1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,880 Hello class. Today we are going to explain the origin of the colonial empires in Africa 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:15,680 and in Asia. So after explaining the main causes of imperialism, today we are going 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:25,960 to explain the expansion, the European expansion in Africa and in Asia. This process in Africa 4 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:35,240 was called the Scramble for Africa, La Lucha for Africa. And this moment, La Lucha for 5 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:44,120 Africa, the Scramble for Africa began at the beginning of the 19th century. At that moment 6 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:54,080 the European presence in Africa was limited only to certain coastal points. If we pay 7 00:00:54,080 --> 00:01:02,640 attention to this map, we are going to see that the European presence in Africa before 8 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:12,640 the date of 1870 was very, very limited to the coast. Actually, the French were in the 9 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:23,520 north, in Algeria, also in the west, in Senegal and Congo. The British controlled only at 10 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:33,800 that time one important colony, the Cape Colony, in what is now South Africa. And the Yemens, 11 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:43,320 if you pay attention, didn't have any important territory in Africa. So before 1870, the vast 12 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:52,760 majority of the countries in Africa were independent. They were composed of native populations and 13 00:01:52,760 --> 00:02:01,800 actually the most important empire was the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Tripolitania 14 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:13,160 in the north, what is now Libya, and also Egypt and Sudan. However, after 1870, the situation 15 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:20,760 changed completely. Why? Because the European countries, due to the Second Industrial Revolution, 16 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:29,640 needed raw materials and markets to sell their goods and to obtain raw materials to 17 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:40,120 invest also their capital. And for this reason, it began the moment to explore the continent 18 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:53,640 from 1870 onwards. It began the age of exploration and also they started to create empires 19 00:02:53,640 --> 00:03:03,080 step by step due to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the 19th century, if you 20 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:12,920 remember, the Ottoman Empire was in decline, not only in Europe but also in Africa. And due to this 21 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:23,640 important collapse, France, France in the north, in Algeria, Italy also in what is now Libya and 22 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:32,520 other countries took advantage of that. And there was in Africa a transformation of the balance of 23 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:43,240 power. Why? Because before 1870, the Ottoman Empire controlled North Africa. They controlled 24 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:50,120 North Africa. But after that, there was a transformation in the balance of power 25 00:03:50,760 --> 00:04:00,520 because France, the UK and Portugal and Italy and also other countries in Europe 26 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:10,520 began to control Africa. So, the age of exploration began with certain expeditions. 27 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:20,120 The first ones were organized by the British and I'm going to explain some of them. The first one 28 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:30,200 was maybe organized in general by the British and it was the Barton expedition. Barton was a British 29 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:39,720 explorer who traveled from the island of Sansevier in the inner part of the continent in Africa 30 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:50,760 and he reached Lake Victoria. Also, Libbystone, maybe it was the explorer at that time that the 31 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:59,880 vast majority of the people knew about him. Libbystone managed to travel from the south, 32 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:07,320 from Cape Town in what is now South Africa. He reached the Kalahari Desert. He crossed 33 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:17,720 the Limpopo River and from Mozambique also he traveled up to Angola. Later on, exactly from 34 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:30,600 Mozambique, he managed to travel to Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria. Also, Belgium organized some 35 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:41,800 expeditions. The most important one was organized by Stanley who traveled from Deir el-Salam, 36 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:51,880 from Tanzania up to Uganda and what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He reached 37 00:05:51,880 --> 00:06:04,280 later on the northern part of Angola and for this reason Congo became part of Belgium. 38 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:14,920 Actually, King Leopold became the owner in Congo, regrettably, as we are going to explain 39 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:24,200 later on. This is also the moment when geography, the subject, was born in different universities 40 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:33,720 in Europe because the political power promoted geography as they needed geography, the subject, 41 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:44,520 to explore new continents such as Africa, Asia, to develop maps in order to get raw materials and 42 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:55,800 new trade routes. Also, to take advantage of the raw materials and the markets in Africa. 