European Imperialism in Asia: India, China, Japan

European Imperialism in Asia Imperialism in Asia ● European countries expanded their presence and control in Asia during the new age of imperialism ● As with Africa, they were motivated by economic interests and desired to expand their empires ● White man’s burden - It was the responsibility of white races to civilize native populations India before Imperialism ● Center to the world economy - Manufacture and trade; cotton and spices ● An advanced culture; mathematics, architecture, military technology ● Religious divisions - Northern regions controlled by Muslim princes - Southern regions mainly Hindu ● Political divisions - Nearly united by Mughal empire by 1700, but broke into smaller states over the 1700s The British take control ● Among Britain's colonies, the most valuable was India - “Jewel of the Crown” - Natural resources as well as 300 million people to sell to ● East India Company set up trade posts in India to trade tea, coffee, cotton, and opium ● Opium was refined in India and smuggled into china - Addiction helped gain Britain trade access to China British control of India ● From 1750-1850, the East India Company ruled India with little interference from Britain’s government ● To protect their trade, British officials hired Indian soldiers called sepoys ● By 1850 Indian kesentment for British was growing ● 1857- Sepoy Mutiny led to full-scale rebellion ● British army intervened, defeated sepys and took complete control of India British Effect ● Improvement- mainly infrastructure - Railroads, telegraph/telephone lines, roads, canals, dams, bridges ● Consequences - Hurt native indian economy - Further divided social classes - Increase hostility between muslims and hindus - Emphasis on cash-crop plantations led to wide spread famine and millions of death European Imperialism in China ● For centuries, china mostly avoided trade with outsiders - Great wall was built to protect china from foreign invaders ● But silk road trade caused china to become a dominant empire ● Qing Dynasty had little interest in trading with western countries as they had everything they needed ● British wanted to find a product the chinese would buy: Opium Opium wars ● The chinese outlawed opium sales and tried to stop smuggling ● Britain refused to end opium trade and china declared war on Britain - Britian used its modern navy to easily win the opium wars ● Treaty of Nanjing ended the opium wars - Britian recieved Hong Kong and extraterritorial rights China’s problems ● Agriculture could not keep up with rapid population growth ● 1853- Hong Xiuquan led Taiping Rebellion trying to end poverty among peasants - Qing defeated the rebels but 20 million people died and china was weakened ● Britian capitalized on China’s weakness and signed unequal trade treaties ● By 1900, China was carved into Spheres of Influences Spheres of Influences: Where foreign countries had exclusive trade rights Open door policy ● America feared these divisions would shut them off from chinese trade ● 1899- USA purposed the open door policy - Merchants from all countries could trade freely Growing Resentment ● Growth of foreign influence, poverty among peasants and christianity upset many chinese - In 1900, frustrated chinese led the Boxer Rebellion in humiliating loss for the chinese ● Western Influence in China prevailed European Imperialism in Japan ● ● ● ● ● Japan’s policy was largely isolationist European merchants and missionaries first arrived in Japan in the mid-1500s Traded with portuguese for weapons and other goods Frustration with christian influence led to “closed country policy” From 1640 to 1853 Japan was isolated while the rest of Asia was imperialized by western powers ● European powers unsuccessfully tried to negotiate trade rights ● 1853- Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo Harbor with steamships and demanded Japan trade with USA - Treaty of Kanagawa opened two ports to American merchants Meiji Restoration ● ● ● ● 1867- Shogun stepped down Emperor Mutsunito took control of government as “meiji” The best way to end western influence was to modernize The Meiji Restoration- attempted to modernized Japan’s political, economic, and social structure ● Japan modernized, westernized, and even tried to imperialized