Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World

In the 19
th
and early 20
th
century (1840s-1920s),
imperialism by a new group of European powers, the United
States, and Japan created new colonial arrangements with
Latin America, China, the Middle East, India, and Africa.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Internal revolutions wracked
most of Latin America from
the 1790s to the 1830s.

European powers went from
holding over 20 colonies in
Latin America in 1790 to
holding control over just 6 in
1832.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Hacienda Tabi, in the Yucatan Peninsula
of Mexico. Such large-scale plantations
remained the centers of political and
economic power in post-independence
Latin America.
This late 19
th
c. portrait reveals the
social orders of colonial Latin
America. On the right are the
creole elites. On the left is a
mixed-race laborer. Such class-
based and race-based divisions
continued well into the 19
th
century
and fueled internal conflicts.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Trench warfare during the Paraguayan
War of 1864-1870.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
As the map above shows, the United Fruit
Company was heavily invested in Latin
America, both in terms of physical capital
such as the Great White Fleet and its ports
and piers and in terms of import routes.
The popular cocktail
Cuba Libre serves as
an ironic reminder of
Coca-Colas powerful
role in the Cuba sugar
trade from the 1890s
until the 1950s.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Jamaican workers load
railcars with bananas for the
United Fruit Company
(parts of it remain today as
Chiquita Banana), c. 1940s.
Nitrate mine in operation in
Chile, c. 1930s. U.S. and
European companies
regularly operated extractive
enterprises like mining and oil
drilling in Latin America
outside the boundaries of U.S.
law, such as those that
regulated air and groundwater
pollution.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Expansive urban slums developed outside every Latin American
city during the late 19
th
century. By the late 20
th
century, few
pieces of evidence illustrated the social stratification in Latin
American societies like the expansion of suburban favelas
outside cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
Brazilification in
numbers

1% = elite families
(urban and rural)

8-10% = working middle
class( generally urban)

90% = working poor
(generally rural peasants
and urban workers)

Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Execution without the benefit of
trial was a common aspect of
wartime policy for both sides in
the Mexican Revolution.
The Mexican Revolution erupted in
response to the dire economic
circumstances of many Mexican peasants
and workers in the early 20
th
century.
Pictured here are revolutionists with their
leaders Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
China was still an independent nation
by 1911, but it was internally fractured
and strongly influenced by various
European powers and Japan.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
The extent of the
Taiping Rebellion and
subsequent regime
was extensive,
crisscrossing China
from 1853-1864.
The Taiping Rebellion was a costly
civil war, eventually resulting in the
deaths of 20-30 million Chinese
and the further unsettling of
Chinese stability in the face of
European influence.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Busting an opium shipment sent to Britain,
c. 1920s. Despite long-term attempts to
crack down on the opium trade, it
continued well into the 20
th
century.
Opium was a profitable (though
illegal) drug for both British and
Chinese buyers and sellers.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
The Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901
was led by a rebel group known as
The Society of Righteous and
Harmonious Fists, pictured above.
This was the last military response to
Western intrusions in China.
Chinese military officers with a with a
French-made cannon, 1883. The
Self-Strengthening Movement was
an attempt to update the military and
infrastructure of China in the face of
the increased Westernization of late
Qing dynasty China.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
From 1800-1924, the Ottoman Empire experienced a long century of
decline in territorial control, economic power, and cultural prestige.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Combat during the Crimean War of 1853-1856,
which pitted Russia against an alliance of
Ottoman, French, and English armies. Termed
the first modern war because of its use of
modern weaponry and tactics, this war was
one in a long line of wars over border
territories in the Ottoman Empire.
Burning of Ottoman flagships in
Greek harbors during the Greek
War for Independence, 1822.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
This trade map for Englands Liverpool Steamship Service is instructive.
The routes of trade had, by the late 1800s especially, reoriented around ocean
trading between Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The old land trade routes through
the Ottoman Empire had declined, thus affecting the Ottomans economic standing.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
The Tanzimat movement
attempted to usher in a
modernized Ottoman Empire
through efforts like public
education of youth in both
religious and technical training.
Photo series from 1860s celebrating
Tanzimat infrastructural developments,
such as bridges and administrative
buildings.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Muslim identity movements had resulted
in revolts against the Dutch in Indonesia
during the 1820s and 1830s. Here, a
Dutch general accepts the surrender of
rebel leader Prince Dipo Negoro, 1830.
Muslim responses to French
incursions in Algeria (in Northern
Africa) also illustrated distinct
forms of resistance to
Westernization. Here, Muslim
revolutionaries in Algeria
welcome the anti-Western sultan
Abderrahmane, 1830.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Postcard depicting establishment of Ottoman Constitution in 1895,
with the angel delivering Liberty, Equality, Fraternity to the Ottoman
sultan and people. A conservative sultan -- Abd al-Hamid II worked
to overturn such excesses in Westernization from 1896-1909.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
First Congress of the
Young Turks meeting in
Paris, 1902. They would
overturn Hamids rule and
establish a Turkish state in
the Ottoman Empire.
After World War I, the
League of Nations
decided to put Arab
nations in Palestine
and Iraq under the
mixed control of Britain
and France.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
The British Empire at its height in 1921.
India highlighted in purple was the centerpiece for British imperialists,
allowing the British Crown to exude imperial power over 458 million people,
or nearly 25% of the worlds population in 1920.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
The East India Companys
headquarters, c. 1800. One of
the first truly global corporations,
the EIC dominated trade and
society in India after the 1850s.
The EIC enjoyed Company
Rule over India for over 100
years between 1757 and 1858. It
even had its own private army in
India, known as the sepoys.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
The British army engaged
in a vicious counter-
insurgency known as the
Devils Wind during the
Indian Rebellion of 1857.
In tandem with common forms
of public execution, such as
hanging, captured rebels were
also executed en masse by
tying them to the ends of
cannons and firing away.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
During the British Raj, or Crown
Rule of India, the railway system
became the fourth largest in the
world. Heavy taxation of goods
produced by Indian subjects,
however, laid the groundwork for
such infrastructural developments.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Imperial control of India made Indian
peasants particularly susceptible to
environmental change and weather.
If the rains did not fall or fell too
much mass famine could result,
which it did often between 1875-
1902, resulting in an estimated 7-8
million deaths in those years.
Life for Indian agricultural
workers and peasants was
particularly difficult. These
migrant workers ride the rails
during the 1920s in search
of steady work.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Lord Minto, a British official partly
responsible for the Government
of India Act of 1909.
Swami Vivekananda, whose
reflections on Hinduism fell in the
context of Hindu Consolidation
during the British Raj. His views on
shruti and smriti also informed
religious thinking in India and abroad.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Groups like the All-India Muslim League expressed the separatist
political ideals of Muslim elites and other common Muslims in the 1910s
and 1920s. By the late 1940s, when this photo was taken of League
leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah (far right), Muslims and Hindus were
dividing into a competition for control of post-independence India.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Results of the
Scramble for Africa
by 1914. Note that
there are only a
handful of independent
states. The rest are
colonies of various
European powers.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Zulu military leader Dabulamanzi
on horseback in 1879 in the midst
of the Anglo-Zulu War.
South Africa was much like the rest of
the continent divided between
numerous African states and tribes,
large and small. There, English and
Dutch imperialists vied for control of the
continents southern cape.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Cartoon depicting German Chancellor
Otto von Bismarck negotiating with other
European leaders the distribution of
imperial power in Africa. The Berlin
Conference in 1884 served as a formal
starting point for the Scramble for Africa.
King Leopold II of Belgium,
who established the Congo
Free State and oversaw its
development into a brutal
regime.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Despite their own complicity in
forwarding imperial violence in Africa,
British dignitaries and journalists
criticized the harsh treatment of the
Congolese people in Leopold IIs
Congo Free State.
The Congo Free State quickly became
a place defined by terror and violence.
These children were mutilated as
punishment for not meeting their daily
quota of rubber.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Mining facility in the Gold Coast, c.
1930s. Outsider investors enjoyed
the cheap labor that Africa offered,
redirecting the continents raw
materials for sale in European-
centered markets.
Advertisement for aristocratic
winter homes in Africa, all
provided by the Ugandan
railway, c. 1910s.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Although formal education was generally reserved for a very small African
elite, others used European missions as a place to garner an education and
ward off the harsher experiences of imperialism. German missionary with his
first grade class in Windhuk, Southwest Africa, 1915.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
Christian missionaries were quite successful in Africa by the 1940s,
approximately of non-Muslim Africans were Christian. Yet, their
Christianity took on aspects unexpected and unintended by European
missionaries. Kikuyu Mission in Kenya, 1915.
Dominance and Interchange in the Colonial World
When looking at this map, remember that forms of imperialism existed in
Latin America and China as well. Though independent, both were
under the direct influence of outside interests.

This brings up an important question: Which parts of the world were not
influenced by 19
th
c. imperialism?