43 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:03,480 One of the most important societies was the Royal Geographical Society in the UK 44 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:14,440 which was born for this purpose. The main aim was to explore the continent, to get raw materials 45 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:23,640 and also to take advantage of that establishing new trade routes in the continent. 46 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:33,320 What happened next? As a result of these explorations, when all of these 47 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:44,200 explorers traveled from one place to another in Africa, Africa was an enormous continent 48 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:55,720 but the age of exploration at the end of the 19th century led to an important crisis 49 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:12,680 point in 1880. In 1880 there was a crisis point because the British, the French and the Germans 50 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:21,640 were fighting for the same colonies. They became rivals and for this reason Bismarck, who was the 51 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:30,840 main chancellor at that time in Germany, was afraid of that. He wanted to maintain the balance of power 52 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:41,320 in Europe and for this reason he organized, he set up the Berlin Conference in 1884. 53 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:53,400 So, in this conference the European diplomats traveled from all around Europe to Berlin 54 00:08:54,120 --> 00:09:06,120 basically to put a map, to put an Africa, to put a map based on Africa. They put a map of Africa 55 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:16,040 on a table and basically they divided the continent to different countries in Europe. 56 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:26,680 Each country in Europe took a portion, took a slice of Africa. Regrettably for the Africans 57 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:36,120 because non-Africans put a foot on it. They didn't attend the conference. 58 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:47,080 There were not Africans in the Berlin Conference and the question is why? Why the Berlin Conference 59 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:56,440 was organized without any Africans? Because the Europeans thought that the conference would be 60 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:04,840 good for the Africans. Because remember that due to the ideology, due to the social dargonism 61 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:12,920 ideology, the Europeans thought that the conference could be good for the Africans. 62 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:21,160 Because remember that some Europeans at that time actually the elite who attended the conference 63 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:30,760 believed in social dargonism and for this reason they thought that their main mission, their main 64 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:42,440 goal at that time in Europe was to civilize, to carry the European civilization all over the world 65 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:49,560 and for this reason they thought that they had the right to take advantage of Africa because in the 66 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:58,520 end it would be good for the Africans. But as I said before it was organized without any Africans 67 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:07,400 in the conference. So what were the main causes of this conference? Basically Bismarck organized 68 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:17,080 the conference because he was afraid of King Leopold in Belgium. Why? Because after the 69 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:25,320 exploration of Stanley, King Leopold took advantage of Congo in the inner part of Africa, 70 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:35,960 just in the center, and he conquered Congo. Not by Congo, it wasn't for Belgium. 71 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:48,920 Congo was directly to King Leopold, to his pockets. So the main resources and all wealth from Congo 72 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:58,280 was directly to King Leopold. So obviously Bismarck was against this idea and for this reason 73 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:06,760 he wanted to organize the Berlin conference. Also class there was another important reason. 74 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:14,600 I'm going to explain the second important reason. As I said before there was a crisis in 1880, 75 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:24,440 the UK, France and the Germans became rivals and for this reason, as a consequence, Bismarck, 76 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:32,280 if you remember, he wanted to maintain the balance of power in Europe. 77 00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:43,480 So in order to resolve the crisis, in order to sort out the crisis, he set up the Berlin 78 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:54,200 conference in order to establish some important rules for the continent. So as I said before, 79 00:12:54,200 --> 00:13:02,920 Bismarck wanted to maintain the balance of power of Europe and in order to put an end to all of 80 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:14,440 this crisis between the UK, France and Germany, he organized the Berlin conference in order to 81 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:28,840 set up different rules to conquer and explore the continent. So what was the first rule which was 82 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:38,200 established in the Berlin conference? The main doctrine was an old doctrine because it came from 83 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:47,640 the Roman Empire. So the Europeans who were in the Berlin conference took an idea from the Roman 84 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:59,480 Empire. What was this idea? They set up the idea of defective occupation. What does it mean? It 85 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:05,880 meant the following. At that time the Europeans who were in the Berlin conference 86 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:18,360 established that the European countries which control certain territories on the coastal strip, 87 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:29,080 if they control, I'm going to repeat it again, if they control certain territories on the coastal 88 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:39,160 strip, they would have the right to conquer the inner part of the continent. 