Overseas Empires in the Nineteenth Century: Revision Notes

Key question 1.5 (Cambridge IGCSE 0470 and O Level 2147) covers why nations built overseas empires and what that did to the colonised. Learn the five motive types, three African case studies, India in 1857–58 and the USA’s war with Spain in 1898, and be ready to compare them. Full explanations are in the overseas empires study guide.

Five motives (the syllabus’s own categories)

Motive	Key example
Economic	Raw materials (rubber, palm oil, cotton), markets, investment
Military	Naval bases and coaling stations; the Suez Canal route (opened 1869)
Geopolitical	Rivalry and prestige; Scramble for Africa; Berlin Conference 1884–85
Religious	Christian missions, e.g. David Livingstone
Cultural	“Civilising mission”; Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” (1899)

Three ways of ruling Africa

	France — Senegal	Britain — Nigeria	Belgium — Congo
Key figure	Louis Faidherbe (governor 1854–61, 1863–65)	Frederick Lugard (High Commissioner, Northern Nigeria, from 1900)	King Leopold II
System	Assimilation, direct rule	Indirect rule through emirs	Private colony, run for profit
Key facts	Expanded inland; tirailleurs sénégalais (1857); Four Communes elected a deputy to Paris	Conquered Sokoto Caliphate by 1903; amalgamation 1914; The Dual Mandate (1922)	Congo Free State recognised 1885; rubber quotas; Force Publique brutality
Impact on Africans	Citizenship for very few; French culture imposed	Traditional rulers kept but strengthened; failed where no chiefs existed	Forced labour, mutilation, millions of deaths; Casement report 1904; taken over by Belgium 1908

India, 1857–58

• Began: Meerut, 10 May 1857; rebels took Delhi and named Bahadur Shah II their leader. Other centres: Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi.
• Causes: greased cartridges (religious offence); annexations, the Doctrine of Lapse, Awadh (1856); fear of Christian conversion; army grievances.
• Results: Government of India Act 1858 — Company abolished, Crown rule, Secretary of State and Viceroy; Queen’s Proclamation promised religious non-interference and no more annexations; more British troops relative to Indian; last Mughal emperor exiled to Rangoon.

The USA and Spain’s colonies

• Cuban war of independence from 1895; US press sensationalism.
• USS Maine explodes in Havana, 15 February 1898; war from April; Dewey wins at Manila Bay, 1 May.
• Treaty of Paris, December 1898: Cuba freed from Spain; Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the USA ($20 million).
• Debate: imperialists (markets, bases, “duty”) against the Anti-Imperialist League (Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie).
• Philippines: Aguinaldo’s independence declaration (June 1898) ignored; Philippine–American War 1899–1902; then US-run schools, English, assembly from 1907.
• Cuba: Teller Amendment (no annexation) but Platt Amendment 1901 (right to intervene, Guantánamo); occupation to 1902; intervention again in 1906.

Worked example: a “how far” answer on motives

‘Economic motives were the most important reason for European imperialism in Africa.’ How far do you agree?

1. For: the Congo was run to extract rubber and ivory; West African trade in palm oil drew in British and French merchants; industrial economies wanted raw materials and markets.
2. Against: strategic motives — Britain’s concern for the Suez and Cape routes to India; geopolitical rivalry — the Scramble and the Berlin Conference show powers grabbing land to deny it to rivals, even where it brought little profit; religious and cultural motives — missionaries and the “civilising mission” won public support at home.
3. Judgement: for example, economic motives explain why businesses and some governments wanted colonies, but rivalry and prestige explain the speed of the Scramble after 1884. State which mattered more and why.

Key people and terms

Person or term	Remember
Berlin Conference (1884–85)	European powers set rules for claiming African territory
Louis Faidherbe	French governor of Senegal; assimilation and direct rule
Frederick Lugard	British administrator in Nigeria; indirect rule through local rulers
Leopold II	Belgian king whose Congo Free State (1885–1908) was run for profit, with forced labour for rubber
Government of India Act (1858)	Ended East India Company rule; India placed under the Crown and a Viceroy
USS Maine (February 1898)	Explosion in Havana harbour used to stir US support for war with Spain
Treaty of Paris (December 1898)	Spain ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam to the USA
Emilio Aguinaldo	Filipino leader who fought the USA after 1899
Platt Amendment (1901)	Gave the USA the right to intervene in Cuba

Exam traps

• Listing motives without saying which mattered most, or for whom.
• Confusing direct and indirect rule.
• Calling the Congo Free State a Belgian colony before 1908 — it was Leopold’s personal possession.
• Treating 1857 only as a mutiny of soldiers: civilians and rulers such as the Rani of Jhansi joined it.
• Forgetting the “with what effects” half of the question.

Frequently asked questions

Which case study shows the harshest impact on Africans? Leopold II’s Congo, where forced rubber collection was enforced by violence and caused millions of deaths.

Why did Britain use indirect rule in Nigeria? It was cheap, needed few British officials and worked through the emirs’ existing government and taxes in the north.

Did Cuba become fully independent in 1898? Not fully. The Platt Amendment let the USA intervene, which it did again in 1906.

Self-test

1. Name the five types of motive in the syllabus.
2. What did assimilation mean in French Senegal?
3. Give two causes of the 1857 rising.
4. What did the Government of India Act 1858 do?
5. What did Spain give up in the Treaty of Paris (1898)?

Answers: 1. Economic, military, geopolitical, religious, cultural. 2. Africans who adopted French language and culture could in theory become French citizens; rule was direct. 3. Any two: greased cartridges; annexations and the Doctrine of Lapse; fear of conversion; army grievances. 4. Ended East India Company rule and put India under the Crown, with a Secretary of State and a Viceroy. 5. Cuba (independence) and Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines (to the USA).

Practise next: overseas empires practice questions.