Name: ________________________________________________________________ Per: ______ Case Study Due: _____ / _____ / _____

IMPERIALISM CASE STUDY

KEY QUESTIONS:
How did the Industrial Revolution create a demand for raw materials and new markets?
What were the political, economic, and social justifications for imperialism?
How did cultural differences cause conflict between groups?
How did native people respond to foreign imperialism?
Why did Japan turn to imperialism and militarism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
What were the benefits and disadvantages of foreign imperialism on native people?

Imperialism Case Study Page 1

KEY TERMS AND FIGURES

Nationalism

Imperialism

Racism

Social Darwinism

White Mans Burden

Direct Rule

Indirect Rule

Berlin Conference

Self-Determination

Cecil Rhodes

Sepoy Rebellion (Mutiny)

Cash Crop

Sphere of Influence

Guangzhou (Canton)

Extraterritoriality

Opium War

Open Door Policy

Matthew Perry

Meiji Restoration

Imperialism Case Study Page 2

PART 1: JUSTIFICATIONS FOR IMPERIALISM
Victor Gilliam, A Lesson for Anti-Expansionists, political cartoon from Judge, 1899.

1. How does the cartoon above relate the concepts of nationalism and imperialism?
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Selected African Colonies and Their Exports

African Colony
(European Colonizer) Resources Exported (Industrial or Economic Use)
Angola Cotton (Fabrics)
(Portugal) Palm oil and palm-kernel oil (Soap and candles; some food products)
Coffee and sugar (Food processing)
Congo Free State Rubber (Waterproof clothes, tires, electrical insulation)
(Belgium) Palm oil and palm-kernel oil (Soap and candles; some food products)
Ivory (Handles, piano keys, billiard balls)
French West Africa Gum (Cosmetics, drugs, food products)
(France) Palm oil and palm-kernel oil (Soap and candles; some food products)
Peanuts, bananas, coffee, cocoa (Food processing)
Cotton (Fabrics)
Rhodesia Copper (Coins, metal alloys, electrical wiring)
(Great Britain) Zinc (Metal alloys, rust protection)
Lead (Metal alloys, ammunition)
Coal (Fuel)
South Africa Gold (Banking, national currencies, jewelry)
(Great Britain) Diamonds (Jewelry, industrial cutting tools)

2. In your opinion, which of the colonies above was most important for European industry? Why?
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Imperialism Case Study Page 3
Rudyard Kipling, The White Mans Burden, 1899.

White mans burden Take up the White Man's burden--

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.
Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.
Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!

Take up the White Man's burden--

No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.

3. How does Kiplings poem describe native people? How does it portray their rulers?
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4. In your own words, explain what Kipling thought the White Mans Burden was?
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5. Who do you think this poem is intended for? How do you think his audience responded to it?
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Imperialism Case Study Page 4

PART 2: EUROPEANS IN AFRICA
From 1884 to 1885, European powers met in Berlin, Germany in
order to discuss the future of the African continent. German
expeditions into Africa for colonies made France and Britain
anxious over possible conflicts. At the Conference, Austria-
Hungary, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden-Norway, the Ottoman
Empire, and the United States agreed to work out a joint policy for
regulating colonization and trade in Africa.

1. How did the Berlin Conference relate to the concept of
imperialism?
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2. How did the Berlin Conference impact self-determination on the
continent of Africa?
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Imperialism Case Study Page 5

Cecil Rhodes (1852-1902) was a British businessman and politician in South The Rhodes Colossus: Striding from Cape Town to Cairo, Punch, 1892.
Africa. He made much of his fortune in mining and is considered one of the
founders of the modern diamond industry with the founding of the De Beers
Mining Company. He strongly believed in establishing a British Empire, going
so far as to set aside money in his will that was to be put toward the ultimate
recovery of the United States of America by the British Empire.

Cecil Rhodes, Confession of Faith, 1887

I contend that we [Britons] are the first race in the world,

and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the
human race. It is our duty to seize every opportunity of
acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea
steadily before our eyes that more territory simply means
more of the [British] race, more of the best, the most human,
most honorable race the world possesses.

3. In the passage above, what justification does Rhodes provide for

the British imperialism?
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4. How does the political cartoon to the right relate to the Berlin
Conference that was discussed on the previous page?
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5. How do Cecil Rhodes comments above, as well as his depiction on
the right, demonstrate the impact that nationalism on the
scramble for Africa?
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Imperialism Case Study Page 6

THE COMING OF THE PINK CHEEKS
By Chief Kabongo as told to Richard St. Barbe Baker,
From Kabongo: The Story of a Kikuyu Chief, 1955.
Before European colonialism, most Africans made their living from the soil. More importantly, traditional Africans
considered land to be a sacred part of nature and a part of the tribe. Land was not a commodity that could be bought
and sold; it was a gift from God that belonged to everybody, like the air.
After many generationsand sometimes after many centuriesa tribe became identified with a particular area.
The land was their property, belonging not only to the living members but also to the ancestors who had worked
the land and to the unborn children who would work the land in the future.
When Europeans came and bought land, many misunderstandings developed, for the Africans never meant to
sell what in their eyes couldnt be sold.
In the following selection, Chief Kabongo, of the Kikuyu tribe of Kenya, describes what happened to his people when
the Europeans took control of Kikuyu land. In his lifetimefrom the 1870s to the 1950sChief Kabongo saw the
sharp changes that took place after the coming of the whites, whom he called the Pink Cheeks.

