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Lahore University of Management Sciences

History of Colonial Expansion, ca. 1492 - 1919
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Course Description
This course provides a general survey of colonial and imperial history from the ‘discovery’ and colonisation of the Americas to the
beginnings of the end of European Imperialism following the treaty of Versailles in 1919. This course will combine a roughly
chronological account with a a variety of thematic approaches in order to acquaint students with a wide ranging understanding of
colonial and imperial history. While an emphasis is placed on the British Empire, other European and Asian empires will also be
briefly covered with an aim of highlighting the diverse experiences of colonialism and imperialism in various parts of the world. In
doing so, this course will also introduce students to historiographical debates and primary source materials with a broader aim of
acquainting them with the conventions of historical research and writing.
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This course is divided into five modules. The first surveys the conquest and colonisation of the Americas by a variety of European
Empires. Additionally, it also explores the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the varied experiences of slavery in some detail. This is
followed by a module on imperial expansion in Asia. In addition to European Empires, this section will also briefly survey Eurasian
and ‘Gunpowder’ Empires with a dual aim of providing a comparative perspective and complicating narratives which often equate
Imperialism with Europe. The third module explores the ‘Age of Empire,’ roughly from the mid 19th century to the First World War,
when most of the world’s land mass was ruled by European Empires. This is followed by a module which covers a variety of
thematic approaches to the study of imperial and colonial history. The final section explores the various theoretical understandings
of Imperialism.
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Course Prerequisites
None, though a history course at any level is preferable.
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Course Objectives
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To provide students with an wide ranging understanding of colonial and imperial history and its role in indelibly shaping the modern
world.
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Grading
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Class Participation and Attendance 20%
Primary Source Commentary (2 - 3000 words) 20%
Research Essay (3-4000 words) 20%
Midterm Exam (Take home) 20%
Final Exam (Take home) 20%
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Additional Notes
Students are expected to read all the assigned readings. They may be asked to comment on the readings in class. The class
participation component can also consist of one page response papers.
Depending on the class discussions, the course outline can be changed to incorporate additional themes, primary sources and
secondary literature.
Attendance is mandatory. Students are allowed three unexcused absences. More than three absences will merit a grade reduction.
Students who miss more than six classes will be given a zero in CP and attendance.
Late submissions will be penalised.
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Lahore University of Management Sciences
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Course Overview

Lecture Description Readings

1 Introduction -

Module 1: The ‘Discovery’ of the Americas and the Atlantic Imperium

2-3 Conquest and J. Elliot, Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America ,1492 - 1830 (Yale
Colonisation of the University Press, 2007), pp 3 - 184 and 255 - 325
Americas: Spanish,
Lesli Bethell (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America, Volume 1: Colonial Latin
Portuguese, British,
America (Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp 249 - 286
French Empires.
Primary Documents:
All documents are from Howard Zinn, Anthony Arnove (eds.) Voices of a People’s History of
the United States (Seven Stories Press, 2009)
Accounts of Christopher Columbus and Bartolome de Las Casas, pp 29 - 51
Richard Frethorne on Indentured Servitude, pp 63 - 65
Gottlieb Mittelberger’s Jounrey to Pennsylvania in Voices of a People’s History of the United
States (Seven Stories Press, 2009), pp 72 - 76
Narratives of Native Americans, pp 133 - 139 and 140 - 146
4-5 Slavery and the Trans- Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery (University of North Carolina Press, 1944), pp 30 - 85
Atlantic Slave Trade Basil Davidson, The African Slave Trade (1980)
Primary Documents
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass accessible at (http://
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASdouglass.htm?menu=USAslavery)
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano accessible at (http://
www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/index.htm)
Slave auction advertisements (to be supplied in class)
6 Colonialism and Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of
Mercantile Capitalism the European World Economy, 1600 - 1750 (Academic Press, 1980) pp 36 - 71
L.S Stavrianos, Global Rift: The Third World Comes of Age (1981) pp 44 -52
Excerpts from Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, accessible from the Modern History
Sourcebook: The Principle of the Mercantile System (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/
1776asmith-mercsys.asp)
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Module 2: Expansion of Imperial Frontiers in Asia
7 Portuguese and Dutch C.R Boxer Portuguese Seaborne Empire 1415 - 1825 (London, 1977)
Empires in South East C.R Boxer Dutch Seaborne Empire 1600 - 1800 (London, 1977)
Asia

