Colonial Imperialism: Causes and Consequences in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Posted on Dec 8, 2024 in History

Introduction to the Second Industrial Revolution

The Second Industrial Revolution (IIRI) began in the last third of the nineteenth century. This was linked to the process of expansion of European countries on the continents of Asia and Africa, thus giving rise to what is called colonial imperialism. Once the European market was covered, European powers, including England and France, began their expansion towards Africa and Asia in search of new markets, raw materials, and energy sources much cheaper so that their industries became more competitive. This created conditions that made the African and Asian people what is now known as the “third state” or “underdeveloped world”. The big players were the U.S. and Japan.

New Energy Sources

Steam was the main source of energy in the second industrial revolution, but others were developed:

• Oil served the combustion engine and automotive industry (H. Ford, first third of the 20th century).
• Electricity had essential applications for illumination (light bulb), transmission of electromagnetic signals (telegraph), sound (radio by Marconi), and motors such as the metro and trams.

New Areas of Production

Textiles and steel were the real engines of the IIRI, but new sectors were created:

• Chemical industry: manufactured dyes, explosives, fertilizers, and medicines.
• Steel industry: turned nickel, aluminum, and other metals. Iron production was improved and became steel with the Bessemer converter, favoring the development of the armaments industry.
• Food industry: cans, industrial refrigerators.

New Forms of Production Control and Labor

The complexity of the business fabric and production processes in the IIRI required new organizational systems. Two systems highlighted:

• Taylorism
• Fordism or line work: It sought scientific planning of the production process. F. Taylor’s idea was to divide tasks to be performed in the shortest possible time, eliminating unnecessary steps to reduce manufacturing costs. This is the theoretical view.

Line work applied to car manufacturers by Ford meant the ultimate specialization of work, the optimization of yields, and cheaper goods, allowing access to a growing number of consumers. The new systems introduced trouble in nature as it carried with it social dehumanization of the workspace.

New Forms of Capital

Banks financed the creation of enterprises because these were bigger and needed more capital. Pioneers of the IIRI had financed his family-owned companies, but boosted the search for new forms of financing, such as rail.

• The bank came to help with the rising investment outlay.
• Corporations were established by partners who owned shares of the company and shared benefits proportionately. Buying and selling stocks gave life to the stock market.

In the first industrial revolution, capital was scattered in small businesses, but in the IIRI, it tended to be concentrated in few hands since the corporate merger absorbed the most powerful and the weakest, thus creating monopolies.

Three forms of industrial concentration were emphasized:

• Cartel: agreement between 2 or more independent companies to set prices and share the market.
• Trust: merger of the management team to impose sales prices and production.
• Holding: finance company which controlled companies belonging to various productive sectors through the acquisition of a majority of shares.

A Global Economy

Globalization of the economy resulted from the need to control raw materials and new markets to sell surplus. The major powers embarked on the conquest of Asia and Africa. Output relations were based on the disparity between the industrialized powers and non-industrialized areas.

Introduction to Colonial Imperialism

In the last third of the nineteenth century, the Western world took to the conquest of large parts of the world, giving birth to what historians call the era of Imperial Colonialism. The way to carry out this process varied in two basic modes:

• Formal Imperialism (actual occupation of territory by creating colonies).
• Informal Imperialism (which took place in the U.S., means control of territory through its control of its economy, there is no effective occupation of territory).

Causes of Colonial Imperialism

We emphasize 4 major types of causes:

1. Industrialization of Europe: Between 1873 and 1890, an economic crisis occurred in Europe. This was not matched in the beginning by a decline in production. Well, in a short time, a crisis of overproduction began in all sectors. The industrial world emerged from the crisis by renewing their productive structures through technical innovation and remodeling business, as well as a significantly large market. Joined to this development were protectionist policies in many European countries, which made it imperative to seek new markets and resources elsewhere in the world. This is the context within which the Europeans went to other untapped territories, mainly Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
2. Economic causes: Europeans sought new economic space with the following objectives:
   1. Establishing markets where they could exploit industrial production.
   2. Obtaining raw materials and cheap energy.
   3. Using unskilled labor and low wages to reduce mining costs of raw materials.
3. Political factors and demographic expansion of the industrial powers by the desire to increase their political power at the international level by colonial hegemony. So, Europe’s political leaders considered their colonies as a strategic factor to increase their political power in all parts of the world.
4. Ideological causes: Throughout the nineteenth century, scientific interest increased in exploring the unknown parts of the world. In this form, societies emerged in Europe that organized geographical and anthropological expeditions in Africa and Asia. Highlighted were the journalist Stanley, the missionary Livingstone, and the adventurer De Brazza. Exploration opened these routes that were later used by settlers. The root causes of colonialism are incomprehensible without taking into account the racial views that existed at that time, which defended the superiority of the white race. This conception was accompanied by racist nationalist fervor of the large colonial states (French jingoism and Japanese chauvinism) that affirmed the desire to spread the culture of religion and European civilization in the world. Sometimes, colonialism held a paternalistic view, as Kipling said, “the white man’s burden to civilize the people was considered inferior by instruction and education”. In this work, the Christian Church (Anglican, Catholic, and Protestant) highlighted their intervention by the need to evangelize the “primitive”.