For some years my eldest son had been going to
a school kept by some Pink Cheeks only two hours
journey away. These were not the White Fathers, to
whom my brother had gone, but were quite
different. They wore clothes like the Pink Cheeks
who farmed, and many of them were women. They
had a medicine house where there were many ill
people; there were good medicine men and good
thitngs were done and sick people were made well.
Every day my son would go before the sun was high
and would come back before the sun set. Then he
would eat and fall asleep, too tired to sit around the
fire and be told the stories and history of our people
and their laws and conduct.
It was in these days that a Pink Cheek man came
one day to our Council. He came from far, from
where many of these people lived in houses made of
stone and where they held their own Council.
He sat in our midst and he told us of the king of
the Pink Cheeks, who was a great king and lived in a
land over the seas.
This great king is now your king, he said. And
this land is all his land, though he has said that you
may live on it as you are his people and he is as your
father and you are as his sons.
This was strange news. For this land was ours.
We had bought our land with cattle in the presence
of the Elders and had taken the oath and it was our
own. We had no king, we elected our Councils and
they made our laws. A strange king could not be our
king and our land was our own. We had had no
battle, no one had fought us to take away our land
as, in the past, had sometimes been. This land we
had had from our fathers and our fathers fathers,
who had bought it. How then could it belong to this
king?
With patience, our leading Elder tried to tell this
to the Pink Cheek and he listened. But at the end he
said: This we know. But in spite of this, what I have
told you is a fact. You have now a kinga good and
great king who loves his people, and you are among
his people. In the town called Nairobi is a council or
government that acts for the king. And his laws are
your laws.
For many moons this thing was much talked of
by us. Then, when no more Pink Cheeks came and
things went on as they had always been, we spoke
no more.
Sometimes we heard of strange happenings, or
even saw them ourselves, but for the most part life
was still as it had always been. The Iron Snake
[railroad], which I had never seen, had come and
had carried men on it, not of our people; then a big
path was made through the country half a day from
our land. It was wide enough for three elephants to
walk abreast. And stones were laid on it and beaten
flat, so that grain could have been threshed there. As
the years passed and more and more strange things
happened, it seems to me that this path or road was
a symbol of all change. It was along this road now
that came news from other parts; and along it came
the new box-on-wheels that made men travel many
days journey in one day and that brought things for
the market that the women wanted to have, clothes
or beads to wear and pots for cooking. Along this
road the young men went when they left to work
with the Pink Cheeks and along it too they went
when that day came that they traveled to fight in the
war over the sea that the Pink Cheeks made against
each other.
It was along this road that many did not come
back and some came with no legs, or who could not
see. Two of my sons went and only one came back,
and he brought only one hand and many strange
new ideas and tales. Along the road, too, went the
trees that men cut down when they made more and
more farms. Without trees to give shade the ground
was hot and dry and food grew not well.
Imperialism Case Study Page 7
 By the time that my father, Kimani, died and his
spirit joined those of our ancestors, our own land
was poor too. For even though many of our family
had gone away to work for the Pink Cheeks, our
numbers had increased and there was now no room
for the land to rest and it was tired. The food it grew
was poor and there was not enough grown on it for
all to eat. Those of our family who worked for the
Pink Cheeks sent us food and coins that we could
buy food with, for else we could not live.
Little by little, too, the rains fell less. When I was
a boy I remember the rains came in plenty twice
every year, the little rains and the big rains, and on
the hottest days there would be heavy dews, for the
trees kept the land cool.
Now it was different; now the little rains had
gone and the big rains had become little rains. The
big rivers had become little ones and dried up in the
hottest time, and I saw this was not good. Now that
my father, Kimani, was dead, I had been chosen
Muramati of our mbari. I was also now a ceremonial
Elder, a member of the Sacrificial Council.
It seemed to me that Ngai was tired of us. He
sent so little rain. We must ask him to look upon us
again and must sacrifice a ewe to please him.
I spoke of this one evening, and the Elders said
it was good to make sacrifice, for the time of rain had
long passed. So the day was fixed and I was chosen
to be the leader.
Little Kabongo, my eldest grandson, who bore
my name according to our custom, sat with us; he
spoke then as do the young age group today before
their elders, but which when we were young we did
not.
This is good, he said. For three weeks the
Pastor at the Mission School has prayed for rain.
Which will send rain, do you think, the God of
the Pink Cheeks or Ngai? asked a small boy.
Neither, announced a young man, son of one
of my brothers, who was a schoolteacher. I have
read in books that it is the trees that make the rains
come. Now that the trees are cut down there is no
rain. In the Sacred Grove on the hills there is rain.
The small boy was listening, full of wonder.
And who makes the trees grow? Surely that is
God, said my grandson.
For the Pastor says that God made everything,
that God is greater than Ngai.
Such discussions among the young were
frequent, and to hear them made me sad. For this
new learning seemed to pull this way and that way
so that no one knew what was right.
But all this talk did not make more food nor
bring us rain.
As there was now so little land and we were so
many, the boys as they became men would go away,
some to work on farms for the Pink Cheeks, some to
a new kind of school-farm for men, where they
learned the new customs and also some curious
ways; for these grown men were made to play
games like little boys, running after balls which they
threw. This they did instead of good work.
Munene, one of my younger brothers, had been
one of these. He had been away a long time, and
when he came back he wore clothes like a Pink
Cheek and he came with one of them, in a box-on-
wheels, which is called motorcar, along the new
road.
The Pink Cheek called a Council together and
when all, both Elders and the young men, were
ssembled and sat round, he spoke. He spoke of
Munene; he told us of his learning and of his
knowledge of the customs of the Pink Cheeks and of
his cleverness at organizing.
Because of this, he said, and because he is a
wise man, the Government, the Council of Muthungu
that meets in Nairobi, have honored him and, in
honoring him, are honoring you all.
He paused and looked around at us. Beside him
Munene stood smiling.
He has been appointed Chief of this district and
he will be your mouth and our mouth. He will tell us
the things that you want to say and he will tell you
the things that we want to say to you. He has learned
