Western Imperialism in Asia & the Pacific Egypt Broke away from Ottoman Empire under the guidance of Muhammad Ali (who is called the father of modern Egypt) Began a program of modernization, reforming taxes, agriculture, and the military Built Egypts into a major supplier of cotton to the British textile mills The Suez Canal Egypt borrowed money from Britain to build a canal across the Suez This canal connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas, saving weeks of travel time for ships sailing from Europe to Asia When Egypt failed to repay their loan, the British took direct control of the canal in 1875 The British desire to protect the canal led them to establish a protectorate in Egypt which lasted in various forms until 1956 Persia (Iran) With the collapse of the Safavid Empire, Persia (modern Iran) became independent Persia began to industrialize and build railroads and telegraphs Once oil was discovered, however, both Britain and Russia moved in and established spheres of influence in an effort to control that resource India Between early 1600s and mid-1800s, power in India slowly shifted from the Mughal Empire over to the British British took advantage of Indian diversity by playing rival groups against each other Where political intrigue didnt work, the British used superior firepower The Sepoy Rebellion Britain required Indian soldiers (called sepoys) to serve in the British army They armed the sepoys with rifles that used cartridges greased with animal fat Beef fat was forbidden to Hindus Pork fat was forbidden to Muslims Since nearly all Indians were either Hindu or Muslim, they refused to use the cartridges This, plus other religious insults, led the sepoys to revolt in 1857 The British crushed the rebellion, and took more direct control of India than they had before British Changes to India Improved transportation & communications Introduced western style of education and law Worked to end slavery and caste system Switched many Indian farmers over to cotton production Outlawed sati Hindu custom where the widow joins her husband in death by leaping into his funeral fire Indian Attitudes Some Indians, like Ram Mohan Roy, embraced westernization learned English sent sons to schools in England cast off old Hindu traditions such as the caste system Others wanted to retain Hindu or Muslim traditions Still others promoted the idea that Hindus and Muslims work together to push the British out of India China During the late 1700s, British merchants began trading Indian opium for Chinese tea Many Chinese developed an addiction to the powerful drug, generating huge profits for the British China outlawed the drug, but Britain refused to stop importing it into China, so in 1839 China and England fought the Opium War, which China lost badly China was forced to accept a peace treaty in 1842 which required them to pay Britain a huge amount of cash, surrender the island of Hong Kong, and open all of China to English trade Chinese Opium Den Chinese Unrest The Taiping Rebellion ( ): peasants demanding modernization revolted, resulting in about 25 million deaths The Chinese royal court opposed any westernization, especially industrialization and the adoption of new technologies, because any social changes that might result would threaten their power Despite this, some industrialization began to take place through private efforts in the 1860s Spheres of Influence After Japan beat China badly in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Europeans powers took advantage of Chinas weakness and moved in to establish spheres of influence to dominate trade in China The US opposed this move by the Europeans and forced them to accept an Open Door Policy keeping China open to US merchants The Boxer Rebellion Anti-foreign sentiments amongst the Chinese finally erupted in violence In 1899, the Boxer Rebellion began when a martial arts gang called the Righteous Harmonious Fists, began attacking foreigners throughout China When the Chinese government could not control the situation, the Europeans, Americans, and Japanese worked together to put down the rebellion with military force Chinese Westernization After yet another embarrassment, China now raced to westernize: began to emphasize math and science in schools expanded mining, shipping, railroads, banking, and industry sent many students out of the country to study new ideas and technologies Chinese Democracy After the collapse of the monarchy in 1911, China became a republic with Sun Yixian as its president Sun promoted his Three Principles of the People Nationalism: a China free of foreign influences Democracy: a China with an elected government Livelihood: economic security for all Chinese Southeast Asia Europeans