The age of Imperialism

1. THE AGE OF IMPERIALISM

2. DEFINITION
It was a process of extending the rule or
authority of a nation over foreign countries
or of acquiring and holding colonies.
Process by which a State, with a stronger
military strength or a more advanced
technology imposes its control over the
land, the resources and the population of
a less developed region.

3. • Imperialism/Colonialis
m: a policy of
conquering and ruling
other lands
• It existed from the very
beginning of
mankind’s history
• From 1870, the
industrial powers
carried out an
astonishing expansion,
building up worldwide
empires
Imperialism and colonialism

5. DEFINITION OF IMPERIALISM
It is the period between 1870 and 1914, in which
the European powers reached the political and
economic domination of the world (above all
África, Asia and Oceanía)

7. Imperialism and colonialism

8. THE CAUSES OF COLONIALISM
• Demographic
• Economic
• Political
• Scientific and technical
• Ideological

9. DEMOGRAPHIC CAUSES
• In the 19th century there was a significant increase in
Europe’s population (from 300 million in 1850 to 400
million inhabitants in 1900). The hard working class
living conditions and the unemployment encouraged
many people to look for better perspectives in the new
colonised territories.
European population
Year Inhabitants Increase
1850 266.000.000 26,2 %
1870 310.000.000 25,6 %
1900 460.000.000 28%

10. ECONOMIC CAUSES
• Imperialism was a consequence of
industrialisation.
• European countries tried to obtain colonies in
order to:
Invest their surplus capital,
A cheap source of raw materials and energy sources
A market for their products
Cheap workforce.

13. POLITICAL CAUSES
• National prestige: to be the best and have the biggest
empire.
• Different national reasons: France to forget the defeat in
1870, Germany and Italy to become great powers…
• New rivalries: GB vs. Germany, GB vs. France, US vs.
Japan

19. • By the late
1800s,
Germany was
challenging
Britain’s
economic
leadership.
• This rivalry was
a key factor to
understand
WWI’s outbreak

21. STRATEGIC CAUSES
• The metropoles, above all Great Britain, fought for
controlling the seas or the commercial routes by
acquiring strategic enclaves (Gibraltar, Malta,
Cyprus, Suez Channel….)

22. IDEOLOGICAL CAUSES
Ideological causes
•Belief in European
superiority
•Racism, Social Darwinism:
conflict between nations
and races leads to social
progress as superior races
outcompete inferior ones.
•Western civilization
undertook the mission of
civilizing the world (Rudyard
Kipling’s “White Man
Burden”)
•Spreading Christianity
•Civilizing mission

23. Ideological causes
•Belief in European superiority
•Racism, Social Darwinism:
conflict between nations and
races leads to social progress
as superior races outcompete
inferior ones.
•Western civilization
undertook the mission of
civilizing the world (Rudyard
Kipling’s “White Man Burden”)
•Spreading Christianism
Which motives caused imperialism?

24. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
CAUSES
• Technological superiority (in weapons or
transport)
• The creation of Geographic Societies that
contribute to map the territories and control
them.
• Steam engine and railroads allowed easier travel
• Quinine to protect Europeans from malaria
• African and Asian diversity made it easy to
encourage rivalries between different groups

26. Great Figures of Colonialism: Benjamin
Disraeli

27. Great Figures of Colonialism: Jules Ferry

29. • In the 19th
century, much of Asia and Africa were
unknown. Colonialism favoured scientific travel and
geographical exploration, such as the English
Livingstone and Stanley in Central Africa.
• The conquest of the territory was easy due to
military and technical superiority of Europeans
towards the weak indigenous resistance.
• In 1914, just two countries in África were free:
Liberia and Abyssinia.
• .

32. • There were several types of colonial occupation:
– Exploitation colonies.
– Settlement colonies. Colonias de poblamiento.
– Protectorates.
– Concessions.

33. EXPLOITATION COLONIES
– The most common.
– The dominant country (metropole) governed and
exploited the economy of the occupied territory
(colony).
– The colonisers or European companies took control
of the lands, created plantations and started up
mining operations. They used indigene labour and
paid very low wages.
– The metropoles had a monopoly over the exploitation
of the colony’s resources and trade.
– Examples: India for GB or Ivory Coast for France.

34. SETTLEMENT COLONIES OR
DOMINIONS
– Good climates, small populations.
– No special resources or very important (gold,
diamonds) resources.
– White Europeans emigrated and settled there
permanently (colonists).
– Their governments had a certain level of autonomy.
– Examples:
• British Empire: Canadá, Australia, South African Union.
• France: Algeria.

35. PROTECTORATES
• Recognised and organised states occupied by the
metropole.
• They had an indigenous government and their own
administrative organisation.
• However, the metropole established a parallel government
that ruled over the local government and controlled the
functions of defence and foreign policy.
• Examples:
– Morocco was a protectorate of France (and Spain, the
North of Morocco).
– Egypt was a protectorate of Great Britain.