our language and our laws and he will help you to
understand and keep them.
We Elders looked at each other. Was this the
end of everything that we had known and worked
for? What magic had this son of my father made that
he who was not yet an Elder should be made leader
over us all who were so much older and wiser in the
ways of our people? It was as if a thunderbolt had
fallen among us.
Rule of the Pink Cheeks
Your new Chief will collect the tax on huts, and
choose the places for the new schools that you will
build everywhere, so that your children may be
taught to read and write. He will raise the money for
that from you all. I have spoken.
When the Pink Cheek had gone there was much
talk. We asked Munene to tell us how this had come
about and why he was set above the Elders in this
way.
Imperialism Case Study Page 8
 It is because they do not understand our laws
and Councils, he told us. Because I speak their
language and because when I went away in their
wars I had many medals.
The medals we knew about, for we had seen
them. Many had them.
We spoke then of the tax on huts. It was heavy,
for some men had many huts. Those men who had
gone to work on the farms of the Pink Cheeks sent
us money, but this we needed to buy food. More
men, therefore, must go.
Munene gave us some good advice. He told that
men were wanted in Nairobi to build the new
houses made of stone, both for the Pink Cheeks to
live in and where they sat to make business and
trading. Our men could go there and earn coins and
then they could come back when they had plenty.
This was good, for in this way we would pay our
tax and no man would be taken by the Pink Cheeks
for not paying. So our young men went away down
the new road, we were left to grow what food we
could, and all was as usual.
It was while these men were still away to make
money for our hut tax that 10 of our people came
back from the farms where they worked. They were
not needed, they said, there was no work for them
there. With many others, they had been sent back
without money and without food, because there
were bad people who troubled the land.
This was the beginning. Along the new road had
come big boxes-on-wheels that they called lorries
[trucks], in which they had carted logs from the
forest. Now these came filled with people. Many had
no homes, for their land had gone to the Pink
Cheeks. Some had no homes because their land had
gone to be mined for gold. We could not let them
starve, so we took them on our land.
It was the end of the dry season and there was
little food left in the storehouses. Our mbari had
now grown big, and all these newcomers on our
land must eat too. Altogether there were 1,200
people on the 200 acres of land [that had been in our
family since my grandfathers father.] There was not
enough room to grow all the food.
In the dry season many goats and cattle had
died for want of water. The harvest had been thin
and there was little left, and there was no money to
buy food; the last had gone for our hut tax. I heard
the crying of children and I saw the women weaken
in their work. The old men would sit near their huts,
too feeble to walk.
Wangari, whose once-strong breasts hung like
empty bags and whose eyes were deep in her head,
came to me where I sat by my hut.
Kabongo, son of Kimani, she said, sitting close,
we women are tired; there is no food and the
children are hungry; the young men have no
stomachs and the old men are withering as dry
leaves. You yourself are weak or before this you
would have taken counsel with the Elders. Speak
now, for our people wait to hear your word.
I was roused. What she said was true. This was
no time to sit and wait. We must hold Council.
The Council met again under the Mugomo tree.
There were few, for the new laws of the Pink Cheeks
had forbidden big meetings. I looked round at my
friends and was sad. Their faces were anxious and
their skin was loose on their bones. Even Muonji,
who always used to joke, had no smile. For each one
had been hungry for many days, and each one told
the same story. Everywhere there was a shortage of
food, for there was no land and all the time people
were being sent back from distant parts. There was
uneasiness and some of our tribesmen were
troubling our people too much because they wanted
to drive the Pink Cheeks out of our country. This the
Elders told in Council and were uneasy, for we
wanted no war with the Pink Cheeks; we only
wanted land to grow food.
We must ask the Council of the Pink Cheeks to
lend us some of the land we had lent to them, said
one who came from a place where there was land
held by the government for future farms and not yet
in use.
All agreed that this would be good and for
Munene, who as Chief was our spokesman, we made
a message to give to the governor. What we told to
Munene he made marks with and, when we had
finished, he spoke it to us again and it was good.
Munene took our message and he took also a gift
of honey and eggs and went away down the long
road and left us to wait.
We waited many days, with hope. It was a whole
moon before Munene came back. He came to us
slowly and sadly, and we knew from his ways that
the news was bad.
They will not give the land, he said. They say
they have no more land for us.
And he told us many things that were not good;
he told us of rebellions of some of our people, bad
men who took our laws and ceremonies and
degraded them; of the Pink Cheek warriors and of
some he called Police who did unjust things to our
people, who took good men and loyal to the Queen
away from their work, and after much useless talk,
sent them too to live on this land where there is no
food.
Imperialism Case Study Page 9
 So I am sitting before my hut and I wait. For
soon the time will come for me to creep away into
the forest to die. Day by day my people grow thinner
and weaker and the children are hungry; and who
am I, an old man, to eat the food that would come to
them?
As I sit I ponder often on the ancient prophesy
of Mogo wa Kebiro. Has the Pink Cheek brought
good to my people? Are the new ways he has shown
us better than our own ways?
Something has taken away the meaning of our
lives; it has taken the full days, the good work in the
sunshine, the dancing and the song; it has taken
away laughter and the joy of living; the kinship and
the love within a family; above all, it has taken from
us the wise way of our living in which our lives from
birth to death were dedicated to Ngai, supreme of
all, and which, with our system of age groups and
our Councils, ensured for all our people a life of
responsibility and goodness. Something has taken
away our belief in our Ngai and in the goodness of
men. And there is not enough land on which to feed.
These good things of the days when we were
happy and strong have been taken, and now we
have many laws and many clothes and men dispute
among themselves and have no love. There is
discontent and argument and violence and hate, and
a vying with each other for power, and men seem to
care more for disputes about ideas than for the
fullness of life where all work and live for all.
The young men are learning new ways, the
children make marks which they call writing, but
they forget their own language and customs, they
know not the laws of their people, and they do not
pray to Ngai. They ride fast in motorcars, they work
fire-sticks that kill, they make music from a box. But
they have no land and no food and they have lost
laughter.

