British Empire facts
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- Created by: lucyhannaford12
- Created on: 26-03-18 15:12
Egypt 1869-1885
- 1863-79= debt grew from 3mil to 100mil
- cotton essential to textile manufacturing= area under cultivation x5 in 1860s
- 1875= 80% ships using canal GB
- Disreali= 4million loan, 44% stake in canal
- Dual control 1878-82= unemployment, starvation, rioting
- GB= rev
- France= spending
- Alexandria riots 1882: 50 Europeans killed
- Gladstone= 37% portfolio Egy. bonds
- Daily Telegraph= 'killed all the christians they could find'
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Reforms under Baring 1883-1907
- Dufferin Report 1883= Egyptian parliament
- 1885= 100 GB advisers, 1905= 1000
- Aswan Dam 1896-1902= 1/2million acres of former desert irrigated
- cotton/sugar production 3x
- 6000 GB troops added to army
- limited education- India
- forced to resign 1906- flogging/hanging of locals at Denshawai
- nonetheless given 50,000 by lib govt. for his services
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Problems in governing Egypt
- Capitulations= European protection, tried under own laws
- Public debt commission= GB, France, Russia, Germany etc. controlled finances of Egypt
- 1/2 budget went on foreign debt
- Govt. spending could be vetoed by Caisse de la Dette e.g. funding for war in Sudan
- Mixed Court= not guaranteed GB favour
- French= Fashoda Incident 1898, close to conflict
- 1904 Entente Cordiale= French respected GB in Egypt in return for French takeover of Morocco
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Egypt/Sudan nationalism
- EGYPT
- 1882= Arabi Pasha- Alexandria riots- 50 died- Gladstone ordered formal occupation- navy bombardment & army invasion
- National Party= founded 1881- revived 1893 as secret society- educated- wanted representative govt.
- SUDAN
- Egyptian mismanagement= widespread dissent
- Mahdi= 'redeemer of Islamic faith'- defeated 4000 well-equipped Egyptian force 1883- transformed into Jihadist army- surrounded Khartoum- killed General Gordon 1884
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Sudan 1896+
- Gordon= national hero- public eager to return to avenge him
- Salisbury= feared French/German interest E.Africa would give them control over headwaters of Nile- threaten Egypt
- Kitchener= 20,000 troops to defeat Khalifa's forces (ruler of Sudan)
- Battle of Omdurman 1898= 11,000 Sudanese died vs 48 British
- 'good dusting'
- Kitchener 1st gov-general
- formed 'Gordon college' to train Sudanese for self-govt
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Indian Mutiny 1857
- grievences due to poor pay & working conditions
- lacked understanding of traditional religious beliefs
- cartridges greased with cow/pig fat
- less than 1/5 soldiers in Bengal army British
- Sepoys seized control of Northern cities: Cawnpore/ Lucknow
- attempt to resurrect old Mughal Emporer as figurehead against GB rule
- tortured GB officers
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Consequences of Indian Mutiny
- Govt. India Act 1858
- Queen Victoria- Empress of India 1876
- GB troops increased to 1:2
- 1/3 GB army in India by 1880
- recruitment of Sikhs, Muslims & Gurkhas increased
- 3000 miles of railway built- rapid deployment of troops (used Boer War)
- hardened domestic attitudes- 'Bengali babus'
- EIC courts merged with Crown
- missionary activity discouraged
- 1857-87= 60,000 Indians entered universities
- tea plantations increased from 1 in 1851 - 295 by 1871
- 30 million acres artificially irrigated- growth of cash crops such as cotton & jute
- India took 20% GB exports by 1880s
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India 1880-1914
- GB used 'divide and rule' strategy to make administration easier- differences in race, religion & caste
- exploited differences between illiterate masses & western-educated elite
- Curzon= 'inclined to abdicate or run away'
- Partition of Bengal 1905= Hindus viewed as punishment for their increased political assertiveness- weren't consulted
- 1906 new liberal govt= recognised need to pacify
- Morley-Minto reforms= Indian Council Act 1909- 27 Indians elected to Viceroy's executive council- provincial councils enlarged with 135 Indian seats
- However... narrow franchise, GB officials still majority
- Hardinge= reunited Bengal 1911, declared war without consultation- increased expectations of self govt
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Indian nationalism 1880-1914
- 1885= INC formed- western-educated- wanted greater representation
- Response to partition:
- Moderates led by Banerjee= Swadeshi movement- boycott GB goods- cut imports of GB textiles by 25%
- Extremists led by Tilak= terrorism- bombing public buildings
- Muslim elite= created Muslim League 1906- wanted to maintain majority in East Bengal
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Role of Traders in Africa
- Sir William Mackinnon= founded Calcutta & Burma Steam Navigation Company 1856
- combined business enterprise with missionary principles- founded Free Church of Scotland in Kenya 1891
- George Goldie= bought palm oil business into Niger basin 1875
- formed Central African Trading company 1876
- 1879= persuaded all British trading firms on Niger river to combine- established United African Company
- his efforts allowed Britain to proclaim protectorate over North/South Niger during Berlin Conference 1884-85
