Imperialism

The Opium War started because Brit needed money so they sold opium to China. China wasn’t happy about it but to protect their trade, Brit fought with China. Brit won the war because they have a larger army equipped with advanced weapons. Also, the Chinese people were drugged because of the opium importation.
 * Opium War **

**Treaty of Nanjing ** The war ended when Brit conquered Shanghai and made the Treaty of Nanjing. The treaty only benefitted Brit and gave more power to the British people living in China. The Qing Dynasty lost the majority of the control over China. Brit and Russia controlled the largest spheres of influence in China. Brit was the leading trading nation with China because they had more trading ports and the treaty gave them more power. China now owns itself rather than Europe controlling trade.

**Taiping Rebellion ** Hong Xiuquan believed he was the brother of Jesus and wantd to make a “Heavenly” Kingdom of “Great Peace” so he led a successful rebellion. Brit finally stopped it in 1864.

**Foreign Influence Takes Hold ** When China was defeated by Japan, Europe seized land from them, creating the Open Door Policy and the spheres of influence. China wanted to rebel but empress Dowger Cixi stopped the rebellion.

**Boxer Rebellion ** A rebellion that took over the foreign embassy. The Chinese secret society of nationalists (Boxers) attacked Brit violently. They wanted to be freed and get rid of foreigners. They wanted to restore China. Though Chinese morale and power were decreasing, nationalism and hatred for foreigners increased.

**1811 Revolution ** Sun Yixian was a democrat that had the people’s support. The people didn’t want an emperor anymore so Sun created many reforms and overthrew the emperor.

**Japanese Imperialism ** The Japanese believed to be godly so they had the duty of protecting the nation using samurais. They fought fiercely because the samurais thought they lived to die for honor defending their country. The Japanese believed in the idea of isolationism.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Meiji Restoration ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Shogun, Japanese military, stepped down because they fell to the West but Mutsuhito became Emperor Meiji in 1868 and refused to show weakness to the West like China did. He made the Japanese modern like the West.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Ethiopia **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> A treaty between Italy and Ethiopia led to misunderstanding of who controlled Ethiopia so they went to war and Italy lost in 1896. This marked a high point in African resistance to European imperialism. The Ethiopians were led by Menelik II and won the Battle of Adwa. During the war, Italy was trying to unify their country so there was disorganization. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Menelik II new the misunderstanding would lead to war so he prepared his people. Fortunately they defeated the Italians and Ethiopia stayed free. Menelik II caught them off guard. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Reasons for Imperializing Africa **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Economy- Europe wanted coal because they were in the middle of the Industrial Revolution. · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Political- Europe wanted more land because having more land meant having more power. · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Cultural- Europe believed in Social Darwinism and believed they were the fittest in society. · <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Scientific- Europe had a strong army and more advanced technology so imperializing other nations was easy. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">New Imperialism **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> New imperialism differed from old imperialism because the new didn’t just settle for colonies but rather for their own benefit. This gave them reason to conquer lands and also establish their power on others. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Suez Canal **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> The canal linked the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. Brit wanted to control this because it made for easy travel to Egypt. The Egyptian government was unstable so British easily conquered the Suez Canal. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Division in Africa **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> European leaders met at the Berlin Conference (1884-85) and said they must notify each other when they gained land. Europe ignored the African culture when controlling Africa. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Belgian Congo **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> The Belgian King Leopold III controlled Congo. A large demand for rubber forced Leopold to overwork the Congolese. Eventually the Belgian government took over Congo.