Lecture 14 Superior Science Scientific advancement and the growth of Imperialism I Key Themes for it What were the multifaceted motivations for the rise of New Imperialism How did scientific advances make this expansion possible and also provide justifications How were theories of racial superiority used to justify imperial expansion and also the brutality that accompanied it II From Nationalism to Imperialism Modern phenomenon justified by science Fear in Europe that expansion of one nation state will come at the detriment of others Building of formal empires is often very expensive Creation of national racial ideology competition between nations of racial groups survival of the fittest If a nation didn t expand it would die and become property of somebody else III Old Imperialism Imperialism normally was settling and colonizing in new world from Europe Europeans ruled with a light touch governed colonized areas through cooperation marry local women leaving local kings princes in place b c it was easier cheaper Doesn t mean that old imperialism was good and new is bad but new takes a different flavor IV New Imperialism Bourgeois desire for economic desire and growth expansion mission that Europe takes upon itself to expand 1 Economic expansion 2 Strategic concerns 3 Ideological compulsion Economic expansion imperialism was a natural progression from capitalism desire for new markets was driving motivation for new empire accepted idea even among non Marxist historians made sense for India and Indonesia places with large markets and valuable raw materials huge portions of these empires were completely non profitable Strategic concerns desire to protect these valuable colonies especially India for British british need to control all of major access routes to india to get ships to and from india Persian gulf east Africa suez canal Image advertisement 19th century Queen Victoria distributing cooking stoves to Africans Asians Latin Americans British distributing to rest of the world by participating in this economic system this ad says that the rest of world benefits Ideological compulsion idea of progress idea that Europe possesses something that needs to be distributed to the rest of the world civilization progress etc very subjective b c progress has different meaning to different people increase interest in Christianization missionaries going to colonies idea that you can spread European education textbook that the French used in their entire empire all people in their empire were capable of reaching some sort of civilization France has no future if they aren t expanding etc Nationalistic competitiveness plays a major role in this rise of new imperialism Image Book Dark Africa and the Way Out about Christian education to guide Africans on their way towards civilization Myth of progress V Scientific Possibilities Transportation communication Telegraph Altered ability for European gov ts to communicate Colonial office in London can keep tabs of what is going on in colonize Creates almost a unified empire between Britain and their colonies around the world Improved communication in the telegraph is equaled by improved transportation steamships Image construction of The Great Eastern ship used to lay the transatlantic cable communication between US and Britain Suez Canal built in 1869 enormous improvement in transportation to cut time traveling through middle east Breech loading rifles accurate to 500 750 yards smaller European armies can control bigger territories because of these improvements in communication transportation and weaponry One enemy that none of these could defeat disease Europeans that ventured inland from African coast usually didn t survive Quinine Natural element where modern chemists were able to produce large quantities of quinine Cuts down effect of malaria in Africa Called it tonic would drink it with gin helped keep many Europeans alive when traveling and inhabiting new lands VI Scientific Advances Charles Darwin Took a long voyage on the HMS Beagle expedition of scientific discovery Sent along as a geologist collected samples of fossils Along the way stopped at the Galapagos Islands took samples of many creatures there mostly birds came back Noticed that these birds had slight but noticeable differences became famous when he Read theories of Thomas Malthus during difficult moments of life which species are going to survive The strongest fittest Noticed that many species had common ancestors the modern species were due to adjusting to environment transmutation All species have undergone a similar process evolved over time through process of survival of the fittest Theories were very quickly taken up by people as justification he was never very clear whether his views applied to the human species but he did acknowledge that Malthus was correct that the stronger would kill off the weak Believed in the civilizing mission of Europe followers of this became known as Social Darwinists helping poor and weak would further weaken their genetic pool natural selection would continue to improve best features would be past down and bad features would be weeded out VII Scientific Rationales Social Darwinism Argued that there was scientific rationalization to empire Scientific Racism Very smart people were seduced by this Differences in skull size and shape had something to do with differences Different races were due to different evolutionary levels became widely accepted Image difference of skulls scientist implying that Africans are halfway between monkeys and humans The White Man s Burden Some people believed white people have tremendous burden to enlighten less evolved races Rudyard Kipling wrote this poem saying it is white man s duty to help evolve and advance other races Image british and Americans carrying rest of world up mountain towards civilization Uncle Sam is sweating not easy but must be done to help rest of world Image white child handing soap to black child and afterwards black washes off the black idea that other races want to become white and just like the civilized societies VIII Racial Empire Only through expansion and growth that nations could prove they had destiny to survive Could only prove you are the fittest by expanding Image Stanley s search for Dr Livingston not caring about the black person but it portrays him as a hero threatening to shoot him Cecil Rhodes Convinced imperialist that Britain had a duty to expand and replace other races with