3.2.1 Summary

3 Things I Learned

1. I learned that Britain started the opium trade with China.
2. I learned that Muhammad and Ismail worked on westernizing Egypt.
3. I learned that the white man's burden was a dominant factor in conquering new countries.

2 Things That Interested Me

1. I found it interesting that Egypt wanted to be a part of westernized Europe.
2. I found it interesting that Japan was so willing to open up to westernization.

1 Question I Still Have

1. Why did people want to migrate at the same time as countries were expanding?

Spotlight On: The Suez Canal

The Suez Canal Today:


Who Controls It: Egypt and the Suez Canal Authority

How Often it Gets Used: The Suez Canal is used on a daily basis for transportation of Europe's oil as well as part of the world's trade. 

Why it is Important in Today's World: This canal route eliminates the need to navigate all the way around Africa to ship goods, cutting down on both the time and cost of transportation.

Uprisings Today

Event: The Spanish Protests

Country: Spain

Date: Began May 15th, 2011

Key Players: Protest groups such as Real Democracy NOW! and Youth Without A Future

How it Happened: What started out as a protest against the ongoing European debt crisis led to a radical demand for more democracy and an end to political corruption. In cities all over Spain, protesters gathered to start a march from Plaza de Cibeles to Puerta del Sol.

How Successful it Was: The march went well until at the end of the demonstration, protesters staged a peaceful sit-in in Callao street and police responded with brutality, injuring protesters and damaging surrounding property. Spanish protests are still continuing today.

Uprisings within European Colonies

Event: The Sepoy Mutiny

Groups Involved: The Sepoy Indian soldiers of Hindu and Muslim religion

Key Players: Sepoy soldiers and the British soldiers

How It Happened: The British army trained native citizens to fight as troops for the British army in India. Soon the Sepoys outnumbered the Brits. Revolts began to break out and this caused tension between the two groups of soldiers. The "final straw" was when the new guns for the army had cartridges that needed to be bit off before they were fired, but the cartridges were greased with pig and cow fat. This angered the Sepoys because those animals were sacred in their religions, so they rebelled.

How Successful It Was: This uprising wasn't as successful as the Sepoys may have hoped for. Though they were mildly successful in the beginning, by the end they were crushed with defeat by the British. The Sepoys ended up with more direct control over them from the British than before.

Connections across Continents #2

Ellis Island

        Starting in 1892, Ellis Island was the place for immigrants to go to move to the United States. Over the next sixty two years, over twelve million people passed through Ellis Island to immigrate to America. Ellis Island was the busiest immigration inspection station of its time, and its name is synonymous with immigration into the United States.

        This relates to Chapter 25 because there was a great surge in migration of people during this time. Many people moved to their countries recently colonized lands, whether to "Christianize" the natives or to find material gain in the rich lands. Each had their own motive, but immigration at this time was common all over the world.

Connections across Continents #1

The Alaska Purchase

The check used to pay for Alaska

        Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867. Russia sold Alaska to prevent a war with Britain over the territory because the former was sure that they would lose if such a battle took place. Russia would rather sell the land and get compensation than have it taken from them in a war, so they approached both Britain and the United States to see if either were interested. Britain showed little interest and so the US bought Alaska from Alexander II for $7.2 million. 586,412 square miles were gained in the purchase but it wasn't until 1896 that Alaska was seen as valuable land.

        This connects to what was happening at Europe at the time because many leading countries were expanding their boarders and dominion. Most notable would be the British takeover of Africa. Britain wanted to lay as many claims to territory in Africa as they could because Africa was rich in material goods, providing an easy source of wealth for Britain. Likewise in Alaska, there were rich gold deposits ready for the claims, which the United States discovered in 1896 during the great Klondike gold strike.

Painting of the Alaska Purchase negotiation

Imperialism In America

Do you think the United States is/has been imperialistic?

im·pe·ri·al·ism

noun \im-ˈpir-ē-ə-ˌli-zəm\
       The policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas; broadly : the extension or imposition of power, authority, or influence.

        That is the Merriam Webster definition of what imperialism is, and before I can discuss if the United States is imperialistic, I have to know the definition of imperialism.

Next, let's evaluate a pro-con list of American actions that may be viewed as imperialistic.


PRO Imperialism:

• The Annexation of Hawaii- Under the leadership of Samuel Dole,  the US took Hawaii by force because we didn't want the Queen to enforce a high sugar tariff when she tried to put in place a stronger monarchy.
• Manifest Destiny- The justification for taking over an entire section of a continent for the personal gain of the United States. Like the "White Man's Burden," it is simply a phrase used to justify actions of imperialism.
• Superpower Status- Arguably, the United States remains the only superpower in the world today. The term superpower, as defined by Andrei Gromyko, is “a country that has a say in every corner of the globe and without whose say nothing truly substantial can be achieved in any such corner.” The United States certainly does fit that description.

CON Imperialism:

• Democracy- The United States interferes with other countries' business when they could just stay out of it, but why miss the opportunity to spread democracy to other nations? 
• Self-preservation- The United States isn't trying to go out and conquer lands, they are simply trying to protect their own country. When the United States sent troops to the Middle East, they did so as a precautionary move to prevent further attacks to United States citizens.
• World War II- At the end of the war, lots of countries were in shambles from the devastation that the war brought, but the United States came out on top. We had the opportunity to take advantage of many countries and gain land, but we chose to provide assistance and help the countries build themselves back up.

        With all of that information in mind, is the United States imperialistic? I don't believe that we are at this moment today. At the beginning of our development, yes, we could be perceived as imperialistic. We conquered all of the land that is today the United States of America. It hasn't always been under our control, and most of the land we took by force. That in mind, are we still taking part in the same actions today? No, we aren't. We are trying to spread our ideas and beliefs, maybe more than some countries would like, but we aren't trying to take over the world.