Boer War

The Boer War occurred in 1899 in South Africa. The "Boers" was a name for the Dutch Settlers. The war was the conflict between the British colonial rule and the "boers" or Dutch setters. They were arguing because they were fighting over who got the land and the African people. When war was first declared, the Dutch overpowered and conquered most of the British. But then, the British came back with a harsher response. They burned down many British farms and captured many wives and children and imprisoned them. They also made man africans, that were on the "side" or under control of the Dutch and they imprisoned them as well. They killed tons of these people that were imprisoned because they were not taken care of well enough. Where they were kept was very unsanitary which made living conditions really rough. They ended the war with The Treaty of Vereeniging. They estimate that several thousands of lives were lost, and about almost half of the Boer population.

Researching this made me think about how I would feel if people started a war where I was living and I had to live through it. I have never experienced a war where I have been living but I can imagine it is not very fun. I think it would be terrifying because I could easily walk out of my house going to school and happen to be in the middle of people fighting, and therefore I could easily get injured or worse killed! I think it must have been even weirder for the Africans because the two people who came in and had this war were not even really related or connected very much to the land. In Iraq, the Iraqi are fighting against the US and so it is at least there own people. That doesn't make it any more right but at least there is one familiar side. Not knowing at least one side would make it even harder to go through because then there is double the chances that you will get hurt. Having a familiar side means that they will probably try to avoid killing their own people as much as possible. Seeing that the Africans didn't really benefit from the war, I think that this must have been a dramatic change that they would have loved to avoid, especially considering that innocent people were taken and killed in prison camps.

Citation:

DISCovering World History. 2003. http://find.galegroup.com/gps/retrieve.do?contentSet=GSRC&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2

C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C8%29boer+war%24&sgHitCount

Type=None&inPS=true&sort=Relevance&searchType=BasicSearchForm&tabID

=T001&prodId=IPS&searchId=R1&currentPosition=2&userGroupName=menlo

_schlib&docId=EJ2105240003&docType=GSRC (accessed January 5, 2010).

Rubber

The para rubber grew originated from South America in Brazil. When Charles Marie de la Condamine returned from his voyage to Portugal, he brought back water-repellent rubberized cloth that shocked everyone. Condamine was accused of witchcraft because everyone was so shocked. Eventually rubber arrived to England, and it became clear that it was a great material to use on the tip of a pencil.
South America continued on to be the main supplier of rubber during the 19th century. However, in 1876, Henry Wickham gathered many rubber seeds, which were germinated (began to grow) in the UK. The seeds were then sent to the South East Asian countries, where they would become the biggest supplier of rubber.
Rubber was also supplied in the Congo, which was mainly forced labor. Liberia and Nigeria also began to grow rubber.
Much Earlier, the Ancient Mayans used rubber balls, hollow human figures, and as bindings for axes. Latex is the sap of different trees, most famous of the rubber tree. The Mayans learned to mix the sap with juice from the morning glory vines so that it would be more elastic and durable.
Their rubber balls were about the size of a beach ball, but weighed about 15 pounds. They were used in a ritualistic game called Tlachtlic. It was a cross between football and basketball. It's religious significance as recorded in the Popul Vuh, a Mayan religious document. The game also included gambling for things such as land or slaves. Some of the time it ended in a human sacrifice. This game was played from Southern Arizona, to Northern South America. Native people in the region still make rubber this way.

Picture Source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Latex_dripping.JPG

Other Sources
http://www.essortment.com/all/historyofrubbe_rcml.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber

Ways of the World 560-563: Discovery of quinine

On page 562 of Ways of the World, there is a brief statement on things that helped expansion be more desirable, and doable. Among that list, there was the discovery of quinine, and I chose to do some extra research on the topic.

In the book, quinine is just described as something to prevent malaria. The book goes on to say that it greatly reduced deaths among Europeans that were in the tropics.

It was the Quechua of Peru and Bolivia who discovered this medicine in the chinchona tree and its relaxing effects to help to stop shivers from the really low temperatures, and the high altitudes. Then the Catholic missionaries brought the medicine over to Europe, where it was to become a vital element in there expeditions. The Jesuits (have to do with catholics) who were living in Lima, made a connection between the shivering caused by malaria, and the shivering of the Quechua. They noticed that the shivering was really similar, and so they brought some of the chinchona tree bark over to Rome where they ran tests on it to see if it treated malaria. It indeed helped prevent malaria, and so the bark became one of the most valuable commodities shipped at the time.