Types of Colonies

There were two main types of colonies:

1. Colonies themselves: Characterized as administrative territories belonging to the metropolis, they were not independent states. Within it, we can distinguish two subtypes:
   1. Operational: Reduced white population, no self-government, and reports directly to the metropolis (black Africa).
   2. Populating: The white population is large, with disposal of the government in domestic affairs, but foreign policy and the army were in the hands of the mother. They are called domains (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa).
2. The protectorate: A regime characterized by maintaining a colonial Indian government formally independent, but about which the mother exercises control.

A very different case from these two are the concessions, given that the relationship between the two governments is not metropolis-colony. They consist of commercial advantages or monopolies (exploitation of mines, the right to use certain ports, etc.) that power comes from another imperialist country. The best-known examples are the transfer of the Panama Canal to the U.S. or Hong Kong to Britain.

Colonization of Asia

In the early nineteenth century, European presence was quite limited. There were just some points of great commercial and strategic importance.

British Colonies

India will be the most important colony, called “the jewel in the crown”. Queen Victoria was crowned Empress of India. After that, the British conquered Burma, Borneo, Malaysia, and Singapore. They created the state-stopper Afghanistan to halt the Russian advance and control trade routes to China.

French Colonies

The first French presence was through the missionaries. Shortly after, they took the Indochina Peninsula. The kingdom of Siam was another state-cap (currently Thailand).

Netherlands Colonies

They controlled many islands: Java, Sumatra, parts of Borneo, and the Celebes Islands.

Russian Colonies

They expanded by Siberia and Central Asia, colliding with the British. The Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1907 recognized the state of Afghanistan and Tibet and spread the influence of Persia.

China

China is a unique case within Asia. It was one of mankind’s oldest empires and was in decline. The situation will be seized by European powers and Japan. Great Britain was the first power to intervene in China. The British traded silk, porcelain, and tea. To pay for these goods, they resorted to the smuggling of opium, which they sold to the Chinese population. This created a serious social and security problem. The Chinese authorities banned the trade, and Britain unleashed the Opium Wars. The victory of the British forced the Chinese to allow this trade and open 5 ports to their merchants, in addition to ceding Hong Kong. Other countries are going to push and get influence areas in China, granting concessions to French, German, Russian, and Japanese. Chinese weakness was made clear in 1884-85 when they were defeated by the Japanese. The entry of foreign interests caused the emergence of a movement against foreigners: the Boxer Rebellion. Their defeat meant the entrenchment of Western powers, which created colonies to avoid confrontation. The real legendary empire ended in 1911 with the proclamation of the Republic.

Imperial Japan

Japan was a country that lived with a huge backlog, but this time started what has been called the Meiji Revolution. This date marks the end of the power of the medieval noble families (the shogunate) and the beginning of a process of modernization, which was fixed in the model of Western countries as Great Britain, Germany, etc. Only the emperor survived as a sacred figure above all and everyone, including the constitution. Nationalist ideology promoted the development of extremist parties and influenced the evolution of the 20th century. Japan was a country with very little actual territory and, above all, not just raw materials and energy sources for industry. It started an imperialist career on the Asian continent, facing Russia (Russo-Japanese War) and later occupying Korea, the islands, the I. Fishermen, the Liotung peninsula, and the region of Manchukuo (puppet governments which impose their orders). They even came to control part of China and the Indochina peninsula. The expansion continued during the First World War and only ended with the end of the Second World War.

Informal Imperialism: The U.S.

They are called informal imperialists because it implies a real occupation of the territory but through control of the economy and politics, and a maritime domain through a large fleet. The first manifestation of this imperialism is the Monroe Doctrine when this American president uttered the phrase “America for Americans”. In the late nineteenth century, the American imperialist mentality was explained with other doctrines such as Manifest Destiny for expanding their civilization throughout the Americas and the Pacific. Other doctrines were: Naval (maritime domain through a large fleet and control of strategic points), Big Stick (big stick, most powerful force), and dominance of the dollar. It took place in the 1898 war against Spain in Cuba. Cuba was undergoing a process of war against Spain led by José Martí, who sought independence for the island. The U.S. accused Spain of blowing up the battleship Maine in a Cuban port. The U.S. declared war on Spain, which, of course, lost, and Cuba became independent under American protection (Cuba was a strategic point of the first order for the USA). Another episode is the construction of the Panama Canal, which began to be built by the French Lesseps, but unable to continue with the cost of the operation, it yielded to the US. This caused the independence of Panama in 1903. The government gave control of the Channel to the U.S. In 1914, this impressive work of engineering opened, giving the U.S. great geostrategic power.