colonized Southeast Asia Dutch already controlled Indonesia and its valuable spices, coffee, indigo, & rubber resources Britain annexed Burma (modern Myanmar) and Singapore French seized Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) By 1890, European powers controlled almost all of Southeast Asia Siam (Thailand) Siam escaped being colonized thanks to the planning of their king Mongkut IV who had studied the West His son, Chulalongkorn modernized the country and negotiated the continued independence of Siam as a neutral buffer state between the British and French colonies in Southeast Asia Mongkut IV Phrabat Somdet Phra Pormen Maha Mongkut, Phra Chom Klao Chaoyouhua Embraced western traditions as a way to preserve Siams independence The King immortalized in the stage musical / movie The King and I for his hiring of an English governess to raise his children Chulalongkorn 1853 1910 (life) 1868 1910 (reign) Trained himself in western ways, including traveling to Europe Negotiated a treaty with Britain & France which ensured Siams freedom Ended slavery, enacted freedom of religion Had 77 children! Japan The Tokugawa shoguns had closed Japan to foreigners and banned foreign travel by Japanese citizens in 1600 By 1800, however, many Japanese were unhappy due to the weak economy: Daimyo (nobles) were cash- poor their wealth was in land only Samurai were unhappy because they had gone from being a warrior class to mere bureaucrats Merchants, no matter how wealthy, held no power Peasants were forced to pay heavy taxes Japan Opens Up In 1853, the U.S. Navy under Commodore Perry sailed a fleet of American warships into Tokyo Bay U.S. demanded that Japan open itself to trade Japan agreed to allow American ships access to Japanese ports because they knew they could not win a fight Japan would hold a long resentment against the U.S. for the incident The Meiji Restoration In 1867, discontented daimyo and samurai revolted and overthrew the shogun in favor of the emperor (the emperor had been more of a symbolic ruler rather than holding any actual power) Between 1867 and 1912, Japan experienced meiji (enlightened rule) under the emperor: Increased Japans wealth and military strength Studied and adapted western ways to Japans needs Ultimate goal was to beat the west at its own game by creating a Japanese Empire in Asia and the Pacific Political Changes in Japan New constitution which made all citizens equal under the law Emperor maintained autocratic rule but formed the Diet (legislature) with one elected house and one house appointed by the emperor to create laws Set up a western-style bureaucracy with separate departments (like what we have in the U.S. today) Economic Changes in Japan Set up private banks Built railroads & ports Set up telegraph and postal systems Government built factories and then sold them at a loss to jumpstart industrialization Powerful banking & industrial families began to appear (called zaibatsu), such as the Kawasaki, Mitsubishi, and Nissan. Japans industries flourished during the 1890s and Japan became a fully industrialized nation with all of the same benefits and drawbacks that were being experienced by Western Europe and the U.S. Japanese Militarization Japan decided to fight imperialism by becoming an imperialist nation itself 1894: Sino-Japanese War won easily by Japan; took Taiwan from China 1904: Russo-Japanese War also won easily by Japan; took control of Korea and Manchuria, areas desperately wanted by both China and Russia The Philippines In 1898, the US defeated Spain in the Spanish- American War, seizing control of the Philippines, ending nearly 400 years of Spanish rule Rather than independence, however, Filipinos now found themselves part of the American empire until WWII Australia & New Zealand Discovered by Capt. James Cook in 1770 and claimed for the British Both were used by the British as penal colonies (somewhere to exile convicts) and, later, for sheep ranching The relatively small native populations were subjugated and white colonists moved onto the best land Hawaii Had been an independent nation, ruled by a native monarch First Americans arrived in 1819 (Christian missionaries) Thousands of Americans soon flooded the islands to create sugar plantations, coming to dominate the islands economy and present a threat to the native monarchy Americans forced a constitution on the Hawaiian king in 1887 which gave whites the vote & limited the monarchs power Queen Liliuokalani 1838 1917 Lydia Kamakaeha Kaola Malii Liliuokalani Attempted to throw out the constitution when she took the throne and tried to extend suffrage to native Hawaiians and Asians This angered Americans in Hawaii, and they overthrew the queen and had Hawaii annexed to the U.S.