Discuss the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution in the colonized world.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The industrialization that occurred in Europe, the United States, Russia, and Japan in the nineteenth century affected the rest of the world profoundly. The global system of the twentieth century began to be constructed in the nineteenth century by steamships, railroads, and telegraphs. Countries that did not industrialize became producers of raw materials for those that did.Since the industrial nationsneeded cheap raw materials, theyprodded and sometimes forced their colonies to mine oresand to produce cash crops to sell, rather than raise theirtraditional mixed subsistence crops to eat. The desired oresincluded gold, silver, copper, tin, and diamonds; the desiredcash crops included increased harvests of coffee, tea,and sugar, as well as cotton, cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, tropicalfruits, rubber, and hemp. Raising these crops resulted inland redistribution, local famines, and the cutting of forestsfor new land to cultivate. Huge plantations developed, financed by Europeans, whereimpoverished workers came from great distances and grewsugarcane, rubber, tea, tobacco, and hemp, suffering diseaserates twice those of the colony itself.

As European nations took over colonies, directly or indirectly,violence was a prominent feature, both during theconquests and afterward. But cooperation also took place,as Europeans had to depend on local elites to act as intermediariesin carrying out government functions. Indianprinces, African chiefs, and Muslim emirs found ways toretain their status and privileges, reinforcing traditionalclass structures.

With Europeans came their systems of values, throughthe work of government servants, missionaries, and volunteerservices. Government and missionary schools providedsome local people an opportunity for a Western educationand access to better-paying jobs in government, missionorganizations, and business fi rms. Both Roman Catholicand Protestant missionary work increased significantlyin the nineteenth century. The campaigns in England forabolishing slavery initiated mission activity in West Africaand then throughout the British Empire. Roman Catholicmissionary activity reemerged in France after 1815, with
Catholic missions attempting to protect native people in theAmazon after 1850. By 1910 more than 10,000 missionarieshad entered Africa alone.

Yet as Europeans sought to spur education in their colonies,they also constricted it by their racial fears. In East Africa, Europeans regularly called African men “boys.”They rarely permitted even highly educated Asians andAfricans to enter the higher ranks of the colonial civilservice. In places with much permanent white settlement,such as South Africa, Europeans set up systems of strictracial segregation, with separate “homelands,” public facilities,and educational and residential areas. In India theBritish reinforced the traditional caste system, scorning as“non-Indian” the more egalitarian views of the new Indianelite educated in European schools.

Many colonial people chose not to cooperate with thecolonizers, and sometimes open rebellions erupted. Themost famous of these revolts were the Indian Rebellionof 1857 to 1858 and the two peasant revolts in China,the Taiping Uprising (1850–64) and the Boxer Rebellion(1899–1901) mentioned earlier.

The Indian Rebellion (called the Indian Mutiny by theBritish) began when the British introduced a new cartridgesmeared with cow and pig fat as a lubricant. Cows weresacred to Hindus, and pigs were offensive to Muslims; bothgroups saw the innovation as an attempt to convert themto Christianity. Indian troops in Bengal mutinied to initiatethe rebellion, which spread to other regions and socialgroups. British authorities crushed the rebellion and afterwardtook direct control of India, ending the rule of theBritish East India Company.

Migrations, which were broadly similar to the trans-Atlantic ones in size and timing, also took place acrossthe nonindustrial world. From India and southern China,many people migrated to Southeast Asia, the Indian OceanRim, and the South Pacific. From Northeast Asia and Russia,many moved to Manchuria, Siberia, Central Asia, andJapan. Long-distance and transoceanic migration increasedgradually from the 1820s, then increased dramatically inthe last quarter of the nineteenth century, facilitated by thegrowth of railroads and steamships. Non-Europeans wereas greatly involved as Europeans in the expansion and integrationof the world economy.