The Imperial Inquirer
19TH CENTURY NEWS FLASH:
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS HAS ARRIVED
The following countries have announced openings in their press bureaus for independent press reporting on recent and ongoing revolutionary activities. Journalists who support the imperial expansion or individuals who support resistance movements are welcome to apply. Creativity and historical accuracy are essential qualifications. Ability to write in foreign languages not required. Details of job responsibilities follow placement opportunities.
Britain
United States
France
Belgium
Germany
Italy
Spain
Japan
OBJECTIVE: Create a newspaper that provides information on imperialism from the perspective of the colonizers and the colonized in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Steps:
Allowable Topics:
-Infrastructure created in Imperial Holdings (Railroads – Shipping routes – Major mining operations – agricultural estates (plantations) – etc.)
-Trade success or failure (Major trade Items- profits – losses – trade barriers – trade imbalances, commodities prices)
-Wars or rebellions within the Imperial Empire
-Social Tensions within the Imperial Empire (Social inequalities – social advantages for Europeans, ethnic groups, genders, etc.)
-Government structure in the Empire (Corruption – Honesty – Major Figures, etc.)
Required elements for each person:
Headline (Banner) article - lead story
Editorial
International news analysis
All stories must:
Name: ________________________________ Block: ____________________
Evaluation
There will be an individual and a group grade for this project:
Each individual in the group is responsible for a minimum of three items. This will determine the individual component of the grade
The group grade is based on overall content and form- evident proofreading, appealing layout, no redundancy in information, no gaps (literal or figurative), and news quality. There will be time in class to assemble the paper.
There will be a checklist that all members will sign establishing what was done by each person.
Main Article typed /20
Second article /15
Two visuals /10
One CHOICE item /10
Total /55
Proofreading
Appealing Layout
Overall Content /20
All terms on list addressed in paper accurately
No redundancy in information
Overall quality of information.
Equitable distribution of labor /10
Total /45
Total Project ___/100 pts
SPECIFIC TOPIC DIRECTIONS
Be sure that all of the following topics within your empire get mentioned in your newspaper. (for example, your group might choose seven of the topics and write a story on each and then mention any other terms within any of the articles.) You can write them from the perspective of the colonizer or the colonized. You can get started with research for most of your articles in your book, but then go to the Internet and other classroom textbooks. Some articles will need to be “background” or “anniversary” pieces since they happen much earlier in the century (they are in bold…)
Germany
Spain
Italy
Spanish Imperialism
The New Laws of the Indies, 1542, King Philip II of Spain, to his colonial governors
Whereas one of the most important things in which the Audiencias are to serve us is in taking very especial care of the good treatment of the Indians and preservation of them, We command that the said Audiencias enquire continually into the excesses or ill treatment which are or shall be done to them by governors or private persons; and how the ordinances and instructions which have been given to them, and are made for the good treatment of the said Indians have been observed. And if there had been any excesses, on the part of the said Governors, or should any be committed hereafter, to take care that such excesses are properly corrected, chastizing the guilty parties with all rigour conformably to justice. The Audiencias must not allow that in the suits between Indians, or with them, there be ordinary proceedings at law, nor dilatory expedients, as is wont to happen through the malice of some advocates and solicitors, but that they be determined summarily, observing their usages and customs, unless they be manifestly unjust; and that the said Audiencias take care that this be so observed by the other, inferior judges.
Item, We ordain and command that from henceforward for no cause of war nor any other whatsoever, though it be under title of rebellion, nor by ransom nor in other manner can an Indian be made a slave, and we will that they be treated as our vassals of the Crown of Castile since such they are.
Anonymous source, Reign of Philip II, King of Spain, later 16th Century, a letter found in Spain
“From New Spain are obtained gold and silver, cochineal [little insects like flies], from which crimson dye is made, leather, cotton, sugar and other things; but from Peru nothing is obtained except minerals. The fifth part of all that is produced goes to the king, but since the gold and silver is brought to Spain and he has a tenth part of that which goes to the mint and is refined and coined, he eventually gets one-fourth of the whole sum, which fourth does not exceed in all four or five hundred thousand ducats, although it is reckoned not alone at millions, but at millions of pounds. Nor is it likely that it will long remain at this figure, because great quantities of gold and silver are no longer found upon the surface of the earth, as they have been in past years; and to penetrate into the bowels of the earth requires greater effort, skill and outlay, and the Spaniards are not willing to do the work themselves, and the natives cannot be forced to do so, because the Emperor has freed them from all obligation of service as soon as they accept the Christian religion. Wherefore it is necessary to acquire negro slaves, who are brought from the coasts of Africa, both within and without the Straits, and these are selling dearer every day, because on account of their natural lack of strength and the change of climate, added to the lack of discretion upon the part of their masters in making them work too hard and giving them too little to eat, they fall sick and the greater part of them die.”