- Royal Niger Company 1886
- once commercial interests were established- administration would follow
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Role of Explorers in Africa
- David Livingstone= South Africa 1841, Luanda 1853
- began as missionary doctor- wanted to pave the way for 'commerce and christianity'- viewed as a martyr who sacrificed his life for Africa
- John Kirk- Zanzibar
- wanted GB to have respectable colonial position- efforts gave GB security on Africa's east coast- became British East Africa in 1895
- Sir Richard Burton- Somaliland, Zanzibar
- acquired a wild & dangerous reputation for his daring essays- produced 43 volumes of his explorations which were widely read
- Speke- Somaliland, Lake Tanganyika
- went on a quest to find source of Nile- named the great lake he discovered after Queen Victoria
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Role of Missionaries
- Methodist missionaries active through 'conferences' in dominions- prepared ground for rule in Figi 1874
- South Africa conference 1882= John Mackenzie pressurised govt. to establish protectorate over Bechuanaland
- societies spent 2mil a year- equivalent of 2% govt. expenditure
- suffered from internal conflict- Nigeria 1880s
- David Livingstone 'Christianity and Commerce'
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Scramble for Africa
- Before 1890: acquisition was reactive (Egypt)- countering influence of rival France- defining major GB trade areas
- Chartered companies= exclude other Europeans from lucrative GB bases
- Germany= united in 1871 by Bismarck- industrial power- expanding merchant Navy- wanted a 'place in the sun'
- Great Depression 1873-96= France, Germany, Russia + US drop free trade in favour of protectionism
- British exports fell by 234million a year in 1st half 1880s
- Africa= source of raw materials and new markets
- 'Effective occupation'= had to make a formal claim to a colony
- Before 1885= 80% Africa untouched
- 1905= only 10% uncolonised
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Trade and Commerce- positives (1857-90)
- discovery of mineral deposits W.Africa= colonial growth
- discovery of gold at Witwatersand= influx of skilled workers
- steamships= increased cargo capacity, reduced travel time to 3 weeks W.Africa
- deepened canals in Egypt & India to allow higher volume of shipping
- investment in railways= facilitated commercial enterprise, enabled Aus to export wheat and wool, SA chance to expand into the interior
Overall= underdeveloped countries propelled to modernise
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Trade and Commerce- negatives
- primary commodities- colonies vulnerable to market shifts
- little development of industry- unable to compete in global markets, dependent on GB for manufactured goods
- GB exploited colonies out of economic self-interest
- Prime examplel= Bantu tribe in SA
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Trade and Commerce 1890-1914
- 25% imports from Empire
- 37% exports to Empire
- Tropical Africa= 1.2% exports
- 1900= loans to India allowed development of local industry (threatened Jute mills in Dundee & Lancashire cotton)
- financial returns greater on risky investments outside empire
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Joseph Chamberlain
- Colonial Sec. 1895-1903 (conservatives)
- organised 1902 London Colonial Conference with dominions
- imperial customs union= boost trade, protective tariffs on non-imperial goods
- advantages= safeguard supplies of key strategic materials, protect colonies against foreign competitors
- disadvantages= majority of trade outside empire (only 25%), empire wasn't self-sufficient
- established 'Imperial Preference'- tariff reform league- divided party
- initiated Uganda railway, sanctioned annexation of Ashantiland, supervised R.Niger's acquisition of territories
- opposed Gladstone's proposal for Irish independence
- believed GB was 'the greatest of the governing races'
- resigned 1903- failings of Boer War
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National Efficiency
- fear that GB was in decline as world power- needed to improve quality of workforce
- Boer War=400,000 vs 30,000, cost 250million, 40% deemed unfit
- Manchester= 8000 rejected out of 11,000
- 1900= 56% men less than 5ft 6
- Germany rapidly industrialising + introduced system of sickness benefits and pensions
- movement away from Laissez-faire
- Liberal landslide- free school meals 1906, OAP act 1908
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Attitudes to imperialism
- 1860s/70s= growth of popular press, stories of the exotic- Livingstone, Burton & Speke
- Education Act 1870= increased literacy rates
- Extension of franchise 1867 & 1884 (5.5 million men)
- Indian Mutiny 1857= tales of heroism- relief of Lucknow
- Daily Telegraph- Arabi Pasha 1882= 'killed all the christians they could find'
- Imperial literature= 'King Solomon's mines' 1885- immediate best-seller
- Four Feathers 1902- aftermath of Arabi Pasha
- Exhibitions= Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886- natives used as 'living exhibits'
- Africa Exhibition 1890- included 2 boys from Bechuanaland- justified GB presence as bring progress to uncivilised world
- public lectures by missionaries & Sunday school stories- benevolence and GB superiority
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