L14 New Imperialism.docx - Lecture 14 The New Imperialism 1...

Lecture 14: The New Imperialism
1. The Heart of Darkness
- Roger Casement; Leopold II of the Belgians’ atrocities in the Congo Free State
- Became an Irish revolutionary, arrested by Brits and tried for high treason, was
executed
- Fascinating for historians about sexuality, keeping a “gay sex diary” (very
graphic)
- 1892 moved into the british colonial administration in S.A
- Started work at a member of the office staff for a liverpool shippng company, let
him 1st travel in a company ship to W Africa
- 1900 given task to set up new Brit consulate in Congo Free State
- Brutality of Leopold’s regime in the Congo had already brought a lot of protest
- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1898)
- About the Congo, exploitation of African labourers, in Leopold’s attempt to get as
much ivory as possible
- Switched from ivory to rubber later on as it was needed for automobiles
- Reports of women, kids, elders, chiefs to force males to supply their quotas of
rubber, those that didn’t supply were tortured/shot
- The campaign against Leapold (king) forced him to close down this Congo
operation
- Edmund Dene Morel and the Congo Reform Association; maybe 10M (50% of the entire
pop) Congolese died in this “civilizing mission”.
- In Belgium, his name was upheld, not seen as one of the worst mass murderers
2. Formal & Informal Empires
--GB example: formal empire in 1815: Caribbean sugar islands, British N. America, parts
of Canada, parts of India, Cape Colony (S.A), parts of Australia, plus trading stations.
- 1815 (end of Napoleonic wars)
- All areas under Brit territorial control, there was some more expansion later on but..
--there was Preference for informal empire based on naval power and trade: e.gs of
Latin America (signed comertial treaties with these republics) (since their gov. Adapted to being
part of GB. naval group so britain had informal power)
gunboat diplomacy in 1 st Opium War, 1839-42 - chinese gov tried to stop GB from bringing in
opium from India