The Colonization of Africa

With the exception of some enclaves, the African continent was virtually untouched by Europeans. One of the first experiences in colonial Africa was the occupation of Algeria by France. But the systematic occupation did not begin until the second half of the century. The strategy of occupation was always the same: first, they occupied the coast, which was the most accessible place for Europeans. Then it moved inland, following the course of rivers. Progress was slow because the natural environment used to be very hostile. By 1914, all of Africa was occupied. The latter territory was Libya by the Italians. The only African territories that were not occupied were two countries: Liberia and Ethiopia.

We thus discuss the highlights of the occupation of Africa:

Key players were British and French, followed by the Portuguese, Belgians, Germans, Italians, and Spanish. The English desired to create an empire continued north to south, and the French desired to create an empire from west to east.

The Problem of the Congo. The Berlin Conference

Belgium, with its King Leopold II, started the penetration through the Congo basin and then collided with French and Portuguese interests, also with the Germans settled in Cameroon. To solve the problem, a conference was convened in Berlin. German Chancellor Bismarck was the arbiter of the situation. The following agreement was reached:

• Free trade in the Congo basin and adjacent areas.
• Free navigation in the Congo and Niger rivers.
• Recognition of the Congo Free State, chaired by Leopold II.
• Regulating the procedure of occupation or conquest of Africa, considering that only effective occupation of territory and the presence of a competent authority gave rights to a colonial power.

Then we discuss the most important developments of the African territory

Fashoda Crisis

The desire to create an empire continued north to south on the part of Great Britain and from west to east by France made the confrontation inevitable in Fashoda (Sudanese territory) where the two armies met. The French finally gave in, in exchange for respect for their positions in North Africa. Britain had managed to consolidate their position of hegemony in Africa.

Egypt

Since the opening of the Suez Canal, this country has been of great strategic importance. It ensured control of the route to Asia. Gibraltar and Britain controlled it, and it was very important to control the other Mediterranean strategic point since this would control the entire Mediterranean area. In this context, Egypt sold the shares to the English Channel. France and Britain and Egypt controlled the channel and responded with a nationalist wave. The British are responsible for the dam and turned Egypt into a protectorate. Great Britain reached an agreement with France: Britain and Egypt kept the channel in exchange for guaranteeing the rights of France over nearly all of northern Africa.

Morocco

This independent country was coveted by several countries (France, Spain, Germany). The first Moroccan Crisis led to the Conference of Algeciras, in which Spain obtained a protectorate over the north and in southern France, and Germany was getting nowhere in the north of Morocco.

Boer War

The British had seized South Africa. From there, the English continued penetration into the interior, specifically to the colonies of Dutch farmers (Boers) of Orange and Transvaal, where significant gold and diamond mines were discovered. Thus began a war that won the British victory that also allowed monitoring of this rich area. They could see them coming closer to the dream of creating an empire continued north to south. This was not possible due to the presence of the Germans on the east coast with the colony of German East Africa.

Consequences of Colonialism for Indigenous Societies

The social structure was based on inequality. The Europeans were the dominant group over the Indians and did not mingle with them. The native class was subject to the dominion of Europeans, adopting a similar lifestyle, and their children studied in European universities. From this group will emerge dominant independence movements. The rest of Indian society suffered the consequences of colonization: labor exploitation, usurpation of their land, rising prices, and being second-class citizens in their own country.

Positive Consequences

Roads, modern communications, hospitals, schools, and health gains were built.

Negative Consequences

• Demographic: Due to lower mortality, the Indian population grew, but the economy did not develop at the same pace, leading to overcrowding, a continuing imbalance between population and resources.
• Economics: The Indians had to give up many of their best lands and subsistence farming to produce agricultural products demanded by Europeans. They were very cheap prices, and the Indians only benefited because European products were much more. The Europeans destroyed the craft for Indians to buy products from Europe.
• Cultural: They imitated the European way of life and valued European culture and language over one’s own culture.

As a conclusion, we can say that the Western world left to the colonized territories in Africa, Asia, and Latin America conditioned its political and economic developments in the twentieth century.