Colonialism
Immigration of 40 000 to 60 000 loyalists in Canada.
Constitutional act of 1791 to accomodate english speaking settlers, divsion of the province of quebec into English Speaking and French speaking Canada.
Between the province of Ontario and Quebec is basically the same border as then. Canada also becomes the actual name of the colony. The word comes from Iroquoi, Cartier used to describe an entire region in 1535.
In 1837 there was a rebellion, between east and west Canada. The two provinces fought. The rebellion resembled the american war of independence in certain ways. The colony asked for more representation and felt neglected. The Brits had learned from their experience with the US, and now sent Lord Durham to find out what was going wrong and why the Canadian loyalists were protesting. He found the ethnic conflict between the French and English to be problematic and which had not been solved by the constitutional act. So they abolished the system of two provinces and merged upper and lower Canada in the Act of Union 1840. Also the UK stimulated further immigration of english-speaking people to Canada so that they would make out the majority. They hoped the French would eventually be quieted.
Another act came later in Nova Scotia, Act of Responsible Government, in 1848 in which the local government was responsible to parliment rather than to the king or the imperial government. So rather than being independent or being subject to the metropole, they receive responsible government. This trend continues in more provinces of Canada.
In 1867 a new Constitution Act was issued, after they realised that the united province of Canada was impractical. 3 seperate colonies are instead turned into 4 provinces. Basically they re-split the French and English-speaking Canada. On top of that it is decided to unite the 4 provinces into 1 dominion; meaning it is a colony with its own institution and relatively autonomous government.
Later new provinces would be added to the west.
Australia & New Zealand.
In the 18th century there is greater exploration of the pacific ocean.
Why were the Europeans fascinated with the pacific? First of all there was a cultural atmosphere in which there was fascination with savages, islands, and far-away lands.
Also there existed a myth from the age of enlightenment about a continent they called terra astralis. On the global map it was just a white spot. One knew that there was something, but no one had come to this area yet.
On top of this, such long travels were made possible thanks to the insight that vitamin C could prevent scurvy. This helped Europeans to embark on further journeys.
Great Britain was interested in establishing colonies that could compete with the Dutch in Cape of Good Hope. The French had lost their footholds in the americas and India so they wanted to find new land to settle in.
Jacob Roggeveen 1721-22 discovers Easter Island.
Vitus Bering, Danish, 1728 explored the straight between Siberia and Alaska and finds Berings Strait.
John Byron reaches the Islas Malvinas, the Falklands.
Samuel Wallis finds Tahiti.
Louis Bougainville is the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the globe.
George Vancouver charts the American northwest.
Matthew Flinders circumnavigates Australia.
James Cook is maps New Zealand. He also landed at Botany Bay and claimed land for the British. Botany bay is in Sydney. He finds an abundance of unknown animal and plant species.
In his second voyage he checked out the arctic, then he did something else and then he was assassinated in Hawaii.
Another 20 years the British would set permanent foot in Australia, in 26 Januray 1788 (still Australia day). At this time, Britain needed a new penal colony after the loss of BNA. On the eve of American Independence, there 40 000 convicts in BNA. This is the main reason why Australia was colonised. In 1787 some ships with criminals were sent to Sydney.
In the following years most of the convicts stay in Australia and start a new life there. This accounts for the white character of Australia. Most people just decided to stay afterwards.
It was only in 1828 that there were more free people than active convicts. And most of those had a criminal record.
Steep decline of aboriginals during this time. The population was not resistant to a series of diseases that the Europeans brought. Initially it was an unconscious spreading. But in Tasmania it was used consciously in order to get rid of the population: it was an actual ethnocide of the indigenous population of Tasmania, who no longer exist.
In 1922, London issued the empire settlement act, which boosted voluntary immigration to the commonwealth countries.
Sydney was consciously developed by people like Lachlan Macquarie. He apparently has a mausoleum in Scotland.
1901 was the Commonwealth of Australia, no one wanted Sydney to be the capital, so they constructed Canberra specifically to be the capital because everyone hated Sydney.
New Zealand.
Lots of war with the Mauris. In 1840 there was a treaty which Britain did not follow.
Polynesia.
France still has lots of polynesian colonies.
Tahiti became part of French polynesia after they annexed the island in 1840. Same iwth New Caledonia which was annexed in the 1850s. This became France’s major penal colony along with French Guyana. There has been a lot of debate about independence in New Caledonia, but the independence referendums always lost. The independence parties generally boycotted the referendums as phony.
Germans were active in New Guinea. They colonised northeastern new Guinea and called it Kaiser Wilhelmsland.
White settler colonies in the 20th century.
They get more and more growing autonomy. First responsible government, then dominions, and then formal independence – with direct links to the UK government.
Canada and Australia are still gaining more autonomy and cutting ties with the UK over the past decades.
Second Balfour declaration, it was declared that the dominions are equal in status to the UK. They are not independent countries but should be equally legislated as the metropole. In 1931 this was turned into law with the statement of Westminster.
In 1949 the commonwealth was cut up into independent former colonies which became independent after WWII but which kept the link with London. 15 of them are realms, which means that they still recognise the British monarch as their monarch.
The connections between the commonwealth are diminishing. Initially there was still the idea of imperial citizenship, but now each commonwealth country granted national citizenship instead. Initially Queen Elizabeth was just the queen of UK and later she was queen of Canada, Australia etc.
In 1965 Canada adopts the maple-leaf flag. Earlier it was the Union Jack and references to France, and kingdoms of the UK.
Barbados deposed the british monarch in 2021.
