Scarica The british empire . e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE BRITISH EMPIRE During Queen Victoria’s reign, Great Britain ruled over a wide and powerful empire: In the last decades of the 19th century, the British Empire occupied an area of 4 million square miles - British Empire included Canada , Australia , New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya and India Britain’s imperial activity: - It began during the second half of the 16 th century→ Queen Elizabeth I encouraged “plantations” and also chartered the British East India Company - It imported raw materials such as cotton and silk and exported finished goods to countries around the world→ Great Britain was primer manufacturer of goods and the wealthiest country in the world After the 1857 Indian Mutiny: India came under direct rule by Britain, and Queen Victoria was crowned Empress of India • Expansion in Africa Expansionist activity reached a crescendo with the “scramble of Africa” in the 1880s and 1890s - Britain took over Egypt to protect its routes to India through the Suez Canal in 1882 and the Sudan in 1884→ Being able to control the Suez Canal was an immense vantages - From 1899 to 1902, Britain was at war in South Africa against the the Boers→ South Africa was rich of raw materials like gold and diamonds Kind of Empire: Britain, came into contact with the subdued vastly and different areas, they were able to shape imperial and colonial policy gradually, adapting to different realities and producing and empire united in the name, but varied in fact Because of England’s success , British felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws , customs and religion to the “savage” races around the world Expressions of civic pride and British ideals: ➔ Patriotism that was deeply influenced by ideas of racial superiority ➔ Born a belief that the “races” of the world was divided by fundamental and physical and intellectual differences and the “white man” is the more superior races ⇒ Real reasons: 1. Superiority of white man [ Darwin and his “On the origin of the species” ] 2. Profitable business ⇒ Three justifications: 1. Religion→ spread Christianity to the heathen 2. Government→ impose their forms of government on the natives, because they consider their form of government better 3. Technological development→ They need manpower to build new innovations ! All for the good of new people and colonies Social and political reforms: ● 1832: The First Reform Act, granted the vote to almost all male members of middle-class ● 1833 : The Factory Act, regulated child labour in factories ● 1834 : Poor Law Amendment , established a system of workhouses for poor people ● 1867 : The Second Reform Act, gave the vote to skilled working men ● 1871 : Trade Union Act, legalized trades unions ● 1884 : The Third Reform Act , granted the right to vote to all male householders Women’s question:Women’s suffrage did not happen until 1918 • Positive aspects of the age: ⇒ Industrial revolution: Factory system emerged, for the first time in Britain’s history there were more people who lived in cities than in the countryside ⇒ Technological advances: Introduction of steam hammers and locomotives, building of a network of railways ⇒ Economical progress: Britain became the greatest economic power in the world ⇒ Crystal Palace: It was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and it had the political purpose of showing British economic supremacy in the world • Negative aspects of the age: ⇒ Pollution in towns due to the factory activity ⇒ Lack of hygienic conditions : houses were overcrowded , most people lived in miserable conditions , poor houses shared water supplies The Victorian compromise: The middle - class was obsessed with RESPECTABILITY and DECORUM: 1. Respectability > Distinguished the middle from the lower class 2. Decorum meant > Victorian private lives were dominated by an authoritarian father and women were subject to male authority 1