1. What are some of the ways that the Pink Cheeks transformed Kikuyu culture?
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2. Why didnt the Kikuyu simply attack and drive out the Pink Cheeks?
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3. How was the new road a symbol of all the changes as Chief Kabongo says?
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4. How does the coming of the Pink Cheeks affect the Kikuyus relationship with Ngai (God)?
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5. According to the reading, what do the Pink Cheeks want? What are they after?
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Imperialism Case Study Page 10
PART 3: THE BRITISH IN INDIA
An excerpt from O.P. Austins Does Colonization Pay? in The Forum, January 1900,

Modern progressive nations [European colonizers] . . . seek to control garden spots in

the tropics.
Under their direction, these places can yield the tropical produce that their citizens
need. In return the progressive nations bring to the people of those garden spots the
foodstuffs, and manufacture they need.
They develop the territory by building roads, canals, railways, and telegraphs. The
progressive nations can establish schools and newspapers for the people of the colonies.
They can also give these people the benefit of other blessings of civilization which they have
not the means of creating themselves.

1. According to this author, what are the benefits of imperialism to the colony?
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2. What are the benefits of imperialism to the European colonizers?
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The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters, 1882.

3. How does the image above relate to the concept of imperialism?

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Imperialism Case Study Page 11
THE SEPOY REBELLION (MUTINY)
In 1857, Indian soldiers rose up in rebellion and tried to drive the English out of India. Atrocities were committed in
the name of making India too terrible a place to stay, women and children were targeted in particular. The British
responded with similar violence and eventually put the rebellion down.

An excerpt from Sepoy to Subedar: Being the Life Adventures of Subedar Sita Ram, a Native Officer
in the Bengal Army, by B. Sita Ram, 1861.
Sita Ram was a sepoy who remained loyal to the British during the Sepoy Rebellion. This text is an excerpt from his
memoirs, likely written in the 1860s.

