Imperial and Colonial Policy 1857-90

Question 1

What is liberalism?

Answer 1

A political doctrine based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality.

Question 2

What is a cabinet minister?

Answer 2

One of a committee of senior ministers responsible for controlling government policy.

Question 3

What were settler colonies?

Answer 3

Colonies characterised by white settlers and the violent removal and exploitation of indigenous peoples. These later became known as dominions.

Question 4

What were the 6 departments of the Colonial Office in 1870?

Answer 4

1) North America.
2) Australia.
3) West Indies.
4) Africa.
5) Mediterranean.
6) General.

Question 5

What was democracy like in Britain in 1884?

Answer 5

Around two thirds of British men over the age of 21 could vote.

Question 6

What was the title for the head of the Colonial Office?

Answer 6

Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary.

Question 7

What was the role of the Colonial Office?

Answer 7

Deal with territorial acquisitions and its consequences. They did not have to deal with all overseas colonies, as some were under the Foreign Office (e.g. Egypt).

Question 8

What was the role of the India Office?

Answer 8

To deal with all Indian and East Asian affairs (est. 1858).

Question 9

What was a Crown Colony?

Answer 9

A colony ruled directly by an appointee of the British Crown and accountable to the Colonial Office. They were often deemed as incapable of ruling themselves due to their indigenous-majority population.

Question 10

What was ‘responsible government’?

Answer 10

A system of government similar to that in Britain, with areas having their own government ministers answering to individual elected parliaments. This was seen mainly in settler colonies, such as Canada, Cape Colony, New Zealand, etc.

Question 11

What was the British East India Company?

Answer 11

A company who had been granted with a monopoly over English trade in Asia in 1600. It ruled India until 1857, and was aggressively expansionist, increasing British influence in India through annexations and conquest.

Question 12

What is a monopoly?

Answer 12

An exclusive right to control trade.

Question 13

What were sepoys?

Answer 13

Indian soldiers serving in the East India Company Army.

Question 14

How many Indians were under British rule in 1871?

Answer 14

The first Indian census of 1871 indicated at least 236 million Indians were under British rule.

Question 15

What were the 3 main consequences of the Indian Mutiny (1857-1858)?

Answer 15

1) The brutal and violent retaliation by the British.
2) Thousands of deaths.
3) The British government took control of India from the East India Company through the Government of India Act 1858.

Question 16

What were the 5 main features of the Government of India Act (1858)?

Answer 16

1) The East India Company’s territories were passed to the Queen and the Company ceased to exist.
2) The creation of the position of Secretary of State for India, with the powers of the former East India Company directors.
3) A council of 15 members (the India Council), with experience of Indian affairs, were appointed to assist the Secretary of State for India and act as as advisory body.
4) The Crown appointed a Viceroy to replace the EIC’s Governor-General.
5) The Indian Civil Service was placed under the Secretary of State for India.

Question 17

What is a viceroy?

Answer 17

A ruler exercising direct authority on behalf of the sovereign.

Question 18

When was Queen Victoria made Empress of India?

Answer 18

1 January 1877.

Question 19

What was the British Raj and how long did it last?

Answer 19

Formal British rule in India, lasting from 1858-1947.

Question 20

What were the Princely States?

Answer 20

Large parts of India bound to the British Crown through treaties, and were ‘protected’ in return.

Question 21

How was India governed 1858-90 (6)?

Answer 21

1) The Viceroy ruled India.
2) The Indian Civil Service consisting of around 1000 British men supported the Viceroy.
3) The Legislative Council held responsibility for law, finance, the army, economy and home affairs.
4) In provinces, the Viceroy was represented by provincial governors with their own legislative councils.
5) District officers oversaw local councils and reported on day-to-day issues.
6) The Viceroy relied on the cooperation Indian rulers (princes) of the Princely States to ensure support for the Raj.

Question 22

Where in India did the Viceroy reside (2)?

Answer 22

1) Usually in Calcutta.
2) In the hot summers, the Viceroy ,and his entourage, went to Shimla, on the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains.

Question 23

How did the British regard Indian culture after the Mutiny and why?

Answer 23

Although the British legal system was imposed on India, the British no longer attempted to impose their own culture on India, instead paying attention to traditional Indian cultures on practices. Christian missionaries were actively discouraged.

Question 24

What was the Indian National Congress and when was it formed?