8 The Russian and the A. Krausse, Russia in Asia, 1588 - 1899 (1973), pp 103 - 123
Ottoman Empire David Nicolle, The Ottomans: Empire of Faith (Thalamus Publishing, 2008) pp 52 - 70 and 86
- 126
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Lahore University of Management Sciences
9 The Safavid and the D. E. Streusand, Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals (Westview
Mughal Empire Press, 2011) pp 135 - 291
10 From John Company to Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf, A Concise History of Modern India (Cambridge
the Raj: British Rule in University Press, 2006) pp 1 - 92
India Ayesha Jalal and Sugata Bose, Modern South Asian History: History, Culture, and Political
Economy (Routledge, 2004) pp 38 -86
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Module 3: High Noon of Imperialism: ‘The Age of Empire’
11 - 12 The Age of Empire and Eric J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 1875 - 1914 (Vintage Books, 1989) pp 56 - 84
the Scramble for Africa Scott Cook, Colonial Encounters in the Age of High Imperialism (Pearson, 1997)
R. Robinson and J. Gallagher, African and the Victorians: The Official Mind of
Imperialism (Palgrave Macmillan, 1978)
Primary Documents
Henry M. Stanley, How I Found Livingstone
Documents from the Berlin Conference of 1884 - 1885
13 The Great Game: K.E Meyer and S.B Brysac, Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for
British and Russian Empire in Central Asia (Counterpoint, 1999)
Rivalry in Central Asia A. Krausse, Russia in Asia, 1588 - 1899 (1973), pp 123 - 148 and 196 - 218
Primary Documents
Papers of Lord Curzon.
Rudyard Kipling, Kim
14 Monopoly Capitalism L.S Stavrianos, Global Rift: The Third World Comes of Age (1981) pp 256 - 278
and Imperialism J. Gallagher and R. Robinson, ‘The Imperialism of Free Trade,’ Economic History
Review (August 1953) Vol. 6 No. 1, pp 1 - 15
Primary Documents
VV.I Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
15 Collapse and David Fromkin, The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle
Regeneration: The End East (Henry Holt and Co., 1989) pp 23 - 62, 119 - 200, 253 - 284, 493 - 569
of the Ottoman Empire
and Partitioning of the
Middle East
16 The Beginning of the Erez Manela, The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins
End: Lenin, Wilson and of Anti-colonial Nationalism (Oxford University Press, 2007), pp 3 - 35
the Movement for Self Primary Documents
Determination
V.I.Lenin, The Right of Nations to Self-Determination
Module 4: Thematic Approaches to Colonial and Imperial History
17 Violence and Genocide: Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in
Case Studies of the Colonial Africa (Pan Books, 2006) pp 6 - 18 and 115 - 166.
Belgian Congo and Adam Jones, Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction (Routledge, 2006), pp 42 -44
Indigenous Peoples in and 65 - 101
America and Australia
Primary Documents
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
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Lahore University of Management Sciences
18 Empire and Racism Patrick Brantlinger, Dark Vanishings: Discourse on the Extinction of Primitive Races,
1800 - 1930 (Cornell University Press, 2003) pp 1 - 68 and 164 - 201

19 Responses to Richard Gott, Britain’s Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt (Verso, 2011) pp 14 -
Colonialism 36, 95 - 121, 169 - 183
Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth (1965)
M.K Gandhi, Hind Swaraj
20 Christianity, Commerce Thomas R. Metcalf, The New Cambridge History of India Vol. III: Ideologies of the Raj
and Civilisation: (Cambridge University Press, 2007) pp 1 - 113
Ideologies of Empire C.A Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World, 1780 - 1914: Global Connections and
Comparisons (Blackwell, 2004) pp 343 - 351
Primary Documents
Lord Macaulay’s Minute on Education
21 Continuity and Change: Bernard Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India
Colonial Identities in (Princeton University Press, 1996)
British India Nicholas Dirks, Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India
(Princeton University Press, 2001)
Susan Bayly, Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the
Modern Age (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
22 Settler Colonies, Piers Brendon, The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781 - 1997 (Vintage Books,
Migration, and 2008) pp 61 - 95
Indentured Labour Judith M. Brown, Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora (Cambridge
University Press, 2006) pp 9 - 23 and 29 - 39
23 Technology, Science A Alam, ‘Imperialism and Science’ in Race and Class Vol. 19, 1978, pp 239 - 251
and Empire Michael Adas, Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of
Western Dominance (Cornell University Press, 1989) pp 129 - 266
Drayton, R 1995, 'Science and the European Empires' Journal of Imperial and
Commonwealth History, Vol. 23, pp. 503-510.
24 Culture and Imperialism John M. Mackenzie, Imperialism and Popular Culture (Studies in Imperialism)
(Manchester University Press, 1987) pp 113 - 140
Eric J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 1875 - 1914 (Vintage Books, 1989) pp 219 - 242
Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (Vintage Books, 1994) pp 97 - 111
Module 5: Theoretical Overview
25 - 26 Theories of Imperialism Joseph A. Schumpter, The Sociology of Imperialism (1918)
V.I Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)
John Hobson, Imperialism (1902)
Benjamin J. Cohen, The Question of Imperialism: The Political Economy of Dominance
and Dependence (Basic Books, 1973)
Wolfgang J. Mommsen, Theories of Imperialism (University of Chicago Press, 1982)
Patrick Wolfe, ‘History and Imperialism: A Century of Theory, from Marx to Post-
colonialism, The American Historical Review, Vol. 102, No. 2 (1997), pp 388 - 420
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Lahore University of Management Sciences
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Lahore University of Management Sciences
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