It chanced that about this time the English Government sent parties of men from each
regiment to different garrisons for instruction in the use of the new rifle. These men
performed the new drill for some time until a report got about, by some means or other, that
the cartridges used for these new rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. The men
from our regiment wrote to others in the regiment telling them of this, and there was soon
excitement in every regiment.
Some men pointed out that in forty years of service nothing had ever been done by the
English Government to insult their religion, but as I have already mentioned the sepoys'
minds had been inflamed by the seizure of the city of Oudh. Interested parties were quick to
point out that the great aim of the English was to turn us all into Christians and they had
therefore introduced the cartridge in order to bring this about, since both Muslims and
Hindus would be defiled by using it. []
I had never known the English to interfere with our religion or our caste in all the years
since I had been a soldier, but I was nevertheless filled with doubt. . . . I had also remarked
the increase in Missionaries during recent years, who stood up in the streets of our cities and
told the people that their cherished religion was all false, and who exhorted them to become
Christians.

4. According to this source, why did the Sepoy Rebellion begin?

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An excerpt from . The Causes of the Indian Revolt, Sayyid Ahmed Khan, 1873.
Sayyid Ahmed Khan was a Muslim scholar who worked as a legal expert for the British East India Company.
Although he remained loyal to the British during the 1857 mutiny, he later published a pamphlet called The Causes
of the Indian Revolt, first published in 1858, that primarily blamed British policies for the uprising.

The evils which resulted to India from the non-admission of natives into the Legislative
Council of India were various. . . . The people had no means of protesting against what they
might feel to be a foolish measure. . . . Whatever law was passed was misunderstood by men
who had no share in the framing of it. At length the Indians fell into the habit of thinking that
all the laws were passed with a view to degrade and ruin them. . . . Although the intentions of
Government were excellent, there was no man who could convince the people of it; no one
was at hand to correct the errors which [the government] had adopted. And why? Because
there was not one of their own number among the members of the Legislative Council. Had
there been, these evils that had happened to us, would have been avoided.

5. According to this source, why did the Sepoy Rebellion begin?

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Imperialism Case Study Page 12

An excerpt from a speech by Naoroji Dadabhai in 1871
Born into a prosperous Bombay family, Dadabhai Naoroji, moved in 1855 to London, where he believed that he could be effective
in improving Indian conditions. He became the first Indian elected to the British Parliament in 1892. Earlier, he had helped found
the Indian National Congress, the nationalist organization that sought greater Indian self-rule. This speech, delivered in London
in 1871, was in response to a question he received about the impact of Great Britain on India.

The Benefits of British Rule for India:

In the Cause of Humanity: Abolition of suttee and infanticide. [] Allowing remarriage of Hindu
widows, and charitable aid in time of famine. Glorious work all this, of which any nation may well be
proud, and such as has not fallen to the lot of any people in the history of mankind.
In the Cause of Civilization: Education, both male and female. Though yet only partial, an
inestimable blessing as far as it has gone, and leading gradually to the destruction of superstition,
and many moral and social evils. Resuscitation of India's own noble literature, modified and refined
by the enlightenment of the West.
Politically: Peace and order. Freedom of speech and liberty of the press. Higher political knowledge
and aspirations. Improvement of government in the native states. Security of life and property.
Freedom from oppression caused by the caprice or greed of despotic rulers, and from devastation by
war. Equal justice between man and man (sometimes underminded by bias for Europeans).
Materially: Loans for railways and irrigation. Development of a few valuable products, such as
indigo, tea, coffee, silk, etc. Increase of exports. Telegraphs.

The Detriments of British Rule:

In the Cause of Humanity: Nothing. Everything, therefore, is in your favor under this heading.
In the Cause of Civilization: As I have said already, there has been a failure to do as much as might
have been done, but I put nothing to the debit. Much has been done, though.
Politically: Repeated breach of pledges to give the natives a fair and reasonable share in the higher
administration of their own country, which has much shaken confidence in the good faith of the
British word. Political ambitions and the legitimate claim to have a reasonable voice in the legislation
and the obligation of taxes, thus treating the natives of India not as British subjects, in whom
representation is a birthright. Consequent on the above, an utter disregard of the feelings and views
of the natives. The great moral evil of the drain of wisdom and practical administration, leaving none
to guide the rising generation.
Financially: All attention is engrossed in devising new modes of taxation, without any adequate
effort to increase the means of the people to pay; and the consequent oppressiveness of the taxes
imposed, imperial and local. Inequitable financial relations between England and India.
Materially: The material condition of India is such that the great mass of the poor have hardly any
money and a few rags. The famines that were in their power to prevent, if they had done their duty,
as a good and intelligent government. An increase of exports without adequate compensation; loss
of manufacturing industry and skill. Here I end the debit side.

