British Empire facts

• 1863-79= debt grew from 3mil to 100mil
• cotton essential to textile manufacturing= area under cultivation x5 in 1860s
• 1875= 80% ships using canal GB
• Disreali= 4million loan, 44% stake in canal
• Dual control 1878-82= unemployment, starvation, rioting
• GB= rev
• France= spending
• Alexandria riots 1882: 50 Europeans killed
• Gladstone= 37% portfolio Egy. bonds
• Daily Telegraph= 'killed all the christians they could find' 

• Dufferin Report 1883= Egyptian parliament 
• 1885= 100 GB advisers, 1905= 1000
• Aswan Dam 1896-1902= 1/2million acres of former desert irrigated
• cotton/sugar production 3x
• 6000 GB troops added to army
• limited education- India

• forced to resign 1906- flogging/hanging of locals at Denshawai
• nonetheless given 50,000 by lib govt. for his services

• Capitulations= European protection, tried under own laws
• Public debt commission= GB, France, Russia, Germany etc. controlled finances of Egypt
• 1/2 budget went on foreign debt
• Govt. spending could be vetoed by Caisse de la Dette e.g. funding for war in Sudan
• Mixed Court= not guaranteed GB favour
• French= Fashoda Incident 1898, close to conflict
• 1904 Entente Cordiale= French respected GB in Egypt in return for French takeover of Morocco

• EGYPT
• 1882= Arabi Pasha- Alexandria riots- 50 died- Gladstone ordered formal occupation- navy bombardment & army invasion
• National Party= founded 1881- revived 1893 as secret society- educated- wanted representative govt. 
• SUDAN
• Egyptian mismanagement= widespread dissent
• Mahdi= 'redeemer of Islamic faith'- defeated 4000 well-equipped Egyptian force 1883- transformed into Jihadist army- surrounded Khartoum- killed General Gordon 1884

• Gordon= national hero- public eager to return to avenge him
• Salisbury= feared French/German interest E.Africa would give them control over headwaters of Nile- threaten Egypt
• Kitchener= 20,000 troops to defeat Khalifa's forces (ruler of Sudan) 
• Battle of Omdurman 1898= 11,000 Sudanese died vs 48 British
• 'good dusting' 
• Kitchener 1st gov-general
• formed 'Gordon college' to train Sudanese for self-govt

• grievences due to poor pay & working conditions
• lacked understanding of traditional religious beliefs
• cartridges greased with cow/pig fat
• less than 1/5 soldiers in Bengal army British

• Sepoys seized control of Northern cities: Cawnpore/ Lucknow
• attempt to resurrect old Mughal Emporer as figurehead against GB rule
• tortured GB officers

• Govt. India Act 1858
• Queen Victoria- Empress of India 1876
• GB troops increased to 1:2
• 1/3 GB army in India by 1880
• recruitment of Sikhs, Muslims & Gurkhas increased
• 3000 miles of railway built- rapid deployment of troops (used Boer War)
• hardened domestic attitudes- 'Bengali babus' 
• EIC courts merged with Crown
• missionary activity discouraged
• 1857-87= 60,000 Indians entered universities
• tea plantations increased from 1 in 1851 - 295 by 1871
• 30 million acres artificially irrigated- growth of cash crops such as cotton & jute
• India took 20% GB exports by 1880s

• GB used 'divide and rule' strategy to make administration easier- differences in race, religion & caste
• exploited differences between illiterate masses & western-educated elite
• Curzon= 'inclined to abdicate or run away'
• Partition of Bengal 1905= Hindus viewed as punishment for their increased political assertiveness- weren't consulted
• 1906 new liberal govt= recognised need to pacify
• Morley-Minto reforms= Indian Council Act 1909- 27 Indians elected to Viceroy's executive council- provincial councils enlarged with 135 Indian seats
• However... narrow franchise, GB officials still majority
• Hardinge= reunited Bengal 1911, declared war without consultation- increased expectations of self govt

• 1885= INC formed- western-educated- wanted greater representation
• Response to partition:
• Moderates led by Banerjee= Swadeshi movement- boycott GB goods- cut imports of GB textiles by 25%
• Extremists led by Tilak= terrorism- bombing public buildings
• Muslim elite= created Muslim League 1906- wanted to maintain majority in East Bengal

• Sir William Mackinnon= founded Calcutta & Burma Steam Navigation Company 1856
• combined business enterprise with missionary principles- founded Free Church of Scotland in Kenya 1891
• George Goldie= bought palm oil business into Niger basin 1875
• formed Central African Trading company 1876
• 1879= persuaded all British trading firms on Niger river to combine- established United African Company
• his efforts allowed Britain to proclaim protectorate over North/South Niger during Berlin Conference 1884-85
• Royal Niger Company 1886
• once commercial interests were established- administration would follow