89 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:48,440 I'm going to repeat it again. Those countries such as France which control 90 00:14:48,840 --> 00:15:06,920 an area on the coastal strip, if they had the control on a strip on the west coast, for example, 91 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:15,720 they would have the right to conquer the inner part of the continent. So as a consequence of that, 92 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:24,200 this is the moment when France conquered more territories from the west to the inner part of 93 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:29,480 the continent and also it was the moment when the British took advantage of that 94 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:41,000 and they extended their territories from the north to the south. This was the first rule. 95 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:47,960 I'm going to explain now the second rule. The Europeans who attended the conference in 96 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:59,640 Berlin, they set up the free navigation in the river Niger and Congo. So they established the 97 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:08,280 free navigation in the main rivers in Africa, in the river Niger and Congo, and as a consequence 98 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:19,000 of that, more goods were traveling from Africa to Europe. Liverpool, for example, in the UK, 99 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:29,480 Hamburg in Germany or Marseille or Bordeaux in France became the main ports in Europe. Why? 100 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:39,320 Because they received many raw materials from Africa and they became really wealthy. 101 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:50,440 Also, the European countries set up the main goal of free trade in Central Africa. So the countries 102 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:59,640 that were controlling Central Africa, above all France and also Great Britain, 103 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:07,240 became really, really wealthy because they could trade from Central Africa 104 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:16,360 to Europe. That's why they became the most important empires. They became really, really 105 00:17:16,360 --> 00:17:27,800 rich for this process after the Berlin conference. So those were the reasons and the 106 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:35,320 rules that the European countries established in Africa. What was the main consequence of that? 107 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:43,560 When the European countries established all these rules, what was the main consequence of that? 108 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:49,800 What do you think? As a consequence, exactly, you are right, the occupation of Africa 109 00:17:50,760 --> 00:18:01,960 speeded up, accelerated. Because more and more countries in Europe wanted to take colonies 110 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:16,120 to become richer than before. That explains why the UK extended its territory from Egypt 111 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:23,720 up to South Africa. They controlled from Cairo, which was the capital of Egypt, 112 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:30,520 up to Cape Town, one of the most important cities now in what is now South Africa. 113 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:41,160 Also, the French extended their territories from Senegal up to Somaliland, up to here. 114 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:52,360 Actually, spoiler alert, there was a fight between the British and the French in one 115 00:18:52,360 --> 00:19:02,200 important village in a remote area in Sudan, which was Fashoda. At that moment, the troops 116 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:13,000 from Lord Kitchener met with Marchand troops, the French general. Obviously, the British 117 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:19,480 had better troops at that moment due to the second industrial revolution. They had more 118 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:27,800 machines and for this reason, due to its best artillery, they won the battle. They were able 119 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:34,040 to extend their territories from the north to the south. The French were not able to conquer, 120 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:45,400 for example, Ethiopia. Belgium got Congo. Germany got some territories in Cameroon, 121 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:56,040 Togololand, Togo, what is now Togo, Namibia. Italy took Libya, for example, Spain, the Spanish 122 00:19:56,040 --> 00:20:06,360 Morocco, and Rio Oro, and Portugal, Angola, and Mozambique. So, all countries in Europe, 123 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:12,280 after the Berlin Conference, took their portion of land, their slice 124 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:18,600 in the cake, which was the enormous continent of Africa. 125 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:29,960 Belgium and Congo had a special relationship because Congo was, pay attention, 126 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:41,960 70 times bigger than Belgium. This enormous portion of land, this enormous territory, 127 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:52,280 which was 70 times bigger than Belgium, was controlled by King Leopold. King Leopold took 128 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:59,800 advantage of the Congolese people. They became the real losers in this scramble of Africa. 