Colonisation
Seven years war, first war of the seventy years war.
There were other powers except Britain in India, eg. the French.
In 1764, at the end of the war, they had to demilitarise their settlements in india. Chandarnagagar and Pondichéry. These areas remained french and would remain french until 1950, ie. longer than the UK, but were just trading posts.
Before the British there were the Mughals, who looked down on the Europeans. They considered themselves at the top of the war. Jahangir, one of the rulers of the Mughals, depicts himself as having the europeans as vassals. However, the Mughal empire declared after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. He was the last great Mughal, ie. the first 6 Mughals. This lead to a series of invasions. First by the Persians, Nader Shah, who sacked Delhi in 1739. He stole the famous peacock throne from the Mughals.
In the following decades Delhi was pillaged by the Afghans in 1748, who profitted of the decline of Nader Shah 10 years later. This was the Durrani sultanate, led by Ahmed Shah.
Another kingdom which rose during the decline of the Mughals was the Maratha which rose from Maharashtra, more specifically Bombay. In 1798 they could greatly compete with the Mughals. There are more Marathi-speakers than French people apparently. The Marathi empire was hindu unlike the muslim Mughal empire. They also faced the Afghans and eventually clashed with them at the battle of Panipat 1761. This is during the 7 years war but is unrelated to the European conflict. The Afghans won, but did not capitalise on this victory. They instead retreated back into Afghanistan in order to once again come and sack Indian cities.
During the decades in which the Maratha empire was weakened, the British greatly capitalised on the many territories that were left unoccupied or easy to take over.
Seven years war in America.
The French and Indian war took place in 1754-to some other.
It was about Ohio. The French and the British competed between each other. Both had different approaches to warfare in the new world. The French let the colonies fend for themselves, whilst the British wanted to avoid military conflict in Europe, and instead were happy to send sizeable armies to the colonies.
Louisbourg, quebec and montreal were all seized by the British during the seven years war.
France looses most of Nouvelle France. When peace came, France was kicked out of north america. They had a choice between new france and the caribbean, and Saint Domingue was much more lucrative than north america.
West of Mississipi went to Spain, because Spain had controlled Florida for a very long time, and this was a compensation for the fact that Britain had taken Florida. The Spanish ended up controlling huge parts of French Louisiana.
1776-1783 war of American indepence. Florida then becomes Spanish again. Spanish Louisiana is also ceded to France, as the Spanish empire recedes – this is in the context of the napoleonic wars. Spain received parts of Tuscany in Europe. And 3 years later Louisiana is sold to the United States. And in 1819-21 Spain cedes Florida to US.
Most of Spanish North America was then conquered by the US from the Mexican emprie.
American independence was actually a result of the seven years war. The British one this war, so London thought it had significantly supported BNA and invested in their war; so expected a monetary return for that. This led to the idea of no taxation without representation.
Napoleonic Wars
Initially Britain expanded in the wars against Napoleon. France and UK had been enemies forever. This conflict focused on Egypt. The French wanted to conquer Egypt because they were fascinated with the pyramids; but also because Egypt was between the meditteranean and the red sea and the indian ocean. Napoleon dreamed of building a canal, like the Suez canal we have today. In 1798 the French saw victory against the Mamluks, at the Giza pyramids. 21 July
However, less than two weeks later the French were defeated at the battle of the nile. 2Nd august.
This led to a series of other wars. A key battle between Britain and France is the battle of Trafalgar, wherein Nelson defeated the French, though also died himself. Became a martyr of British Naval control. Trafalgar marked the end of French competition of the seas.
France lost against Britain, but won against other European powers, and conquered most of Europe. Also other colonial metropoles like the Dutch Republic. Instead there as the Batavian Republic, ruled by Louis Bonaparte. And Joseph ruled in Spain. The Napoleonic dynasty ruled almost everywhere. Both Spain and the Netherlands had colonies that were part of the napoleonic empire.
Britain profitted from this situation by taking colonies from the napoleonic sphere; like Trinidad and Tobago. Most importantly they took the Cape Colony and Sri Lanka from the Netherlands.
More importantly is what happened in India. During seven years Britain conquered Bengal. In the 1820s, Britain would conquer a great deal of south asia. The british were doing this as a kind of pre-emptive strike against the French and Indian states; they wanted to protect trade and influence in Bengal. They had a permanent anxiety that the French would continue to expand in India.
Mysore was a strong state in the south of India, which had an alliance with the ancien regime. So the British took control of Mysore to avoid France and Mysore allying against Britain. 1792-99.
In 1803, Delhi was captured from the Mughals. They were allowed to keep their titles, but were just a shadow of what they had been before.
In 1818 they conquer the Maratha empire and the Rajputs. They also entered a treaty of vassalage with Nepal without actually conquering it. It was a semi-colony.
The British took advantage of many of the weaknesses that were present in India. There was no Indian identity, many different states which were in conflict with each other – many different religions, the caste system was deficient at outproducing the british etc. Especially in light of the industrial revolution.
Decolonisation of Latin America
First was the slave rebellion of Saint Domingue, which becomes Haiti. The single successful slave rebellion in the European colonies.
Then there are the spanish colonies with Simon Bolivar.