It may seem as if this wasn't that important, looking at the overall time period of expansion, but it was. This medicine made a lot more people want to go on voyages to expand, because they knew that they weren't going to die because of the Malaria, and so Europe grew. The discovery of the quinine medicine can easily be one of the major factors as to why Europe is so wealthy.

Suez Canal

In our reading, there is an example of overseas expansion and how the newly man made Suez Canal played a role in this movement. The Suez Canal is a connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It allows large ships to travel from Europe to Asia, not needing to travel around the tip of Africa.

In relation to the reading, Europeans could access the Asian countries more efficeintly with there large amounts of goods that needs to be sold. When ships reached the Suez Canal, they used telegraph, inventing a following underwater telegraph to help the communication amongst all the ships in the canal.

Google images

African Women pg (204-205)

In the Strayer reading about Women in Africa it said that the women did a lot of the active work. Active work includes, farming, weeding, planting, harvesting, and taking care of the children of course. All women seem to have taken care of the children and still to this day, women are known for caring for children more then the men are. Men did more of the labor like building houses and clearing the land, but we are not going to discuss them in this blog.

Once the economy grew and the necessary of money was higher, the women's jobs different more then the men and became more separate. The women initially started the cotton crops so that they could have clothes for their families, but as the cotton need grew and the money started going for cotton the men took the crops from the women and were in control. In pre-colonial time the women worked a lot less then during the colonial time, because more work meant more money, and more money meant a better life. And all women were in it for better life, not just for them, for their family as well. Families were extremely important to African women because they really did not have that good of jobs and usually their jobs were dealt with around the house, or where the family was.

The Ethnic Identity of Africa

With the Europeans conquering Africa, the natives of Africa began to see that they had one common "enemy" in the white people. By establishing this enemy, there was development of unification all across Africa with the people now considering themselves a race. Even though there still were enemies within the tribes of Africa, the natives began to think of themselves as a seperate race from the White people. This was vital for the Africans to develop this sense of community and race, because through this connection, they had become united as a continent. This ethnic identity helped the Africans understand themselves and it was vital for the nations of Africa. By having this ethnic identity, the Africans began to start these "mini-revolutions" that would eventually expel the White people from Africa and would let the Africans live and thrive for themselves. The philosophers that started thes beliefs started what would become the common beliefs for the natives for many years to come.

Ways of the World Strayer

Education in the Colonial Era

In the Colonial Era, education was vital for awareness of the world and its surroundings. Education was not only to learn about the world around them, but also an escape from manual labor. It also gave the opportunity to be placed in better paying jobs. There were also cases where education was used for power control. As the Europeans went through Africa, they installed beliefs and ideas that helped them maintain power through education. Others were embracing European culture as well. Some would speak the language of France and also dress like them, and have weddings like them. This helped the development of Africa because of the fact that they ca “blend” in with the white people. By blending in, it would open up doors for the Africans, which would allow them to access European technology and philosophies. 

Forced Labor 599-600 Summary

In my reading, it talked about unpaid, forced labor during the colonial era, on public projects. Some examples are building railroads, constructing buildings, or transporting goods. In French Africa, natives were required to do statute labor for 10-12 days a year. this as greatly disliked, but continued until 1946. The most cruel and infamous examples of forced labor occurred during the early 1900s in the Congo, governed by Leopold II of Belgium. Villagers there were forced to collect rubber from the forrest, because of the great demand for bike tires and car tires. If they weren't successful, they were severely punished. Some were shot, some were dragged off with ropes around their neck, and some had different parts of their bodies removed. There is a picture on page 600 of two young boys whose hands were severed because of their village's lack to provide the required amount of rubber. Another instance of the forced labor was in Indonesia, in the 19th century. Peasants were required to devote 20 percent of their land to cash crops like sugar and coffee in order to meet their tax obligation to the state. The crops were then resold by the Dutch to the world market and was very highly profitable to the shippers, traders, citizens, and state. This highly benefitted the dutch economy and provided capital for their industrial revolution. But for the peasants it meant a double burden to the state and local lords. the demands along with the loss of land and exclusion from food production led to famines killing hundreds of thousands. the forced cultivation of crops was successfully and largely resisted in various places. A massive rebellion occurred in 1905 and ended the forced cultivation of cotton and other plants in many places.