Asia
Russia and Britain defeated Napoleon. Britain overseas and in Trafalgar, and Russia during the winter.
They both fought a more or less cold war, known as the great game. Britain perceived Russia as a threat to their presence in India.
There was a region between Russia and British India called central Asia which was ruled by independent khanates and sultanates. They were no match to the rising European powers. Russia had set an eye on this. There was the so-called Indian March of Tsar Paul I to the Aral sea. This alarmed the Brits. Russia was also gaining victories on Persia, taking land all the way down to current Azerbajdzhan.
The Russians were however not very close to India, it had a largely imaginary character. There were obvious natural borders that stopped this. But the British argued that if the Russians conquered all of Persia they could’ve reached British India by the sea. Some fanatics about growing imperialism coined the name the Great Game, Arthur Conolly.
Rudyard Kipling also wrote a series of novels all taking place in the context of the great game and so fueling the british society against the Russian threat.
Britain was defining itself at the time in contrast to Russia; democracy, freedom and modernity – whilst Russia was autocratic, militaristic and still had serfdom until 1861.
This led to further British expansion into Central Asia against Afghanistan in the 1830s. In 1839 Britain embarked on a full-scale war and conquered the major cities. They could not however crush rebellion and opposition movements in the country. The British army was defeated in 1842.
This led to a lot of frustration in British India, and as compensation they conquered the Sindh sultanate instead – it was ruled by a local monarch who had actually supported the war against Afghanistan by General Napier. He has a statue at the Trafalgar square also.
Punjab was later conquered. It used the be a very strong kingdom. Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled it during its golden era, and during his death there was a succession war, which the British profitted off of.
The Great Game later led to the Crimean war. Russia was humiliated by France and Britain, led to the abolishment of serfdom.
Directly after this the Indian Rebellion of 1857-58. Different ethnic and social groups rose into rebellion and launched a war against British India. Many regions and classes sided with the British, but nevertheless this was a huge conflict. It was concentrated especially in the north, like Kanpur and Lucknow. Eventually Major General Henry Havelock crushed the rebellion. This required a lot of violence.
This rebellion had great consequences. It changed the governance system in BI. Prior to 1858, it was still the East India Company that ruled India. Following the British victory in the rebellion, it was changed to direct crown rule. It was London that ruled.
This was basically an intermezzo to the Great Game.
It was revived more properly from the 1860s onwards. Especially because Russia conquered the Far East. This was conquered during the British Opium war against China. In subsequent years, the Russians especially expanded in Central Asia. In those years, they conquered all of the small khanates and principalities of the region.
The Dzunghar khanate was granted to China by the Russians and the Brits, now known as Xinjang. This was done in order to make sure it didn’t fall into the hands of the enemy. Mutual distrust.
In 1878 the second afghan war broke out. Again the Brits were defeated by the Afghans.
1895, the ruler of Tibet, Dalai Lama, began a pro-russian policy. This alarmed the Brits who began a campaign which led t othe conquest of Lhasa by Sir Francis Younghusband. Tibet was initially recognised as independent with free trade and a kind of alliance. The border that were drawn then still exist today, like the China-India border at Sikkim. The chinese do not recognise these borders. After these borders were drawn, London recognised China as sovereign of Tibet. In 1911 it would become independent again after the collapse of the Chinese Empire, and reconquered by Mao in 1950.
Russia lost against Japan in 1905, a total humiliation. And this was the making of the decline of the Russian Empire.
Instead Germany industrialised and took front-stage in Europe. Germany became a much greater threat than Russia.
In 1907 London and Spb signed an alliance. Before this there was the Franco-Russian alliance in 1892, and then between France and Britain in 1904. This marks the end of huge competition between France and Britain in the scramble of Africa, known as the entente cordiale. This is the alliance that eventually led to the first world war, the triple entente between Paris, Spb, and London, in the context of European imperialism. The first world war is often said to be triggered by the murder of Saint Ferdinand, but this is only really the last straw that broke the camels back. It is the outcome of decades long competition in terms of imperialism.
Persia at this point still needed to be divided, and so was divided into spheres of influence in 1907. The northern part was given to Russia, the southeastern part and the strait of Hormuz became British, and the region in-between remained more or less independent, but was controlled by a neutral european player. Of course it was Belgium. Joseph Naus led this expedition; he was the general administrator of the Persian customs, post services and treasury.
There were 3 anglo-burman wars.
Southeast Asia
VOC (Vergaan Onder Corruptie). Was suffering from growing debt. Following the glorious revolution, the Brits became a lot stronger, and by 1720 was stronger than the Netherlands. The VOC still existed, but was gradually declining, and by the end of the 18th century was basically nothing.
In 1780s there is a new war between Britain and the Netherlands which coincides with the American war of independence. The Dutch supported the americans. The dutch are defeated, which leads to the end of the dutch monopoly in SEA. In 1800 the dutch government takes over the VOC due to bankruptcy. During the Batavian republic they lost both Zealand and Cape town, and lost part of the dutch east indies.
After the Convention against Napoleon, Java & Sumatra was given to the Dutch in order to act as a colonial buffer to the French. The British kept other colonies in India that the Dutch had held before. Borneo and Malaysia was also given to the UK. Very important because of all the trade that travels through the Malaysia strait.
Penang was colonised fairly early, 1786, and was just a fort. Would later grow into a town with very clear colonial architecture. In 1819 Raffles occupied the dutch East Indies, and founded Singapore. This was bought by the chinese 200 years ago. At the time, this was just a small settlement. The Brits were more interested in Melacca, which they earned in 1824 in the treaty of London.