36. CONCESSIONS
• The metropoles obtained commercial
advantages of countries that were
independent.
• The metropoles obtained a number of free
ports in those countries
• One example was Hong Kong was a
British concession in China or Macao a
Portuguese concession

39. Control y ocupación de territorios
•CONTROL MARÍTIMO PARA DEFENSA COMERCIAL
•LUGARES DE PENETRACIÓN PARA EL INTERIOR
•ENCLAVES DEFENSIVOS
•EJ: SINGAPUR, CIUDAD EL CABO, GIBRALTAR…
ENCLAVES
ESTRATÉGICOS
COLONIAS DE
EXPLOTACIÓN
PROTECTORADOS
•TERRITORIOS POCO POBLADOS
•INMIGRACIÓN MASIVA DE EUROPEOS
•SE IMPONEN FORMAS DE VIDA METROPOLITANAS
•AUTOGOBIERNO, EXCEPTO EN POLÍTICA EXTERIOR
•EJ: UNIÓN SUDAFRICANA, CANADÁ AUSTRALIA
MODELOS
COLONIALES
COLONIAS DE
PÒBLAMIENTO
•OBJETIVO: SUMINISTRO DE MATERIAS PRIMAS
•NO TIENEN AUTONOMÍA POLÍTICA
•ADMINISTRACIÓN DIRECTA POR LA METRÓPOLI
•MINORÍA FUNCIONARIOS METROPOLITANOS
•EJ: INDIA, CONGO…
•RESPETO A LAS AUTORIDADES POLÍTICAS INDÍGENAS
•POLÍTICA INTERIOR: AUTORIDAD LOCAL
•POLÍTICA EXTERIOR Y EJÉRCITO: FUNCIONARIOS METRÓPOLI:
•EGIPTO. SUDÁN.
MANDATOS SdN
TRAS LA I GUERRA MUNDIAL TERRITORIOS DEL IMPERIO TURCO
Y DE LAS COLONIAS ALEMANAS FUERON ENTREGADOS POR LA
SOCIEDAD DE NACIONES A DIVERSAS POTENCIAS COLONIALES
PARA SU ADMINISTRACIÓN.

41. • From the 18th
century, the
greatest European naval power
• After the Industrial Revolution, in
the mid-1800s, Britain was the
most powerful nation in the
world.
• It’s factories produced more
goods than those of any other
country.
• The British Navy guarded the
oceans so that those goods
could be shipped safely to
ports around the globe.
Great Britain

42. – The Victorian age (1837-1901) was the most
important age for the British Empire. The
Queen was Victoria of England.
– Its most important colony was India.

44. Great Britain

45. British Empire

46. BRITISH EMPIRE

47. BRITISH COLONIES IN AFRICA

48. BRITISH COLONIES IN ASIA

49. FRANCE
• El Imperio francés.
– France had the second empire in size.

50. Carlos X de Francia
Napoleón III

51. Imperio francésFRENCH EMPIRE

52. Imperio francés en ÁfricaFRENCH EMPIRE IN ÁFRICA

53. FRENCH EMPIRE IN ASIA
• Indochina (Anam,
Tonkin,
Conchinchina)
• Now: Vietnam,
Laos, Camboya

54. The Great Colonial Empires

55. El canal de Suez
• Construido con capital francés
en 1869 (proyecto de
Lesseps).
• El jedive de Egipto era dueño
de parte de las acciones del
canal. Las vendió a los
británicos.
Eugenia de Montijo inauguró el
Canal

56. SPAIN
• After the lost of Cuba, Puerto Rico
and Philippines in 1898, Spain
didn’t have an empire.
• They got some territory in the
Sahara (Río de Oro) and Guinea.
Later, in Morocco.
Mª Cristina de Habsburgo

57. SPANISH COLONIES IN
AFRICA

58. La presencia española en Marruecos
• 1859-1860 Política de
prestigio: Batallas de
Castillejos y Tetuán.
• 1909 El barranco del Lobo.
• 1912 Protectorado
• 1921 El Desastre de Annual
• 1925 Desembarco de
Alhucemas
• Pacificación del territorio
• 1956 Independencia de
Marruecos.

59. GERMAN EMPIRE
• Due to its late unification,
Germany got late to the
conquest of territories.
• Anyway, they had:
• South West Africa (now
Namibia)
• Tanganika
• Togo and Camerún.
Guillermo II

60. German Empire

61. EMPIRE OF BELGIUM
• Belgium took over lands
in África: Congo was
almost Leopoldo II’s
private farm.
ITALIAN EMPIRE
• Its unification also happened late.
• They conquered Libia.
• They were defeated in Abyssinia (Ethyopia)They were defeated in Abyssinia (Ethyopia)
in the battle of Adua (1896).in the battle of Adua (1896).

62. RUSSIAN EMPIRE
• Russia expanded into the Caucasus, Central
Asia, and Siberia.
• Russia tried to get lands in the Balkans in the
direction the Mediterranean sea, when the
Turkish Empire collapsed.