129 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:10,120 King Leopold provoked a humanitarian disaster in Congo because 10 million Congolese people 130 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:19,320 died in this process due to imperialism and due to the scramble for Africa. Sometimes, 131 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:27,000 in order to take advantage of the slavery, because the Congolese became slaves of the 132 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:34,120 Belgium, they became slaves of Belgium. Sometimes, King Leopold, as I said before, 133 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:45,960 took advantage of them and they cut their hands if they were not working properly for Belgium. 134 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:55,640 So, and let me finish with another point because we didn't say anything about imperialism in Asia, 135 00:21:55,640 --> 00:22:03,880 Oceania and America, because after the scramble of Africa, also the European countries took 136 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:12,920 advantage of other territories in Asia. They wanted to take over even more colonies, 137 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:21,400 not only in Africa but also in Asia, and for this reason the UK extended to the area of India 138 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:33,960 and Burma. The main British colonies were above all in India, also Ceylon and Burma, 139 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:42,840 but the main British colony, without doubt, was India. Why? Because its large population 140 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:51,640 made it a major market for British products and an important supplier of raw materials. 141 00:22:52,680 --> 00:23:02,680 Actually, to create a secure area around India, exactly, Great Britain competed with France 142 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:15,080 for the control of Burma. Also, the French wanted Burma, but in the end, Burma was for the British. 143 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:22,840 Okay, let me explain more colonies. We are going to finish with that because also France, 144 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:34,200 the French presence in Southeast Asia, the area of Cochinchina, which was this area, 145 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:47,000 the French Indochina, from the mid-19th century grew stronger with the establishment of a number 146 00:23:47,000 --> 00:24:00,760 of new protectorates known as French Indochina, which was composed of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. 147 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:09,400 The French, when they knew that the British controlled India and Burma, they wanted to get 148 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:19,160 some colonies in Asia, and for this reason, they took the area of French Indochina, which was 149 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:28,760 composed at that time by Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. They wanted also to take over the area of 150 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:38,040 Siam, what is now Thailand, but they were not able to do that because the British stopped them 151 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:46,360 in Siam. The British didn't want that the French control Siam, and for this reason, 152 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:59,160 Siam became the first country independent in 1897. Because basically, the British wanted that 153 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:08,200 Siam would be independent better than in the hands of the French. So, we're about to finish. 154 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:18,200 The Netherlands controlled the area of Indonesia. The Netherlands, Holland, also got some colonies in 155 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:32,680 the area of Indonesia, and Japan also. Remember that Japan was a feudal country at the end of the 19th 156 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:42,520 century, but due to the Meiji Revolution, they conquered more territories. They conquered more 157 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:50,680 territories in Asia because they needed raw materials and also markets to sell their products 158 00:25:50,680 --> 00:26:05,560 from the Industrial Revolution. They conquered Korea from 1905 to 1910, and later on, Manchuria 159 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:14,760 in northern China became rivals of Russia for this reason, which was one of the main causes of the 160 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:25,800 Second World War. And also, USA. We are going to finish with USA. USA, after the American Civil War 161 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:37,720 from 1861 to 1865, at that moment, the United States became a great power in a matter of decades 162 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:45,160 thanks to its technology, due to the Second Industrial Revolution. We explained that. 163 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:55,320 Also, due to its raw materials, because they exterminated the natives in the 164 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:04,440 area in the center part of the United States, in the inner part of the United States, 165 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:14,840 and they got more energy resources from there, and as a consequence, they became also an imperialist 166 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:24,920 country. They got Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, which belonged before that to 167 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:32,760 Spain, but due to the decline of the Spanish Empire at the end of the 19th century, all of 168 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:41,720 these territories were for the United States, after one important war between the United States 169 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:50,680 and Spain. But this is another story. In the end, the USA, after the construction of the Panama Canal 170 00:27:50,680 --> 00:28:02,520 in 1914, became one of the most important countries in the world. They gave loans to the UK 171 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:11,240 when they were fighting against Germany in the First World War, and as a consequence of that, 172 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:18,120 all of these tensions for the colonies led to the First World War, and in the First World War, 173 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:26,200 the USA became one of the first superpowers in the world.