The West and the World: Empire, Trade, and War, 1650-1850

1. The West and the World: Empire, Trade, and War, 1650-1850 The West CHAPTER 19

2. The Rise of the British Empire • Seventeenth century - Britain acquired colonies in North America and the Caribbean, and trading posts in India • Eighteenth century - British influence extends into Southeast Asia and the South Pacific • The British empire had little administrative coherence, but a shared identity, as British subjects, united diverse colonies and territories

3. The Scattered French Empire • Paralleled British empire in North America and India, but with less success • Decline of French power, due to military defeats and colonial rebellions, throughout the eighteenth century • French expansion continued and increased in North Africa

4. The Commercial Dutch Empire • Acquired the majority of colonial possessions in early seventeenth century • Possessions in Africa, North America, Asia, and the Caribbean • The Netherlands became the center of the global economy • Colonies were almost exclusively dedicated to trade

5. The Vast Spanish Empire • Spain controlled the greatest expanse of colonial possessions in North and South America, the Caribbean and Asia • More centralized and authoritarian system of control than the British • Bourbon reforms in the eighteenth century made the empire more efficient and profitable, but fueled colonial resentment

6. The Declining Portuguese Empire • Portugal had been the first European power to acquire overseas possessions • Military weakness led to extensive losses of land to other European states • Brazil experienced great economic and demographic growth • Administrative reforms provoked colonial resentment

7. The Russian Empire in the Pacific • Russia was the only east European state to acquire an overseas empire in the eighteenth century • Explorers and traders ventured into the Pacific Ocean • After 1789, Russia founded a chain of trading posts along the Pacific coast of North America

8. Mercantile Warfare • Mercantilism - decreased imports and increased exports, in order to monopolize world trade • Protection and expansion of trade became the principal motive for warfare between European states • Territorial expansion continued to fuel some military conflicts

9. Anglo-French Military Rivalry • A “second Hundred Years’ War” fought in Europe, Asia and North America • Periodic naval and military engagements • France lost the majority of its American and Indian possessions to the British • Britain emerged as the dominant military, colonial and commercial power in the world

10. The Atlantic Economy • Europe acquired agricultural products from the Americas - coffee, tobacco, rice, cotton and cacao • American colonies acquired manufactured products from Europe • The Atlantic Ocean became the commercial center of the world

11. The Atlantic Slave Trade • Slave trading was the basis of the Atlantic economy • An unparalleled demographic occurrence - ca. 9.5 million slaves arrived in the Americas • Distinctly commercial venture - slaves were dehumanized into commodities • Slave trade declined when it became less economically worthwhile and provoked greater moral and religious opposition

12. Cultural Encounters in the Atlantic World • Creation of colonial societies with greater ethnic, religious and social complexity and diversity than western Europe • Fostered an emergent idea of white racial superiority • Transmission and exchange of political and religious ideas between Europe and the Americas

13. British Political Control of India • Military conflict in Bengal led to the British East India Company acquiring financial and political power in the province • This prompted a cycle of ever increasing territorial acquisitions across India • The Sepoy Mutiny, 1857-1858, led to the abolition of the East India Company and the imposition of direct rule from Britain

14. Changing European Attitudes Towards Asia • Widespread admiration and idealization of Asian culture, during mid-eighteenth century • Exertion of Asian influences upon European art, architecture, fashions and design • Negative perceptions of Asia increased in the later eighteenth century • Emergent ideas of racial difference and white superiority were extended to Asians

15. The Crisis of Empire • 1780-1825 period of crisis and revolution against European rule • British, French and Spanish lost the majority of their American possessions • Movements for independence fueled by colonial resentment of distant metropolitan rule • Influenced by Renaissance and Enlightenment ideas, and radical political theories

16. The Atlantic Revolutions • The American Revolution, 1775-1783 • The Haitian Revolution, 1789-1804 • The Irish Rebellion, 1798-1799 • National Revolutions in Spanish America, 1810-1824

17. The Rise and Reshaping of the West • The West expanded geographically and gained control of the world economy • The Atlantic Ocean became the geographical center of the West • American territories, even after their independence, became culturally part of the West • Cultivation of a sense of Western superiority