Answer 24

An Indian nationalist movement formed in 1885, its members met to discuss public affairs, offering a forum of debate and criticism, leading to a demand of a greater role for Indians in government.

Question 25

What reforms were made to the British Indian Army post Mutiny (7)?

Answer 25

1) The EIC armies were brought under the control of the Crown.
2) The proportion of British to Indian troops was raised tor roughly 1:2.
3) The regiments of Indian troops were trained and stationed in their own districts and cut off from one another to prevent a sense of unity.
4) Indian troops were deliberately mixed by caste (class) and religion.
5) The number of British officers increased.
6) All field artillery was placed in British hands.
7) Indians were placed under British commanders and denied officer ranking, although the British had to show greater respect to sepoy beliefs and traditions.

Question 26

How many miles of railway was added to India after the Mutiny?

Answer 26

3000 miles.

Question 27

When was Germany unified?

Answer 27

1871.

Question 28

Who were Britain’s 3 main rivals 1857-90?

Answer 28

1) France.
2) Germany.
3) Russia.

Question 29

How did Russia rival Britain 1857-90 (4)?

Answer 29

1) Started economic transformation near the end of the 19th century.
2) Extended their control in central Asia, and by 1884, had reached the borders of Afghanistan.
3) Naval building programmes in the 1880s.
4) Russia appeared set on expanding in northern China, with the work on the Trans-Siberian Railway beginning in 1891.

Question 30

How did France rival Britain 1857-90 (4)?

Answer 30

1) Transformed its armies after defeat to Germany in 1871.
2) Expansion in Indo-China in the 1860s.
3) Naval building programmes in the 1880s.
4) Active in Africa in the 1880s, expanding beyond their old coastal settlements.

Question 31

How did Germany rival Britain 1857-90 (3)?

Answer 31

1) Increasing appearance of German merchant ships on the High Seas.
2) Growth of the navy in the late 1890s.
3) Annexations in south-west and western regions of Africa from 1884.

Question 32

How did Britain respond to French expansion in Indo-China?

Answer 32

They further expanded in Asia, both through annexation and the growth of influence, leaving Thailand as a buffer zone between themselves and France.

Question 33

What are indigenous peoples?

Answer 33

People belonging to any of the first groups of people living in an area.

Question 34

What were the 4 main reasons for African expansion 1857-90?

Answer 34

1) The Long Depression.
2) Prestige of acquiring overseas territories.
3) European rivalry.
4) Access to new markets and raw materials.

Question 35

When was the Brussels Conference?

Answer 35

1876.

Question 36

When was the Berlin Conference?

Answer 36

1884-1885.

Question 37

What were the 3 main conclusions of the Brussels Conference (1876)?

Answer 37

1) Africans were incapable of developing the natural resources found in central Africa, and European intervention was necessary.
2) The routes to Africa’s great lakes needed to be developed through the building of roads and railways.
3) An International African Association should be established to coordinate European efforts.

Question 38

What is free trade?

Answer 38

A market system where good are imported and exported without restriction or imposition of tariffs.

Question 39

What is effective occupation?

Answer 39

If a power could demonstrate a local treaty agreement, an active administration, and could police the claimed territory, they were recognised by other European powers as the ruler of said territory.

Question 40

What were the 3 main agreements of the General Act of the Berlin Conference 1884-85?

Answer 40

1) A European power could lay claim to land if they could prove effective occupation.
2) European powers should support and protect religious, scientific or charitable undertakings in Africa.
3) Powers should protect the indigenous and suppress the slave trade in the areas they controlled.

Question 41

What did the Berlin and Brussels Conferences trigger?

Answer 41

The ‘Scramble for Africa’.

Question 42

What percentage of Africa was under European control in 1880 compared to 1900?

Answer 42

1880: 80% of Africa under local control.
1900: 90% of Africa under European control.

Question 43

What was the ‘Great Game’?

Answer 43

A political and diplomatic confrontation between the British and the Russians in Central Asia in the 19th century.

Question 44

What was the ‘informal empire’?

Answer 44

Areas which Britain had no legal claim, but were heavily influenced by British (particularly economic) power, sealed through free trade agreements or British investment in the country.

Question 45

What is gunboat diplomacy?

Answer 45

The use of force, often naval, to ensure British influence and/or profit.

Question 46

What are 7 examples of Britain’s informal empire 1857-90?

Answer 46

1) Chile.
2) Argentina.
3) Peru.
4) Siam (Thailand).
5) Mexico.
6) China.
7) Iran.