ABSTRACT
Nov. – Berlin Colonial Conference; 1885 Feb. ‘rules’ of ‘Scramble for Africa’ set
out French seizure of Madagascar complete. Germany claims Tanganyika; death of Gordon at Khartoum
1886 Royal Niger Company formed by granting Charter to Goldie’s United African Company. Britain claims Bechuanaland; Britain,
France and Germany agree division of East Africa
1889 Rhodes awarded Charter for Bechuanaland Exploration Company
1890 Britain, France and Germany settle east Africa boundaries; Britain cedes Heligoland (in North Sea) to Germany
1891 Britain’s claim to Northern Rhodesia recognised by Germany
1894 Japan defeats Russia and claims Korea
1895 Jameson Raid into Transvaal fails 1898 Russia gains lease on Port Arthur
from China 1898-1900 Boxer rebellion in China 1899-1902 Anglo-Boer war 1902 Alliance between Britain and
Japan 1904-05 Russo-Japanese war
Industry and empire are in a way the dominating aspects of Europe between the Napoleonic and First World Wars. Certainly they affected far more people in their ordinary lives, health, careers and expectations than any of the great political milestones of Europe’s nineteenth century. When one stands back from the details, the connection between a growing population, industrialisation, and the European colonial empires is obvious and exists at many levels; commercial, emotional and patriotic, competitive, to name just a few. Different theories about the nature of the connection, and complex analysis about economic growth and imperialism, should not obscure the fact that these are basically parallel developments. But industry and empire in the nineteenth century reached their most obvious crescendo in Great Britain herself; the first industrial nation established an empire ‘over which the sun never set’ so extensive was its dominion, making her the first and in some sense the only world power in modern history. With much comic patriotism, Rudyard Kipling reflected on the great power which had at its head the small figure of the widow Queen Victoria:
Walk wide o’ the Widow at Windsor, For ’alf o’ Creation she owns: We ’ave bought ’er the same with the sword an’ the flame, An’ we’ve salted it down with our bones. . . . Hands off o’ the sons o’ the Widow, Hands off o’ the goods in ’er shop, For the Kings must come down an’ the Emperors frown When the Widow at Windsor says ‘Stop!’