Summary: To sum up the whole, the British rule has been: morally, a great blessing; politically, peace
and order on one hand, blunders on the other; materially, impoverishment, relieved as far as the
railway and other loans go. The natives call the British system "Sakar ki Churi," the knife of sugar.
That is to say, there is no oppression, it is all smooth and sweet, but it is the knife, notwithstanding. I
mention this that you should know these feelings. Our great misfortune is that you do not know our
wants. When you will know our real wishes, I have not the least doubt that you would do justice. The
genius and spirit of the British people is fair play and justice.

6. Overall, has British rule of India been more beneficial or detrimental to India and its people? Explain.
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Imperialism Case Study Page 13
PART 4: SPHERES OF INFLUENCE IN CHINA
An excerpt of a letter from Qian Long (the Qing Emperor) to George III (the British Monarch), 1793.
You, O King, from afar have yearned after the blessings of our civilization, and in your eagerness to come into touch with our converting influence
have sent an Embassy across the sea bearing a memorial. I have already taken note of your respectful spirit of submission, have treated your mission
with extreme favor and loaded it with gifts, besides issuing a mandate to you, O King, and honoring you with the bestowal of valuable presents.
Yesterday your Ambassador petitioned my Ministers regarding your trade with China, but his proposal is not consistent with our dynasty and
cannot be entertained. Hitherto, all European nations, including your own country's barbarian merchants, have carried on their trade with our
Celestial Empire at Canton. Such has been the procedure for many years, although our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and
lacks no product within its own borders. There was therefore no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for our own
produce. But as the tea, silk and porcelain which the Celestial Empire produces, are absolute necessities to European nations and to yourselves, we
have permitted, as a signal mark of favor, that foreign hongs [merchant firms] should be established at Canton, so that your wants might be supplied
and your country thus participate in our generosity.

The Reception of the Diplomatique and His Suite at the Court of Pekin, by James Gillray, 1792.
1. How would you describe the tone of Emperor Qian Longs
letter to George III?
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2. Examine the cartoon to the left. Compare how the British are
represented to how the Qing are represented.
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3. Based on the excerpt and the cartoon, how would you
describe the relationship between China and Britain?
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Imperialism Case Study Page 14
From Ida Pruitt, A Daughter of Han: The Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman, 1967
This following excerpt is from a Chinese woman's account of the period ten years after the 1876-1879 famine, when another great
famine afflicted North China. When she was older, this woman, Ning Lao Tai Tai, narrated the story of her harsh life. At the time of
this story, she is a young woman with two children, married to a man who has turned out to be an opium addict. (By the late 19th
century, it is estimated that in some areas of China, as much as 80% of the population of villages were frequent users of opium, and
the average is estimated at perhaps 10% of the entire population.) This selection gives us a glimpse into what life was like for Ning
Lao Tai Tai in North China in 1887-88.

Day after day I sat at home. Hunger gnawed. What could I do? My mother was dead. My
brother had gone away. When my husband brought home food I ate it and my children ate with
me. A woman could not go out of the court. If a woman went out to work the neighbors all
laughed. They said, "So and so's wife has gone out to service." Or they said, "So and so's daughter
has gone out to service." I did not know enough even to beg. So I sat at home and starved. I was
so hungry one day that I took a brick, pounded it to bits, and ate it. It made me feel better.
How could I know what to do? We women knew nothing but to comb our hair and bind our
feet and wait at home for our men. When my mother had been hungry she had sat at home and
waited for my father to bring her food, so when I was hungry I waited at home for my husband
to bring me food.
My husband sold everything we had.
There was a fur hat. He wanted to sell it. But I begged him not to sell it.
"Let's keep this." It was my uncle's. "Take my coat." He took the coat and sold it for grain.
When he came home for food he drank only two bowls of millet gruel. I wondered why he ate so
little. I looked and found that the hat was gone, and knew that he had sold it for opium. Those
who take opium care not for food. ...
One year after my mother died I got a stick and a bowl and started out begging. It was the
spring of the year and I was twenty-two. It was no light thing for a woman to go out of her home.
That is why I put up with my old opium sot so long. But now I could not live in my house and had
to come out. When I begged I begged in the parts of the city where I was not known, for I was
ashamed. I went with my begging stick (the little stick with which beggars beat off dogs) up my
sleeve, that people should not see it. Every day we went out begging. My husband carried the
baby and led Mantze. When we came to an open gate I would send her in, for people's hearts are
moved by a child. ...

J.J. Grandville, Le Charivari, French magazine, 1840.