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King |
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Council of the Indies |
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Central |
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Viceroy |
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Gobierno (Executive government) |
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Justicia (Judiciary) |
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Militar (Military) |
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Hacienda (Treasury) |
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Eclesiástico (Church government) |
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Governor (Chief Executive Officer) |
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President of the Audiencia |
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Captain-general |
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Supervisor Oficiales Reales (Treasury Officers) |
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Vice-patron of Archdiocese |
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Regional |
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Audiencias |
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Executive Committees |
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Courts of Appeal |
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Audiencia Presidents |
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Audiencia |
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Suffragan Diocese |
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Local |
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Corregidores and Alcaldes Mayores |
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Corregidores and Alcaldes Mayores |
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Lieutenant Captain-Generals |
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Corregidores and Alcaldes Mayores |
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Secular Parishes |
Colonial Lima according to Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, from their book, A Voyage to South America (1748)
The inhabitants of Lima are composed of whites, or Spaniards, Negroes, Indians, Mestizos, and other casts, proceeding from the mixture of all three. The Spanish families are very numerous; Lima according to the lowest computation, containing sixteen or eighteen thousand whites, Among these are reckoned a third or fourth part of the most distinguished nobility of Peru; and many of these dignified with the stile of ancient or modern Castilians, among which are no less than 45 counts and marquises. The number of knights belonging to the several military orders is also very considerable. Besides these are many families no less respectable and living in equal splendor; particularly 24 gentlemen of large estates, but without titles, tho' most of them have ancient seats, a proof of the antiquity of their families. One of these traces, with undeniable certainty, his descent from the Incas. The name of this family is Ampuero, so called from one of the Spanish commanders at the conquest of this country, who married a Coya, or daughter of the Inca. To this family the kings of Spain have been pleased to grant several distinguishing honours and privileges, as marks of its great quality: and many of the most eminent families in the city have desired intermarriages with it.
Colonial Lima according to Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, from their book, A Voyage to South America (1748)
At Lima, as at Quito, and all Spanish America, some of the eminent families have been long since settled there, whilst the prosperity of others is of a later date; for being the center of the whole commerce of Peru, a greater number of Europeans resort to it, than to any other city; some for trade, and others, from being invested in Spain with considerable employments: among both are persons of the greatest merit; and tho' many after they have finished their respective affairs, return home, yet the major part induced by the fertility of the soil, and goodness of the climate, remain at Lima, and marry young ladies remarkable equally for the gifts of fortune as those of nature and thus new families are continually settled.
The Negroes, Mulattoes, and their descendants, form the greater number of the inhabitants; and of these are the greatest part of the mechanics; tho' here the Europeans also follow the same occupations, which are not at Lima reckoned disgraceful to them, as they are at Quito; for gain being here the universal passion, the inhabitants pursue it by means of any trade, without regard to its being followed by Mulattoes, interest here preponderating against any other consideration.
The third, and last class of inhabitants are the Indians and Mestizos, but these are very small in proportion to the largeness of the city, and the multitudes of the second class. They are employed in agriculture, in making earthen ware, and bringing all kinds of provisions to market, domestic services being performed by Negroes and Mulattoes, either slaves or free, though generally by the former.
Comments by Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa on castas in Spanish South America, c.1749
It has already been shown in other parts of this report [Discourse and Political Reflections on the Kingdoms of Peru] that the largest proportion of the population consists of mestizos and castes. In some cities they are mixtures of Indians and Spaniards; in others of Spaniards and Negroes; in still others of Spaniards, Indians, and Negroes; and finally of various mixtures of different castes. Over time Spaniards and Indians mix in a way that transforms the offspring completely into whites with coloring, in the second generation, that cannot be distinguished from that of Spaniards, yet they are not called Spaniards until the fourth generation. In mixing Spaniards and Negroes, dark skin color lasts longer and is distinguishable through the third and fourth generations. The latter group has the generic name of mulattoes, although later on they are placed in special categories such as tercerones or quarterones, depending upon their place in the hierarchy. Mestizo or mulatto women from the second to the fourth or fifth generation normally are the ones who give themselves up to this licentious life, although they do not view it in this way. Indifferent toward legal marriage, they feel equal to any married woman. Because they live in a corrupt area of the world, they would rather choose this latter alternative. They also see the advantages to be obtained as mistresses which are not present when they are legal mates. But mulatto and mestizo women are not the only ones who take up this sort of existence. Involved also are those who have left the Indian and Negro race completely and are now known as Spanish. Depending on their social status, they try to become mistresses to members of the upper class, distinguished political or civil administrators, laymen, or clergy. Normally these men are more inclined toward Spanish women, but they never consider the offense they give to their distinguished family lineage. Other men, however, who have not attained such high status, are content with attaching themselves to women whose individual attributes do not even bring them close to being Spanish.
