Age of Imperialism Effects

Aziz Razakov AP World History

Change Over Time Essay

The age of imperialism 1850-1914 caused from needs of the Industrial Revolution, and the selfish motivations of rulers of powerful nations led to the change of culture values, class systems, government systems and modernization in overseas colonies. The "white race" or the Europeans felt superior to others, they felt as if they needed to "civilize" men of other countries, they needed to conquer them, convert them to Christianity and modernize their country. This task was known as the "White man's burden". The real idea for "civilizing" non-European countries was dominating their political and economic life, gaining access to natural resources, increasing European markets, and satisfying the needs of the Industrial Revolution. Europeans applied the ideas of Social Darwinism, "survival of the fittest" as their roots of imperializing other countries. Imperialism of India by the British began in the 18th century. The raw material imported from India was benefiting the British economy, while the India suffered. In addition the British tax laws caused a major crisis and killed one third of the total Indian population, mostly peasants because they were not able to pay taxes therefore stripped from land and unable to produce food. Although imperialism of India in the 19th century was alike to the imperialism in the 18th century in that the British were guided by selfish desires, it slightly differed. The British now became interested in more than one factor, which was cotton. More resources were being looked at, the British were in need of iron for railroads, and their new advanced machinery. The people living in exploited India were suffering, while the British enjoying a luxurious life. The imperialism of India also had some positive aspects. British somewhat modernized India. They built railroads, established a postal system and a telegraph system. Infrastructure took place. Some social changes were made as well. British established an educational system and children were taught history, mainly European. Old rituals such as "sati" the ritual where widows were burned alive during their husband's funerals and "thuggee" were foreigners were assassinated in respect to the goddess Kali were abolished. The class system was slightly modified, the "untouchables" class was removed because the British saw this as an inhumane division. However, most of these changes were made to benefit the British, and not the Indian population. Railroads were established so that the exporting material was more quickly delivered to sea ports. A mailing system was established so that the British in charge were more quickly notified on their further actions. In 1857, Indian unhappiness with the British rule, finally erupted in the Sepoy rebellion. The sepoys were Indians that served as police officers but taught by the British. These men were notified of a rumor that stated that the oil used for their guns came from cow and pig fat. Since the cow is sacred to Hindus, and the pig is considered dirty to Muslims, the sepoys were furious so they revolted. This revolt caused fatal casualties on both sides, however in the end the British regained control of the Indians. Shortly after Queen Victoria of England, took power of the East Indian Company to herself, she proclaimed herself Empress of India in 1876. Under her control India faced severe class inequality. Majority of the population were peasants, and owned no land. The first committee to form in India, to protect Indian's rights was the Indian National Congress. This congress promoted Indian nationalistic movements against the British, and quickly gained support. Following after Queen Victoria's death in 1901, India gained independence in 1947. India was no longer under British control, it was what they craved for since the 15th century. Imperialism of the Americas began shortly after Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Bahamas. Europeans began immigrating to the "New world", astonished by the rich environment, they wanted to gain control of the land and benefit their own economy. Brazil was under control of the Portuguese since the 15th century. Portuguese colonization created new classes such as the peninsular, creoles, and the Mulattos. The peninsulars were the Europeans who immigrated to Brazil, they were the people in charge of plantations and other businesses in Brazil. The creoles were the descendents of European settlers who were born in Brazil. Mulattos were the mixed culture of Europeans and Latin Americans. Finally came the slaves and the natives. The Portuguese imperialism lead to the destruction of the Natives. It put them under slavery for plantation fields, along with other low class groups. Brazil was under imperialism because of its rich diversity of minerals, forests, copper, gold and oil. It greatly benefited the Portuguese's economy. Although Portuguese were in control of such a rich in resources country, they never really stood out as a powerful modernized nation. In addition, not much was done to stop the imperialism in Brazil. Natives were a group of people who were uneducated, therefore they did not know about the French or the American revolutions; they were not inspired to gain freedom and revolt. On the other hand, the Creoles were an educated elite group who wanted more political power, they were able to lead a revolt and gain support. The former ruler of Brazil, King John left Brazil to rule in Portugal, his mother country. However his son Pedro I remained in Brazil to rule in his fathers place. Pedro I wanted his country to break free from Portugal, his father John gave him the permission and Brazil became independent. The new era after the "age of imperialism" came with the event of WWI, 1914. Men from Imperialized countries were drafted into the army and put into fight. This drastically helped the nations that had a lot of overseas colonies, since the bigger the army the bigger is the chance that you come out victorious. Imperialism was still continued after WWI, the losing countries lost their overseas colonies to the winning nations. This angered the imperialized countries because they were not able to break free. The "survival of the fittest" theory really played a big role in the imperialism matters, and changed the way people think for ever, putting certain groups ahead of the others.