canal in 1870

Imperial motives: ECONOMIC (exportation of transportation methods to improve trade) or

POLTICAL (Nationalism: boosting national pride and prestige by controlling foreign territories)

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#14 American Attitude about Imperialism, 1898

Imperial motives: ECONOMIC (import raw materials, export manufactured items to Latin American ) or

POLTICAL (Nationalism: boosting national pride and prestige by controlling foreign territories)

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#15 America’s View of European Imperialism, 1882

Imperial motives: ECONOMIC (Britain sought control of Suez Canal in Egypt) or

POLTICAL (Nationalistic rivalry between the United States and Europe )