Alexander Von Humboldt, German scientist and traveler, from his book, Problems And Progress in Mexico, c. 1800
Amongst the inhabitants of pure origin the whites would occupy the second place, considering them only in the relation of number. They are divided into whites born in Europe, and descendants of Europeans born in the Spanish colonies of America or in the Asiatic islands. The former bear the name of Chapetones or Gachupines, and the second that of Criollos. The natives of the Canary islands, who go under the general denomination of Islenos (islanders), and who are the gerans of the plantations, are considered as Europeans. The Spanish laws allow the same rights to all whites; but those who have the execution of the laws endeavour to destroy an equality which shocks the European pride. The government, suspicious of the Creoles, bestows the great places exclusively on the natives of Old Spain. For some years back they have disposed at Madrid even of the most trifling employments in the administration of the customs and the tobacco revenue. At an epoch when every thing tended to a uniform relaxation in the springs of the state, the system of venality made an alarming progress. For the most part it was by no means a suspicious and distrustful policy; it was pecuniary interest alone which bestowed all employments on Europeans. The result has been a jealous and perpetual hatred between the Chapetons and the Creoles. The most miserable European, without education, and without intellectual cultivation, thinks himself superior to the whites born in the new continent. He knows that, protected by his countrymen, and favored by chances common enough in a country where fortunes are as rapidly acquired as they are lost, he may one day reach places to which the access is almost interdicted to the natives, even to those of men distinguished for their talents, knowledge and moral qualities. The natives prefer the denomination of Americans to that of Creoles. Since the peace of Versailles, and, in particular, since the year 1789, we frequently hear proudly declared, "I am not a Spaniard, I am an American!" words which betray the workings of a long resentment. In the eye of law every white Creole is a Spaniard; but the abuse of the laws, the false measures of the colonial government, the example of the United States of America, and the influence of the opinions of the age, have relaxed the ties which formerly united more closely the Spanish Creoles to the European Spaniards.
Slavery
THE SLAVE TRADE IN A CHART
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Slavery |
Analysis |
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Pre-European slave trade |
Captives taken in war; female slavery for households; slavery form of servitude to gain wealth and status; |
Africa remained politically independent and culturally autonomous; Islam consolidated its position in sub-Saharan and East Africa;
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Sub-Saharan and East African slave trade |
Trans-Saharan, Red Sea, East African traded 3 million slaves in Islamic territories; mostly for sexual and domestic employment; Swahili trading towns continued commerce of ivory, gold, and slaves for Middle Eastern markets; Zanzibar produced cloves with slave labor; 1804 rise of Muslim Hausa state at Sokoto and Islamization in West Africa;
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Break up of Songhay and wars between states produced many war captives to be sold into slavery; |
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Atlantic slave trade |
Portuguese established trade forts in effort to control gold trade; constructed alliances with African rulers; used Christian missionaries in Benin and Kongo; 1450-1850 over 12 million slaves shipped from Africa; 80% in 18th century; Brazil received over 40%; In 16th century most slaves from Sengambia; 17th from west and central Africa; 18th from interior states of Asante and Dahomey Slaves arrived at coast as a result of warfare and purchase and movement by indigenous traders; as many as one-third died on way to shipping ports; 18% died on ships; Africans replaced Indians and indentured Europeans as agricultural laborers; mined gold and silver; In 17th century outnumbered Europeans in Lima; American slaves: hierarchy based on origin and color; on Caribbean islands high mortality; under 10% of population; manumission uncommon; Brazil: more diverse; slaves freed and miscegenation was common; slaves 35% of population, equal number of color free; escaped slaves formed independent communities (Palmares); Brazil abolition of slavery in 1888
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Atlantic trade opened opportunity for expansion and intensification of slavery; increasing centralization and hierarchy developed in enslaving societies; inland states became intermediaries in trade and formed autocratic regimes (Asante till 1820 and Akan); Europeans gave external focus to slave trade, primarily in males; exchange of firearms for slaves shifted balance of power to slaving rulers; new states rose because of trade; population one-half of what it would have been without the trade; contributed to emerging Atlantic capitalism, while also making African economies dependent on European trade linked to slave economy; Causes: labor for intensive agriculture (sugar plantations in Atlantic islands); profit (though no more than other ventures); resupply to New World; triangular trade flow; exchange of firearms for slaves enabled states to utilize slave trade as means of enlarging political power; Causes for end of slavery: demand for slaves declined in 19th century; social and philosophical reversion for slavery; evangelical religious groups began to advocate end of slave trade; Britain suppressed slave trade; 18th century Enlightenment condemnation; |
“The punishments for crimes of slaves are usually for rebellions [and include]
burning them, by nailing them down on the ground with crooked sticks on every
limb, and then applying the fire by degrees from the feet and hands, burning
them gradually up to the head, whereby their pains are extravagant. For crimes
of a lesser nature gelding (castration) or cropping off half of the foot with an axe
are common. These punishments are suffered by them with great constancy.
