The British Empire, Pomp, Power and Postcolonialism

Robert Johnson

Description

This study guide to Imperialism by one of our most prolific historians offers a concise overview of Britain's role in Colonialism, the slavery issue, the British Raj and the scramble for Africa, and probes the motives for empire and continuing issues of post-colonialism.

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• European

Informations

• Publié par: Humanities eBooks
• Date de parution: 11 janvier 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781847600165
• Langue: English

Extrait

History Insights General Editor: Alan Cousins

Running Head 1

The British Empire: Pomp, Power and Postcolonialism

Robert Johnson

‘...the nexus of Mars and Mammon...’

http//www.humanities-ebooks.co.uk For advice on use of this ebook please scroll to page 2

Publication Data

© Robert Jonson, 2007

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Publised byHumanitiesEbooks.co.uk Tirril Hall, Tirril, Penrit CA10 2JE

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ISBN 978-1-84760-016-5

The British Empire: Pomp, Power and Post-Colonialism

Robert Johnson

tirril: humanities-ebooks.co.uk, 2007

A Note on the Author

Rob Johnson is a History Lecturer at Warwick University, England. He is the author of a number of publications includingBritish Imperialism: Histories and Controver- sies(Palgrave, 2002); and his most recent books areSpying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia, 1757–1947(Greenhill 2006), andA Region in Tur- moil: South Asian Conicts, 1947–2001(Reaktion, 2005). He regularly gives radio and television broadcasts. He gained his PhD, on British Intelligence in the Great Game, with the University of Exeter in 1999. Prior to his academic career, Rob was a Captain in the British Army. In his spare time he leads adventurous expeditions to remote parts of the world and he is currently writing a new history of conict in Cen- tral Asia.

Contents

A Note on the Author

I: A Journey over Palm and Pine: An Overview of Histories, Peoples and Developments

 1. Early Colonialism: Exploration, Exploitation and Chartered Companies

 2. The Company Raj (India) and the Loss of the American Colonies

 3. Slavery, Anti-Slavery, Liberalism and Imperialism

 4. Imperial Expansion in the Nineteenth Century

 5. War, Retreat and Transformation in the Twentieth Century

II: Problems in Interpretation: Historiography, Post-Colonialism and Sources

 6. Historiography: approaches to the history of the British Empire

 7. Post-Colonialism: Explanation and Evaluation

 8. Sources: Eurocentrism, the ‘silenced’ sources, and the problem of  ‘representation’

III: Issues and Debates

 9. Controversies over the Motives for Empire

10. The Colonies of Settlement: Colonisation, Identities and Narratives

11. The Nature of Imperialism: How did the British Empire Function?

12. Collaboration and Resistance

13. Race, Class and Gender

IV: Selected Bibliography

Other Humanities Insights Titles

I: A Journey over Palm and Pine: An Overview of Histories, Peoples and Developments

1. Early Colonialism: Exploration, Exploitation and Chartered Companies

It was the fact that Britain was an island with particular resources and civil organisa- tion that gave it an impetus to acquire an empire. Britain had to import and export its goods and resources which compelled its people to develop the skills of trade; it enjoyed the natural protection of the seas for much of its history which allowed its wealth to accumulate, and its relative isolation encouraged the development of a separate identity. The temperate climate, warmed by the waters of the Gulf Stream, provided good îsh stocks and produce on the land sufîcient, if not always in abun- dance, for its population’s needs. Its island position compelled the British to master seamanship, and catalysed the search for new resources overseas.  In the course of searching for new îshing grounds, John Cabot reached the ‘newe founde landes’ in 1497. However, the novelty of the people and animals there had begun to wane as early as 1504. The îrst attempt to înd a way through these northern lands to East Asia, the real prize for British merchants eager to sell their cloth, took place in 1527, but, as with the trade to Russia and the Baltic in the 1550s, it was the environment, namely ice, which hindered further progress. Initially, Elizabeth I for- bade any notion of trading or colonising in the southern hemisphere for fear of her Spanish and Portuguese rivals, but in 1577, with conict looming, Francis Drake was commissioned to reconnoitre unoccupied lands, establish a ‘colony’ (in effect, a base for naval operations), and pillage as the opportunity presented itself. Drake managed a circumnavigation of the globe, and his raiding exploits led to a wave of attacks on 1 Iberian vessels in the years that followed. However, it was not until 1585 that a land- ing was made at Roanoke Island on the coast of North America as the îrst experiment with a permanent colony. 2  The Roanoke colony was little more than a trial. The colonists were to survey the land, assess the natural resources (and look especially for gold), evaluate potential relations with the Indians, look for a suitable harbour, and carry out exploratory work

1 Harry Kelsey,Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate(Yale, 2000). 2 Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony(New York, 1984).

