Attitudes towards Imperialism (SECTION 1) Flashcards
Who was David Livingstone?
1) Scottish explorer.
2) Tried to open a path for christianity and commerce.
3) Explored in South Africa, tried to discover the source of the Nile.
4) Conducted missionary work in South Africa.
5) Worked well with native people. Determined to end the slave trade in Central and East Africa.
6) Lost contact in Europe for 6 years and Stanley was sent to find him.
7) Died in 1873 of malaria. Once his death was known he became a national hero.
Who was Richard Burton?
1) Linguistic scholar.
2) Spoke 29 languages. Explorer, soldier, diplomat and adventurer.
3) Wrote about almost anything, ranging from birth to pornography.
4) Explored Islamic cities. Mecca, Somaliland and Zanzibar.
5) Explored East Africa.
6) Not a supporter of british imperial policy, his motivation was mostly his spirit of adventure.
Who was Henry Morton Stanley?
1) Born in Wales. Emigrated to USA in 1859 and fought on both sides in the Civil war.
2) Journalist for the New York Herald.
3) Worked as an agent for King Leopold II of Belgium. Chaired the International Africa Association.
4) Went on an expedition to find Livingstone in 1869-71. After he found him he joined him to explore the area and found Lake Tanganyika.
What were missionary socities?
1) Their belief in christianity and the worthlessness of other faiths gave them the courage to do their work.
2) Anglicans, Catholics and particularly non conformist groups all sought to spread the christian faith.
What role did missionary societies play in promoting missionary work?
1) Conferences were set up to oversee missions in different parts of the world.
2) They recruited people from Britain to do missionary work.
3) Produced pamphlets to relay stories and gain more financial backers for their work.
What did missionaries do in the field?
1) Helped to open up territories to British rule by penetrating colonial frontiers or establishing links with indigenous communities.
2) Methodist missionaries from Australia prepared the ground for the establishment of British rule in Fiji.
3) Missionaries saw Africa as ‘virgin territory’ because the beliefs and cultures there was seen as primitive, India by contrast had a much more sophisticated civilisation with an entrenched set of beliefs.
4) Women particularly concerned about the rights of women and children. Mary Slessor, Mary Carpenter examples. Responsible for the educating of women in India and introducing some social reforms.
5) Missionaries established compounds and farms to keep them safe. Set up churches and provided housing and farm work in return for native conversion.
6) About 12k missionaries in the field by the end of the 19th century
Role of Cecil Rhodes?
1) Sent to SA for his health and worked on his brother’s cotton farm.
2) Moved to diamond fields of Kimberley when the farm failed.
3) Borrowed money from Rothschild to buy up diamond mining operations in Kimberley.
4) Annexed territory. Became known as Rhodesia from 1895.
5) Known for forcing indigenous tribes out of their land to make room for industrial development.
6) Played a key role as a colonial administrator in SA. Cape Colony PM from 1890-96.
7) Formed the British SA Company which received Royal Charter in 1889.
Role of George Goldie?
1) Formed the Central African Trading Company in 1876.
2) United all trading firms on the Niger River through creating the United African Company. But he couldn’t get a royal charter for it at first. It eventually became known as the Royal Niger Company and was granted a Royal Charter in 1886.
3) Became the colonial administrator abd bought the land around the Niger under British influence. Britain able to claim a protectorate over northern and southern Niger at the Berlin conference thanks to Goldie’s efforts. Later became colony of Nigeria.
4) Established coffee and cocoa plantations.
Role of Evelyn Baring?
1) Earl of Cromer in 1901.
2) Sent to Egypt in 1877 to help out Isma’il Pasha out of his financial difficulties.
3) In 1882 he returned to Egypt as consul-general. Approved of the Dufferin Report of 1883 which established Egypt as a ‘puppet’ parliament with no power.
4) As consul general he opposed Gordon’s mission in the Sudan from the onset.
5) Remained real ruler of Egypt until 1907.
Role of Bartle Frere?
1) Began his career in the Indian Civil Service. His support in the crushing of the Mutiny earnt him a knighthood.
2) Became governor of Bombay and a member of the Indian council.
3) Appointed High Commissioner and Governor of the Cape Colony in 1877.
4) Frere deliberately provoked war with the Zulus in Dec 1878.
5) Frere was withdrawn from SA after shocking defeat as Isandlwana in Jan 1879.
How did the British government view the empire in the first half of the 19 century?
1) Before the mid 1800s the gov did not peruse a very active or interventionist role in empire.
2) Empire was bound up with a sense of nationalist prestige and identity but it was the freedom to trade and access markets that concerned Britain the most.
3) Successive governments had resisted calls to secure new territories.
4) Both Disraeli and Gladstone were against Empire at this point believing it unnecessary and financially counter-productive.
Why did attitudes towards empire change from 1870?
1) Shift in attitude and a new interest in empire, partly as a response to the concern about the ambition of other European powers.
2) Other nations grew stronger industrially and Britain found greater economic competition.
3) European and American protective tariffs made it harder to flood the western hemisphere with British manufactured goods.
Who was Benjamin Disraeli?
1) Jew, but became a christian.
2) Conservative Party leader and PM in 1868 and between 1874-1880.
3) Maintained a friendship with Queen Victoria, flattering her with Empress of India in 1876.
Who was William Gladstone?
1) Served as both PM and Chancellor of the Exchequer on 4 occasions.
2) Attended Oxford Uni before elected to parliament in 1831.
3) Served as colonial secretary in a conservative government before becoming leader of the newly formed Liberal Party from 1868.
4) At heart, he was a domestic politician whose views were anti-imperialist. He had little enthusiasm for colonial expansion.
What were Disraeli and the Tory’s attitude towards the empire?
1) Disraeli began to assert that the conservatives were the party of empire.
2) Set this out in a speech at Crystal Palace in 1872. Government’s duty to reconstruct the colonial empire.
3) His aim was to develop the commercial and strategic empire with the focus on the east rather than in Africa.
4) 1875, shares in the Suez.
5) 1877, annexed the Transvaal and launched a war against the Zulu and Pedi tribes in the hope of establishing a British confederation over Southern Africa.
6) Set backs in Zulu campaign meant he lost in the 1880 General Election.