63. Russian Empires

64. • Two non-European countries,
the United States and Japan,
also became involved in
overseas expansion during this
period.
• Both the U.S. and Japan were
interested in East Asia.
• Japan took the Kuriles, Korea
and Taiwan.
• The U.S. took Philippines in
Asia and Puerto Rico in the
Caribbean after US-Spanish war.

66. • Dollar Imperialism

67. 1904-05
1894-95
PANAMERICANISMO
DOCTRINA DEL
DOLAR
GUERRA
HISPANO-
AMERICANA
PERRY

68. OTHER EMPIRES
• Portugal, kept Mozambique and Angola in África;
and Macao in China.
• Holland took over the Insulindia (Indonesia).

69. REPARTO COLONIAL DE AFRICA, ASIA Y OCEANÍA

71. REPARTO COLONIAL DEL MUNDO
TRIPLE ALIANZA
TRIPLE ENTENTE

73. • In 1870, the African
inland was almost
unknown
• When Europeans
started their
expansion in the
continent, an
agreement was
needed to set the
bases of the
conquest and
colonization of Africa
The carve up of Africa

74. • In the Berlin
Conference
(1885), the
colonial powers
reached
different
agreements to
organize the
carve up of
Africa
The carve up of Africa

75. CONTINENTE AFRICANO, ANTES Y DESPUÉS DE LA CONFERENCIA DE
BERLÍN

76. • The Scramble for
Africa, also known
as the Race for
Africa or Partition of
Africa, was a
process of invasion,
occupation,
colonization and
annexation of
African territory by
European powers
between 1881 and
1914
The carve up of Africa

77. The carve up of Africa

79. • China (strong and very
populated state) 
Concessions:
territories controlled by
a foreign country.
China maintained
sovereignty but gave
all commercial rights to
the dominating power.
• China conceded
important ports to UK
and USA.
Colonisation in other continents

80. Colonisation in Asia

81. • GB: India,
Singapur,
Malaysia and
Burma
• France:
Indochina
• The
Netherlands:
Indonesia
• Japan:
Kuriles,
Korea and
Manchuria
• Russia:
Siberia

82. IMPERIOS COLONIALES EN ASIA
1887 UNIÓN
INDOCHINA
1876 ACTA GOBIERNO
1886
1898 Levantamiento 100 días
1900 Boxer
1911 Movimiento republicano
RUSIA

83. REPARTO COLONIAL DE AFRICA, ASIA Y OCEANÍA

84. REPARTO COLONIAL DEL MUNDO
TRIPLE ALIANZA
TRIPLE ENTENTE

86. • In some cases
consequences were
devastating for the
colonized peoples:
• Economic
exploitation
• Subjection to a
foreign control
• Foreigners became
the dominant social
class
• Loss of its own
culture
Consequences of imperialism
Bangalore, India, 1877

87. ECONOMIC CHANGES
• The colonisers imposed their economic interests:
– Much of the lands became the property of the colonisers.
– Larga plantations were created.
– Traditional crops were abandoned.
– The indigenous population was forced to use money and
adapt to the capitalist economy.
– Local craftsmen were ruined as they couldn’t compete
with the industrial products (better prices).

88. • To some extent
there were
positive
consequences:
• Improvement of
health conditions
• Access to
education for the
native elite
• Construction of
railways, ports…
Mixed consequences of Imperialism

89. • For the colonisers,
consequences
were, in general,
positive (wealth,
power, self-steem)
• However, colonial
expansion caused
new tensions
among powers.
This rivalry was
one of the causes
of WWI
Consequences of Imperialism

90. Consecuencias del Imperialismo
•Descenso de la mortalidad por mejoras sanitarias
•Llegada bienes de consumo manufacturados
•Construcción de infraestructuras para la explotación
•Alfabetización de los nativos
POSITIVAS
(Indirectas)
PARA LAS
COLONIAS
•Alivio presión demográfica y sociopolítica interna
•Entrada de materias primas y productos coloniales
•Colocación de excedentes industriales
•Ruptura del equilibrio población-recursos (se mantienen
altas las tasas de natalidad
•Explotación de las riquezas en beneficio de la metrópoli.
•Ruptura de fronteras étnicas y naturales
•Pérdida de identidad cultural (costumbres, lengua, creencias)
•Transformación social: destrucción estructuras tribales
y aparición de nuevas clases sociales
•Aparición movimientos nacionalistas
•División internacional del trabajo: países coloniales = países
dependientes
•Reemplazo autoridades locales por gobernantes coloniales
NEGATIVAS
PARA LAS
METRÓPOLIS
•Conflicto con otras potencias
•Conflicto con autoridades locales y movimientos internos
POSITIVAS
NEGATIVAS

92. GRAN CAPITALISMO
GRAN CAPITALISMO: capitalismo financiero, basado en las grandes
empresas y en el poder de los grandes bancos, dominó la economía
desde finales del S XIX , que adquirió un carácter mundial.