Then Brazil also becomes more or less independent in 1822.
Not all European metropole colonies were lost. The Guyanas remained colonised, and much of the Caribbean remained dependent. Only really Haiti managed any kind of independence.
Haiti had been Spanish unti l697. And was then French until 1804. It was the richest colony of the world. If Jamaica was 5x more profitable than BNA, then Saint Domingue was 20x.
It was the world’s largest producer of sugar. Exported more Sugar than Jamaica, Cuba and Brazil together. Also grew half of the world’s coffee. This is because of the French economic regime, which cared less and less for the lives of the slaves until its pinnacle. 10% of slaves died each year.
Led to the slave rebellion of Toussaint L’Ouverture. Was obviously inspired by the events in France. Liberty, equality and fraternity.
Jean-Jacques Dessaline proclaimed the independence in 1804.
Dominican republic it asked for recolonisation by the Spanish in 1861.
Dominican republic and Haiti are totally different. DR is a tourist place with Ikea and similar shops. Haiti is poor, everyone are former slaves, ie. black. The only other city that the professor has seen which is as poor is Kinshasa.
Where does this poverty come from?
Haiti has lots of mountains and rainfall. There are also regular natural disasters. The earthquake in 2010 destroyed many of the biggest buildings in the country. Many people are still homeless because of this. Another explanation is the so-called black emperors. Haiti became independent in 1804, and was ruled by emperors and monarchs. They behaved like European monarchs in the early modern age. Built lots of castles and lived a luxurious life-style. They also turned the haitian religion of Voodoo into black magic and witchcraft. So Racism and stuff. The French also cut down a lot of trees which led to a lot of erosion in Haiti. Many dead mountains in Haiti whilst dominican republic is green and luscious.
The French also imposed debts onto the Haitians in 1825. In 1898 half of the government budget went to France. In 1914 80% of the budget.
They had a lot of international isolation due to having become the single independent country in the caribbean. The plantation owers were afraid of slave rebellions, who preferred to remain under European metropoles. They all allied against Haiti. It felt hostility all around and had to protect itself. Another great part of its finances went to military protection. One of the greatest fortresses on earth is in Haiti. Almost impenetrable. It has never been used however, and even survived several earthquakes.
After the plantation owners left, the haitian economy was drastically changed from a plantation economy with forced labour into an unknown sphere where it had to reinvent itself.
In 1915-35 the US occupied all of Haiti. The US saw them as a threat and wanted to spread its influence in the caribbean. In the cold war this policy continued in the form of supporting dictators: the Duvaliers family. These were classic kleptocrats. Took all the wealth that was still in Haiti for themselves. Were meant to act as a stronghold against communism in Cuba.
The Duvaliers were eventually removed from power at the end of the cold war, after which the US interfered agian. Aristide was removed and had to be reeducated, after which he could be president again. Got support from the IMF on the condition that he introduce austerity measures and opened the economy for US interests.
The Haitians are now a days used by the Americans as a sex-trafficking ring.
Spanish decolonisation
First the periphery in New Granada with Simon Bolivar
Then Center with New Spain, also to some extent bolivar, but mainly San Martin.
Many of the states formed in the new world were eventually disintegrated.
Bolivar, inspired by Napoleon, starts an armed struggle in 1810. Conquers Caracas 1813, Bogota 1814, and declares Gran-Colombia in 1819 which falls apart quite soon.
In 1810 San Martin starts a rebellion in the south and declares independence of Argentina. Crosses andes and conquers Chile and proclaims its independence. Then he moves to the north where he meets Bolivar, very secretively. It was agreed upon there that Bolivar was the receive Peru, which was initially ruled by San Martin. Peru would also fall apart into Bolivia and Peru.
Mexico is a bit different. There were insurrections for freedom, that sided with Napoleon. These were defeated by the Spanish crown. In 821 there was conservative reaction against the liberal revolution in Spain. Mexico declared its own consitution under an empire. Mexico went into conflict with the US, but would lose most of the battles.
Central america shortly had a federal republic but it fell apart.
Brazil is also a bit different. During the napoleonic wars the portugese king John VI moved to the colony. Brazil became the center of the Portugese empire. After John goes home to Lisbon, his son Dom Pedro takes over in Brazil. A nationalist opposition takes root in Brazil which Dom Pedro supports, and so he becomes the emperor of Brazil in 1822. So they gain independence under the house of Braganza, the same family as before.
Decolonisation in Latin America included a lot of violence. Colonials were often supported by other metropoles, like General LaFayatte who supported Washington. Britain supported Haiti and Spanish former colonies. Royalists in BNA would move to Canada after independence. The only one which saw more or less no bloodshed is Brazil.
Dominican soldiers were fighting in BNA. South american revolutionaries were inspired by both napoleon and america. Haiti gave asylum to Bolivar twice. Canada grwos out of anti-revolutionary sentiments. And Caribbean land owners prefare colonial dominance to independence.
In 1795 there was a revolt led by Tula in Curacao in a similar slave-rebellion.
Decolonisation happened; we had independent states. But this does not mean that there is an immediate shift in the societies or economies of these states. In most of them the elites remaind enriched, and most of that elite were colonisers.