• David Livingstone= South Africa 1841, Luanda 1853
• began as missionary doctor- wanted to pave the way for 'commerce and christianity'- viewed as a martyr who sacrificed his life for Africa
• John Kirk- Zanzibar
• wanted GB to have respectable colonial position- efforts gave GB security on Africa's east coast- became British East Africa in 1895
• Sir Richard Burton- Somaliland, Zanzibar 
• acquired a wild & dangerous reputation for his daring essays- produced 43 volumes of his explorations which were widely read
• Speke- Somaliland, Lake Tanganyika
• went on a quest to find source of Nile- named the great lake he discovered after Queen Victoria

• Methodist missionaries active through 'conferences' in dominions- prepared ground for rule in Figi 1874
• South Africa conference 1882= John Mackenzie pressurised govt. to establish protectorate over Bechuanaland 
• societies spent 2mil a year- equivalent of 2% govt. expenditure
• suffered from internal conflict- Nigeria 1880s
• David Livingstone 'Christianity and Commerce'

• Before 1890: acquisition was reactive (Egypt)- countering influence of rival France- defining major GB trade areas
• Chartered companies= exclude other Europeans from lucrative GB bases
• Germany= united in 1871 by Bismarck- industrial power- expanding merchant Navy- wanted a 'place in the sun'
• Great Depression 1873-96= France, Germany, Russia + US drop free trade in favour of protectionism
• British exports fell by 234million a year in 1st half 1880s
• Africa= source of raw materials and new markets
• 'Effective occupation'= had to make a formal claim to a colony
• Before 1885= 80% Africa untouched
• 1905= only 10% uncolonised

• discovery of mineral deposits W.Africa= colonial growth
• discovery of gold at Witwatersand= influx of skilled workers
• steamships= increased cargo capacity, reduced travel time to 3 weeks W.Africa
• deepened canals in Egypt & India to allow higher volume of shipping
• investment in railways= facilitated commercial enterprise, enabled Aus to export wheat and wool, SA chance to expand into the interior

Overall= underdeveloped countries propelled to modernise

• primary commodities- colonies vulnerable to market shifts
• little development of industry- unable to compete in global markets, dependent on GB for manufactured goods
• GB exploited colonies out of economic self-interest
• Prime examplel= Bantu tribe in SA

• 25% imports from Empire
• 37% exports to Empire
• Tropical Africa= 1.2% exports
• 1900= loans to India allowed development of local industry (threatened Jute mills in Dundee & Lancashire cotton)
• financial returns greater on risky investments outside empire

• Colonial Sec. 1895-1903 (conservatives)
• organised 1902 London Colonial Conference with dominions
• imperial customs union= boost trade, protective tariffs on non-imperial goods
• advantages= safeguard supplies of key strategic materials, protect colonies against foreign competitors
• disadvantages= majority of trade outside empire (only 25%), empire wasn't self-sufficient
• established 'Imperial Preference'- tariff reform league- divided party
• initiated Uganda railway, sanctioned annexation of Ashantiland, supervised R.Niger's acquisition of territories
• opposed Gladstone's proposal for Irish independence
• believed GB was 'the greatest of the governing races'
• resigned 1903- failings of Boer War

• fear that GB was in decline as world power- needed to improve quality of workforce
• Boer War=400,000 vs 30,000, cost 250million, 40% deemed unfit
• Manchester= 8000 rejected out of 11,000
• 1900= 56% men less than 5ft 6
• Germany rapidly industrialising + introduced system of sickness benefits and pensions
• movement away from Laissez-faire
• Liberal landslide- free school meals 1906, OAP act 1908

• 1860s/70s= growth of popular press, stories of the exotic- Livingstone, Burton & Speke
• Education Act 1870= increased literacy rates
• Extension of franchise 1867 & 1884 (5.5 million men)
• Indian Mutiny 1857= tales of heroism- relief of Lucknow
• Daily Telegraph- Arabi Pasha 1882= 'killed all the christians they could find' 
• Imperial literature= 'King Solomon's mines' 1885- immediate best-seller
• Four Feathers 1902- aftermath of Arabi Pasha
• Exhibitions= Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886- natives used as 'living exhibits'
• Africa Exhibition 1890- included 2 boys from Bechuanaland- justified GB presence as bring progress to uncivilised world
• public lectures by missionaries & Sunday school stories- benevolence and GB superiority