4. What impact did the opium trade have on Chinese society?

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5. Why were women more severely impacted during times of
hardship than men
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6. What is the message of the cartoon to the left?
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Caption: I say, you must buy this poison immediately. _________________________________________________
We want you to really poison yourselves, so that we will
have enough tea to comfortably digest our beefsteaks! _________________________________________________
Imperialism Case Study Page 15
Commissioner Lin Zexu writes an open letter addressed to Queen Victoria, 1839.
We are of the opinion that this poisonous article is secretly manufactured under the dominion
of your honourable nation. And we have heard that in your honourable nation, too, the people are
not permitted to smoke the drug.
Though not making use of it ones self, to venture nevertheless to manufacture and sell it is to
seek ones own livelihood by exposing others to death, to seek ones own advantage by other mens
injury. Such acts are bitterly abhorrent to the nature of man and are utterly opposed to the ways of
heaven.
We now wish to find, in cooperation with your honourable sovereignty, some means of bringing
to a perpetual end this opium, so hurtful to mankind: we in this land forbidding the use of it, and
you, in the nations of your dominion, forbidding its manufacture.
Let us suppose that foreigners brought opium into England, and seduced the people of your
country to smoke it. Would not you, the sovereign of the said country, look upon such a procedure
with anger, and in your just indignation endeavour to get rid of it?

7. According to Lin Zexu, how are the British attempting to economically imperialize China?
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ExcerptsfromTheTreatyofNanjing, August1842
ARTICLEI
There shall henceforward be Peace and Friendship between Her Majesty the Queen of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the Emperor of China, and between their
respective Subjects, who shall enjoy full security and protection for their persons and property
within the Dominions of the other. []
ARTICLEIII
It being obviously necessary and desirable, that British Subjects should have some Port whereat
they may careen and refit their Ships, when required, and keep Stores for that purpose, His
Majesty the Emperor of China cedes to Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, etc., the Island of
Hong Kong, to be possessed in perpetuity by Her Britannic Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and
to be governed by such Laws and Regulations as Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, etc., shall
see fit to direct. []
ARTICLE V
The Government of China having compelled the British Merchants trading at Canton to deal
exclusively with certain Chinese Merchants, [] the Emperor of China agrees to abolish that
practice in future at all Ports where British Merchants may reside, and to permit them to carry on
their mercantile transactions with whatever persons they please.

8. How does this treaty demonstrate a change in how the Chinese and British interactions (p. 14)?
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9 . How does the treaty above demonstrate economic imperialism of China by Britain?
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Imperialism Case Study Page 16
The Boxer Rebellion by Fei Chi-hao, 1900
The people of Shansi are naturally timid and gentle, not given to making disturbances, being
the most peaceable people in China. So our Shansi Christians were hopeful for themselves, even
when the reports from the coast grew more alarming. But there was one thing which caused us deep
apprehension, and that was the fact that the wicked, cruel YU Hsien, the hater of foreigners, was the
newly appointed Governor of Shansi. He had previously promoted the Boxer movement in
Shantung, and had persuaded the Empress Dowager that the Boxers had supernatural powers and
were true patriots.
Early in June my college friend K'ung Hsiang Hsi came back from T'ungchou for his vacation,
reporting that the state of affairs there and at Peking was growing worse, that the local officials
were powerless against the Boxers, and that the Boxers, armed with swords, were constantly
threatening Christians scattered in the country.
From this time we had no communication with Tientsin or Peking. All travellers were searched,
and if discovered bearing foreign letters they were killed. So though several times messengers were
started out to carry our letters to the coast, they were turned back by the Boxers before they had
gone far. It was not long before the Boxers, like a pestilence, had spread all over Shansi. School had
not closed yet in Fen Chou Fu, but as the feeling of alarm deepened, fathers came to take their boys
home, and school was dismissed before the end of June.
Mr. and Mrs. Lundgren and Miss Eldred of the China Inland Mission had come to Mrs. Price's
about the middle of June, and after the Boxer trouble began they were unable to leave. Mr. and Mrs.
Lundgren soon heard that their mission at P'ing Yao had been burned.
During the two long months that followed not a word reached us from beyond the mountains.
The church in Shansi walked in darkness, not seeing the way before it.
The wicked Governor, Y Hsien, scattered proclamations broadcast. These stated that the
foreign religions overthrew morality and inflamed men to do evil, so now gods and men were
stirred up against them, and Heaven's legions had been sent to exterminate the foreign devils.
Moreover there were the Boxers, faithful to their sovereign, loyal to their country, determined to
unite in wiping out the foreign religion. He also offered a reward to all who killed foreigners, either
titles or office or money. When the highest official in the province took such a stand in favor of the
Boxers, what could inferior officials do? People and officials bowed to his will, and all who enlisted
as Boxers were in high favor. It was a time of license and anarchy, when not only Christians were
killed, but hundreds of others against whom individual Boxers had a grudge.

10. What groups were targeted by the Boxers? Why?

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11. How was the Boxer Rebellion a nationalistic movement?
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Troops of the Eight Nations Alliance of 1900.