The British Empire 

in agriculture. The men deployed had few skills required for such a venture and they put pressure on the Indians to supply them with food through the winter. The follow- ing spring they abandoned the island. A second attempt in 1587 to establish a colony, involving women and children, ended in tragedy. Through a lack of food and the dif- îculty of maintaining a regular supply via the sea, the colony was again abandoned. Only recently have archaeologists been able to conîrm that some of the survivors moved to another site or mixed with the Indians.  The frailty of these early colonies was further underlined by the abandonment of the Plymouth Company colony in 1608 and the precarious nature of the London Company’s post at Jamestown. Established in 1607, the colonists were more inter- ested in precious metals than agriculture, and there were bitter disputes until mili- tary discipline was imposed in 1609. Economically, Jamestown was a failure until the development of tobacco plantations, but the high death rate, caused partly by the climate and by contaminated food, prevented growth for several years. As larger numbers of settlers moved in, attracted by the prospect of a moderate income through tobacco, tensions with the indigenous Indians grew. In 1622, 350 settlers were killed 1 in a major Indian attack and James I was compelled to step in with royal authority. England had gained its îrst Crown Colony.  By the 1620s, New England and Virginia were beginning to attract larger numbers 2 of religious dissenters including theMayower’s ‘Pilgrims’. Political unrest at home was just as strong as the magnetism of America in driving them overseas, and the colonists’ agrarian life was as tough as anything they had left behind. By 1640 there were 20,000 in New England alone and they expanded to new land north and south along the coast. The frontier lifestyle and its peculiar challenges and opportunities gave rise to an identity of enterprise, risk, liberal politics and religious conservatism for the survivors. The weak and unlucky either returned home or perished. In the Indian Ocean area, English activities were bound up with the formation of the East India Company, which was founded in 1599. The royal authority of a Chartered Company (from 1600) was designed to assist in commercial and diplo- matic negotiations, but was also a means to preserve monopolies that would mutually  beneît the Crown and the company.News of Portuguese and then Dutch monopolies over the lucrative spice trade at its source in South-East Asia induced the British to

1 Mary K. Geiter and W.A. Speck,Colonial America: From Jamestown to Yorktown(London and New York, 2002). 2 Christopher Hilton,Mayower: The Voyage that Changed the World(London, 2005). 3 John Keay,A History of the East India Company(London, 1993).

The British Empire 8

enter the Indian Ocean and compete. Although Amboyna became a colony, the Dutch were eager to see off the British interlopers: they wiped out the edgling post in 1623. However, the British obtained permission to establish two ‘factories’ (warehouses and wharfs) at Surat and Masulipatam from the Mughals of India, and from there exchanged cloth for spices. Moreover, they destroyed the Portuguese as competitors with force in 1612 and 1614. In the Mediterranean, British fortunes were equally mixed. In times of peace, trade ourished and English cloth, herring and tin were able to buy alum, spices, currants, pepper, ivory and wine. But wars at home in the seventeenth century, North African pirates, and competition from Iberia, the Levant and Venice limited British progress. In northern Europe, this kind of competition was dealt with by force. Cromwell’s Navigation Acts in the 1650s led to a direct confron- tation with the Dutch. English piracy off the West African coast and in the Caribbean in the sixteenth century was also well established after the ofîcial sanction of the state. The expropriation of lands and resources was as much a characteristic of the early empire as trade and colonisation. As early as 1562, John Hawkins had tried to break into the slave trade until stopped by more powerful Spanish monopolists. By 1571, the experiment had been totally abandoned as commercially not viable, but Drake led a series of revenge attacks on the Spanish silver ships which encouraged a patri- otic zeal amongst those who admired and emulated him. Between 1586 and 1603 there were at least 235 attacks. The Spanish lost little in specie, but the costs of new defences and the growing sense of insecurity in the region took their toll. Britain prof- ited from the illicit trades that developed and then took possession of the more remote islands as naval bases. In 1655, the îrst large Spanish prize, Jamaica, was taken, but already the decline of diverse agriculture in favour of a lucrative sugar monoculture led to the renewed interest in African slave labour. It was the beginning of a social 1 and environmental exploitation on a vast scale. Finally, it was in the sixteenth century that Ireland endured a new exploitation by England. The Old English (descendants of the Norman period) of the south and the Irish chieftains of the north and west were offered land security under Henry VIII in return for loyalty to the Crown, but rebellion against Mary I in 1556 resulted in 2 land conîscation and the ‘plantation’ of her supporters.The policy was continued

1 James Walvin,Black Ivory: Slavery in the British Empire(London, 2001). 2 J. P. Mallory and T. E. McNeill,The Archaeology of Ulster: From Colonisation to Plantation(Institute of Irish Studies, 1991); Philip S. Robinson,The Plantation of Ulster: British Settlement in an Irish Landscape, 1600-1670(Ulster Historical Foundation, 2001).