For running away they put iron rings of great weight on their ankles. For
negligence they are usually whipped by the overseers with hard-wood switches,
till they be all bloody. After they are whipped till they are raw, some put on
their skins pepper and salt to make them smart. These punishments are
sometimes merited by the slaves, who are a very perverse generation of people,
and though they appear harsh, yet are scarce equal to their crimes, and inferior
to what punishments other European nations inflict on their slaves in the East
Indies.”
Letter from King Affonso of Angola (Africa) to the King of Portugal, 1526
“We cannot reckon how great the damage is, since the merchants are taking
every day our natives, sons of the land and vassals and our relatives, because the
thieves and men of bad conscience grab them wishing to have the things and
wares of this kingdom which they are ambitious of; they grab them and get
them to be sold; and so great, Sir, is the corruption and licentiousness that our
country is being completely depopulated. . . . We beg of Your Highness to help
and to assist us in this matter, commanding your factors [slavers] that they
should not se4nd either the merchants or wares, because it is our will that in
these kingdoms there should not be any trade of slaves nor outlet for them.”
Dutch/ British Imperialism
Letter from King Moshweshewe to Sir George Grey, 1858 regarding his country, Basutoland.
Your Excellency---it may scarcely appear necessary to lay before Your Excellency any lengthened details of what has taken place between the Orange Free State and myself. I know that you have followed with interest the transactions which have led to the commencement of hostilities, and you have heard with pain of the horrors occasioned by the war, at present suspended in the hopes that peace may be restored by Your Excellency's mediation.
Allow me, however, to bring to your remembrance the following circumstances: About twenty-five years ago my knowledge of the White men and their laws was very limited. I knew merely that mighty nations existed, and among them was the English. These, the blacks who were acquainted with them, praised for their justice. Unfortunately it was not with the English Government that my first intercourse with the whites commenced. People who had come from the Colony first presented themselves to us, they called themselves Boers. I thought all white men were honest. Some of these
Boers asked permission to live upon our borders. I was led to believe they would live with me as my own people lived, that is, looking to me as to a father and a friend.
About sixteen years since, one of the Governors of the Colony, Sir George Napier, marked down my limits on a treaty he made with me. I was to be ruler within those limits. A short time after, another Governor came, it was Sir P. Maitland. The Boers then began to talk of their right to places I had then lent to them. Sir P. Maitland told me those people were subjects of the Queen, and should be kept under proper control; he did not tell me that he recognized any right they had to land within my country, but as it was difficult to take them away, it was proposed that all desiring to be under the British rule should live in that part near the meeting of the Orange and Caledon rivers.
Then came Sir Harry Smith, and he told me not to deprive any chief of their lands or their rights, he would see justice done to all, but in order to do so, he would make the Queen's Laws extend over every white man. He said the Whites and Blacks were to live together in peace. I could not understand what he would do. I thought it would be something very just, and that he was to keep the Boers in my land under proper control, and that I should hear no more of their claiming the places they lived on as their exclusive property. But instead of this, I now heard that the Boers consider all those farms as their own, and were buying and selling them one to the other, and driving out by one means or another my own people.