(Left to right: Britain, United States, Australian colonial, British India, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia Italy, Japan)
Imperialism Case Study Page 17
PART 5: THE OPENING OF JAPAN
Letter from Milliard Fillmore, President of the United States to the Emperor of Japan, 1852.
From Millard Fillmore, President of the United States of America,
to His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan
November 13, 1852

GREAT and Good Friend: I send you this public letter by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, an
officer of the highest rank in the navy of the United States, and commander of the squadron now
visiting your imperial majestys dominions.
I have directed Commodore Perry to assure your imperial majesty that I entertain the kindest
feelings towards your majestys person and government, and that I have no other object in sending
him to Japan but to propose to your imperial majesty that the United States and Japan should live in
friendship and have commercial intercourse with each other.
The Constitution and laws of the United States forbid all interference with the religious or
political concerns of other nations. I have particularly charged Commodore Perry to abstain from
every act which could possibly disturb the tranquility of your imperial majestys dominions.
The United States of America reach from ocean to ocean, and our Territory of Oregon and State
of California lie directly opposite to the dominions of your imperial majesty. Our steamships can go
from California to Japan in eighteen days.
Our great State of California produces about sixty millions of dollars in gold every year, besides
silver, quicksilver, precious stones, and many other valuable articles. Japan is also a rich and fertile
country, and produces many very valuable articles. Your imperial majestys subjects are skilled in
many of the arts. I am desirous that our two countries should trade with each other, for the benefit
both of Japan and the United States.
We know that the ancient laws of your imperial majestys government do not allow of foreign
trade, except with the Chinese and the Dutch; but as the state of the world changes and new
governments are formed, it seems to be wise, from time to time, to make new laws. []
I have directed Commodore Perry to mention another thing to your imperial majesty. Many of
our ships pass every year from California to China; and great numbers of our people pursue the
whale fishery near the shores of Japan. It sometimes happens, in stormy weather, that one of our
ships is wrecked on your imperial majestys shores. In all such cases we ask, and expect, that our
unfortunate people should be treated with kindness, and that their property should be protected,
till we can send a vessel and bring them away. We are very much in earnest in this.
Commodore Perry is also directed by me to represent to your imperial majesty that we
understand there is a great abundance of coal and provisions in the Empire of Japan. Our
steamships, in crossing the great ocean, burn a great deal of coal, and it is not convenient to bring it
all the way from America. We wish that our steamships and other vessels should be allowed to stop
in Japan and supply themselves with coal, provisions, and water. They will pay for them in money,
or anything else your imperial majestys subjects may prefer; and we request your imperial majesty
to appoint a convenient port, in the southern part of the empire, where our vessels may stop for this
purpose. We are very desirous of this.
These are the only objects for which I have sent Commodore Perry, with a powerful squadron,
to pay a visit to your imperial majestys renowned city of Edo: friendship, commerce, a supply of
coal and provisions, and protection for our shipwrecked people. []

Your good friend,

Millard Fillmore

1. How would you describe the tone of President Fillmores letter?

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Imperialism Case Study Page 18
Letter from Matthew Perry s to the Emperor of Japan, 1853.

From Commodore Matthew C. Perry

[Sent in Connection with the Delivery of a White Flag]
July 14, 1853

For years several countries have applied for trade, but you have opposed them on account of a
national law. You have thus acted against divine principles and your sin cannot be greater than it is.
What we say thus does not necessarily mean, as has already been communicated by the Dutch boat,
that we expect mutual trade by all means. If you are still to disagree we would then take up arms
and inquire into the sin against the divine principles, and you would also make sure of your law and
fight in defence. When one considers such an occasion, however, one will realize the victory will
naturally be ours and you shall by no means overcome us. If in such a situation you seek for a
reconciliation, you should put up the white flag that we have recently presented to you, and we
would accordingly stop firing and conclude peace with you, turning our battleships aside.

Commodore Perry

2. How would you describe the tone of Perrys letter?

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The young Meiji Emperor, 1872. The young Meiji Emperor in military dress, 1873

3. How do the physical changes in the pictures above demonstrate cultural diffusion?

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Imperialism Case Study Page 19

PART 6: GLOBAL IMPERIAL POWERS
European Imperial Powers (1900)
1. Which nation was the greatest imperial
power in 1900? Why?
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2. Based on what youve learned this unit
and the information presented here,
what continent do you think was most
impacted by imperialism? Why?
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PERCENTAGE OF TERRITORIES BELONGING TO THE

EXTENT OF COLONIALISM (1939) EUROPEAN/US COLONIAL POWERS (1900)
GREAT BRITAIN FRANCE BELGIUM NETHERLANDS GERMANY (1914) REGION % CONTROLLED
AREA IN SQUARE MILES 94,000 212,600 11,800 13,200 210,000 AFRICA 90.4%
POLYNESIA 98.9%
(AREA OF COLONIES) 13,100,000 4,300,000 940,000 790,000 1,100,000 ASIA 56.5%
POPULATION 45,500,000 42,000,000 8,300,000 8,500,000 67,500,000 AUSTRALIA 100.0%
AMERICAS 27.2%
POPULATION OF COLONIES 470,000,000 65,000,000 13,000,000 66,000,000 13,000,000

Imperialism Case Study Page 20