Transcription
Yeah, we've been talking about the second wave of imperialism, but now it's time to get saucy and talk about how all that colonial intrusion was resisted. You can't just talk about imperial takeover, baby; that's only half the story, and frankly, it's not even the most interesting half. So, if you're ready to get those brain cows milked, let's get to it!
Let's start with the causes of various resistance movements against imperial intrusion. Look, it's not that hard to understand. I mean, powerful foreigners show up en masse with their boom sticks and try to take over all your crap and turn you into their own personal economic and political plaything. Yeah, people are going to resist—duh! But that kind of answer isn't going to work on an essay, so let me give you two very specific reasons for anti-colonial resistance during this period.
First, there were increasing questions about political authority around the world. Remember a couple of videos ago when we considered the various motivations for imperialism during this period? One of them was a commitment to the civilizing mission. Once European imperial powers went ahead and used their pseudo-scientific methods to put white people on top of the racial hierarchy, that led some of them to believe that they had a duty to help improve the "child races" that they were colonizing. To that end, many imperial powers introduced Western-style education to some folks under their imperial thumb. At that point in history, a significant influence on Western education was Enlightenment thought, especially ideas like popular sovereignty and the social contract. In many colonial territories, those ideas caused the educated to question the legitimacy of imperial power. But look, even though that was the case in some places, I should say the colonized people didn't need a Western education to question foreign domination.
The second reason for resistance was the growing sense of nationalism in many places throughout the world. Remember back in the video in 6.1 when we talked about how nationalism served as a motivation for industrial states to get their imperialism pants on and start taking over the world? That's true, but nationalism also works from the other side too. When imperial powers impose their will, language, and culture on various colonized peoples, that has a way of inducing a sense of nationalism in the conquered peoples. That led many of them to resist colonization and fight for a state of their own.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to follow along with this video and all my videos, check that link below. Anyway, now that you understand the causes of resistance—and you know there are many more—let me introduce you to three examples of how various peoples resisted imperial intrusion.
First, there was direct resistance against imperial states, which is to say people fought back with weapons and violence. There are so many examples here, like the 1857 rebellion in India, which sought to throw off British domination, or Tupac Amaru's rebellion in Peru. But since you only need to know one of these rebellions, let me introduce you to my favorite, namely the Yaa Asante War in West Africa.
In the first half of the 19th century, Great Britain was greedy to get its hands on more territory in West Africa in order to expand their Gold Coast colony. To that end, they made no less than four attempts to conquer the Asante Kingdom in order to access the rich deposits of gold in their territory. But it was the fifth and final conflict that proved decisive, which became known as the Yaa Asante War, or you'll sometimes hear this called the War of the Golden Stool.
As it turns out, the Asante possessed a golden stool, which for them represented their cultural unity. Whomever sat upon that stool possessed the authority to rule their people. The British thought if they could just find that stool and have someone sit on it, then the Asante would be like, "Oh man, that white guy just found our stool and sat on it, so I guess he's in charge." Regardless, the Queen Mother of the Asante, namely Yaa Asantewaa, led her people in rebellion against such blatant British intrusion, and she did so with armed violence.
As a saucy side note, she rallied the men to fight by shaming them, saying, "Hey, look, if y'all don't get up and fight, the women will go fight in your place." So the men fought tirelessly against the British, but even so, the superior weaponry of the industrial British proved mightier than the weaponry of the Asante. After severe casualties on both sides, the British claimed the Asante territory.
Now, the second way some peoples responded to imperial intrusion was to create new states on the periphery of colonial empires. A good example here is the creation of the Cherokee Nation at the edge of United States territory. Remember that during this period, the United States itself rebelled against the British imperial power and won independence. In doing so, they basically doubled their territory. That was a great thing for them because U.S. citizens really liked westward movement.
However, as the U.S. gained more territory, more citizens continued to push west. They often clashed with indigenous peoples who had claims on that land from time immemorial. Ultimately, the superior weaponry of the U.S. armies expelled various indigenous nations from their ancestral lands. Some groups, like the Cherokee, responded to the situation by assimilating to American culture. But Americans being Americans, even that wasn't enough to keep Congress from passing the Indian Removal Act of 1835, which forcibly removed the Cherokee, along with several other indigenous groups, from their eastern territory and resettled them in the Oklahoma territory in the west. There, the Cherokee Nation established a new state on the periphery of the United States, including a semi-autonomous government, a judicial system, etc. However, by the end of the century, the westward expansion of Americans led to the incorporation of much of the Oklahoma territory into the new state of Oklahoma and the marginalization of Cherokee authorities.
Finally, you need to know at least one example of indigenous rebellions that were inspired by religion. Here, you can think about the Ghost Dance Movement in North America, which is a marvelous example, but I'm going to focus on the Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement in Southern Africa. Here come the imperial British overlords again, trying to take over the territory of the Xhosa people. Same story: better guns, better communication technology, etc. All of this led to the British claiming more and more of the Xhosa territory until there wasn't enough land for the Xhosa to survive. Additionally, many of the Xhosa cattle were dying off from diseases that may have come from Europeans.
Around the middle of the century, a religious movement started gaining steam, and its driving energy was bound up in a prophecy. It said that if the Xhosa people slaughtered their cattle, then new, healthy cattle would rise up to replace them. Additionally, after the slaughter, the ancestral dead of the Xhosa would rise up and drive the European intruders from their land. As a result, the Xhosa killed hundreds of thousands of their own cattle, and unfortunately, the only outcome was their own starvation, which made it far easier for the British to come in and fully claim their territory.
Okay, click here to keep reviewing for Unit 6, and click here to grab my video note guides, which will help you get all the contents of this course firmly crammed into your brain fold. I'll catch you on the flip-flop. I'm out!