Ways of the World By Robert W. Strayer

Oppressed People of Africa

Colonial Empires with a difference

The people in this section which are the people of Africa, were colonized because of the race differences between them and the Europeans. There was now a “High tide of scientific racism,” as it is said in the book. And the ruled were the Africans, and the rulers were the Europeans. Even the own people of Africa referred to the whites as “Bwana”(Swahili for master), while the Europeans referred to the Africans as “boy”, obviously establishing themselves as the higher class. If you were a colonial subject your education was also limited, and there was no way that you would obtain any kind of high rank. Africans were even starting to get everything separated from them in their own country, something known as apartheid. The Europeans made an industrial society based on the labor of only Africans, while limiting the social, and political integration of them. This broke the European policies of a democratic nation, because only a few people were allowed to be part of the government actions. This mad the colonies a sort of dictatorship that went unnoticed for a really long time. Unlike the people of India that had huge rebellions, the Africans didn't really have any sort of retaliation.

"Colonial Violence" pages 599-600

Because of the newly made Colonial States, people, or the natives were forced to participate in unpaid public labor for example working on the railroad or making buildings. In French Africa they were "legally obligated for statute labor" (Strayer 599). According to thefreedictionary.com, statute labor is "a definite amount of labor required for the public service in making roads, bridges, etc., as in certain English colonies." The people were required to do these tasks and if they didn't they would be severely punished. In Congo, which appeared in my reading, the people were required to search for and collect rubber. Rubber was in high demand because of the bicycles and car wheels and so if the people were unable to come up with the required amount, they would be killed. A worker talks of his experience with this is says "when we failed and our rubber was short, the soldiers came to our towns and killed us. Many were shot, some had their ears cut off; others were tied up with ropes round their necks and taken away," and this clearly depicts the cruel acts that were inflicted in these people for trying their bests to fulfill the wishes of their "masters." This also shows the selfishness that the soldiers or "white men" had and that they had no respect what so ever for the workers. They didn't care what happened to them as long as they got their rubber. This is really awful to think about and to think that people would do such a thing. There is a picture in the textbook on page 600 that shows to boys who had their hands chopped off I think and it is justatrocious that that could be done to someone. I clearly can't relate to the authorities in this situation because I don't believe that you should inflict pain on others because they didn't supply you with enough of something. If they really needed or wanted it that bad then why didn't they just work and get it. It just doesn't make sense to me to punish others for their lack of satisfaction.

Information from:

Ways of The World by Robert W. Strayer (pages 599-600)

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Statute+labor

The Torture of Africa

During the control of Africa, by the Europeans, humans lost their morals. All the European countries that had control of provinces in Africa, forced the natives to work until they die. They could care less about the families they were tearing apart, the lives they were destroying, or the conditions of the natives. They just wanted a product that they could sell for money, even if all the resources were dry, they would force the natives to search every nook and cranny. This is an epitome of White Man's Greed, forcing people to work under them until they got what they wanted, and when all the people of the town were either not capable of working anymore, or dead, they would move on. What happened in Africa during this time period was just terrible and embarrassing for humanity. Because of Europeans actions in Africa, Africa is still recovering. The natives were never able to flourish or develop their land themselves and all the good resources were stolen by the whites, so now they have nothing to sell in the present day. The economy went under after the whites scrapped everything off of the continent, so the the governments were never able to afford vaccines and medicines for their people, so now they are feeling the repercussions of the white's actions. Even though the Europeans left Africa almost 100 years ago in some countries, they natives are still suffering.

Colonial Empires

Reading my textbook section, I had a hard time figuring out what the motives were for the European people to colonize Africa. At first, I thought that perhaps the European colonists were power hungry and had large superiority complexes, thinking that they could go to any country and take whatever land that they wanted. This seems to make a lot of sense because the white men were usually referred to a bwana, which means master, and they usually called the African men "boys" no matter how old or young they were. They also drastically changed the culture of wherever they went, imposing racial stereotypes and attempting to create industries based on cheap African labor. They also imposed taxes and limited education for the Africans. However, there seems to be another motive, which would be collecting scientific information from the African populace. The more evident one seems to be the land hungry motive. The people being colonized did not respond very well. They attempted to revolt, but in the end, the European power was too great for them to overcome.

