DAILY LECTURE AND DISCUSSION NOTES 20-1

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The New Imperialism

Did you know?

Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first president of Liberia, a country in

Africa founded by freed slaves from the United States. Roberts was born

a free man and grew up in Virginia. He is known as the father of Liberia.

I. The Rise of Imperialism (page 763)

A. Imperialism is a type of relationship between countries in which one nation directly or indirectly controls the government or the economy of another nation.

B. Europeans wanted to acquire new lands and rule over foreign people, because they believed this added to their power.

C. Some imperial nations established a colony, which they ruled directly. Some set up a protectorate, in which local people had their own government, but the imperial government controlled the military and could tell local rulers what to do. Other nations set up a sphere of influence, a region where only one imperial power had the right to invest or to trade.

D. Europeans began taking over Southeast Asia’s mainland in the 1800s.

They grew crops and began using the area’s raw materials.

E. England set up a colony at the tip of the Malay Peninsula and called the colony Singapore.

F. The French followed the British to Southeast Asia, and the two countries competed for territory. In all of Southeast Asia, only Siam—which is today Thailand—kept its freedom.

Discussion Question

Why was Singapore important? (Singapore was a port city that allowed passage to and from China, which was an important country in European trade.)

II. Britain’s Empire in India (pages 764–765)

A. Members of the British East India Company built trading forts along India’s coasts in the 1600s. The East India Company supported local Indian rulers who agreed to work with them.

B. Robert Clive was an East India Company official who, along with his army, pushed the French out of most of India. The East India Company took over much of India and grew wealthy.

C. The East India Company brought many European ideas and customs to the Indian people.

D. Sepoys, Indian soldiers in the East India Company’s army, rebelled against the British officers. Britain sent soldiers to India to end the rebellion.

E. After the rebellion, Britain took control of India from the East India Company. A viceroy was sent to head the Raj, or the British India’s government.

F. British rule both helped and hurt India.

Discussion Question

How did the British hurt the local textile industry in India?

(The British brought large amounts of cheap textiles into India. People typically purchase what is cheapest, and soon there were not enough buyers for more expensive locally-made textiles. The local textile industry, which could not sell its products as cheaply, was destroyed.)

III. Europe Divides Africa (pages 766–768)

A. The first part of Africa to come under the control of Europe was North Africa. The French took territories that today form the countries of Algeria and Tunisia. They also divided Morocco with Spain.

B. Europeans began operating businesses in Egypt and built the Suez Canal, which linked the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

C. The British took control of the canal, and the Egyptians rebelled.

After the rebellion, Britain made Egypt a protectorate.

D. In the 1800s, Britain declared the slave trade illegal, and many countries followed its lead.

E. Europeans took over areas of Africa’s Atlantic Coast to control trade in timber, hides, and palm oil.

F. King Leopold II of Belgium decided to conquer Central Africa. His plan was to make money selling rubber from plantations in the

Congo. Other European countries followed Leopold, and by 1914, Europe controlled most of the African continent except Liberia and Ethiopia.

G. Dutch settlers, known as Boers, founded Cape Town in South Africa.

In the early 1800s, the British seized the Dutch territory. This forced the Boers to move inland to the Transvaal, where they met and fought with African people living there.

H. The Zulu were Africans who often fought the Boers but also fought the British. The British eventually destroyed the Zulu Empire.

I. The British decided to take the Transvaal from the Boers in 1899, and the Boer War erupted. The Boers were defeated, and Britain brought together the Boer republics, the Cape Colony, and one other British colony to form the Union of South Africa.

Discussion Question

How were African workers on King Leopold’s rubber plantations like slaves? (Leopold ordered soldiers to force Africans to collect rubber.

Africans who resisted were shot. This was a form of forced labor.)

IV. The War of 1898 (pages 769–770)

A. In 1895, Cuba, a Caribbean island, rebelled against Spain.

B. In 1898, William McKinley, president of the United States, sent a U.S. battleship to Cuba to protect Americans there. While anchored in Cuba, the ship exploded.

C. The United States blamed Spain for the explosion and declared war. The United States won, and Cuba became a republic under U.S. protection. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines became American territories.

D. The Philippines rebelled against the United States, and the Americans crushed their rebellion.

E. America also gained control of Hawaii when American settlers there overthrew the Hawaiian queen.

F. To help move its navy quickly between the east and west coasts, the

United States decided to build a canal across the Latin American country of Panama.

G. The United States helped Panama fight for its independence from Colombia. In exchange, Panama allowed the United States to build the canal.

Discussion Question

How did Puerto Rico become a U.S. territory? (After the United States defeated Spain in the War of 1898, the United States gained Puerto Rico from Spain.)