Colonization of Africa

European leaders from numerous places all over Europe had intense rivalries over the newly important land of Africa. They spent 25 years splitting up they land and at first, it seemed like this method would be successful. However, everyone just ended up fighting over the land again and things got very bloody. Some wars over certain parts of land even lasted decades, taking huge tolls on the military forces of each  territory. Not all negotiation were through fighting, though. There were still a good amount of peace treaties, but, predictably, a lot of the peace treaties ended up just stirring up another war when the territories realized that they didn't agree with the treaty after all.

After a while, when taking on huge empires in battle wasn't working anymore, military leaders began taking over territories village by village. Every once and a while a village would go down easy, but heavy resistance was encountered pretty much the entire journey. But no matter how hard it was to continue conquering land, many military powers continued to try to do so, no matter how great their losses were.

Africa and How it was Divided Up

While looking at the map of how Africa was divided up, I was curious as to why countries like France and the British were able to get the majority of Africa, and the central points. France even though they got mostly the Sahara desert in the central part of Africa, they did get and control access to the Red Sea, which was a majory port because of the fact that trading with the Muslim Empires could be accessed through that area. Also the British had control of Egypt and South Africa, both had major trade cities in both of these regions. Then there were nations like the Germans and Spanish, who were left with almost nothing. I was just curious about the process of how Africa was divided up, and why certain countries were able to get most of the major ports and parts of Africa. 

596-597

In the reading I found that Europeans were very ignorant in the ways that they treated the Africans and Indians. They felt that just because the Africans seemed native, they must be treated as lesser people. They wouldn't even allow the educated ones have any authority. I feel that if I were in the position of either the Indians or the Africans, I would be greatly offended because I don't necessarily need the knowledge the Europeans have to offer. I wouldn't even need to learn the languages that they speak. Just because their skin is a different color doesn't mean that the IQs will be different. There were even controversies over the idea that a well educated Indian man should have the right to be the judge of a white man's case. It's extremely racist and belittling of any other race on this earth. I almost wish that the Africans and Europeans could switch places for a second to show how everything is subjective in this scenario.

Britian's colonies in Africa

Since I did not like my reading...I am writing about a perspective of a British official that is in our book. 

In late 125, a British official spoke on what was occurring in Nigeria, "I shall of course go on walloping them until they surrender. It's rather piteous sight watching a village being knocked to pieces and I wish there was some other way, but unfortunately there isn't." 

After reading this quote, the first thing that came to my mind was the "scramble for Africa." Many countries had some colonies somewhere in Africa. This British official really speaks as a typical soldier because they must do what is necessary for the goodness of their country. Breaking down the poor villages is the worst sight, but this soldier comments about how there is no other option to conquer these lands without destruction.

The "Scramble for Africa" pages 592-593

Interaction with European Forces:

The European powers all raced to rule or conquer parts of Africa. In about 25 years, they conquered most if not all of Africa and the European colonies all came out with large portions of Africa and they were surprised with how fast that process went. They divided the country among themselves. Afterwards, they fought to decide who got what. And problems arrived when there were parts of Africa that were separate from the big cities or states. The societies that were fairly unorganized in "formal state structure" were the ones that the European powers argued about because it was unclear about where they "officially" belonged to.

Colonizing Motives:

Missionaries were coming to Africa to go and help them because they thought that the Africans were not as "well off" as they were. So, missionaries went to Africa to save the "people in poor countries." They also thought that they could explore the new area and so that they could discover new things and possibly retrieve some new raw materials and resources to be able to make more products to sell. They also wanted to be the "cool" country and have pride in the country by having the best one possible. They wanted to have strong nationalism to make them seem like "the best."

People's Reactions:

Obviously the people that were previously living in Africa were not very happy with the fact that people were invading where they were living and those people were dividing up their "habitat" for them to keep and to control. But the natives did not have much of a chance to fight back with much impact because they did not have the latest and greatest technology and weapons like the Europeans did and so they ended up falling to the Europeans' control, sadly.

Below shows a map that illustrates who was controlling certain parts of Africa and it is very similar to the graph we saw in class in Ms. Xia's powerpoint but it is just focusing on Africa.