Lectures History of empires - Pap Ndyae PDF

Preview

Summary

Lectures notes on History of Empires taught by Pap Ndiaye...

Description

La forme de gouvernement la plus constante que les Hommes ont connu à travers les âges fut celle des empires, depuis l’antiquité avec l’Empire Romain qui dura près de 600 ans ou l’empire Ming lequel survécu pendant près de 2000 ans pour s’éteindre dans un dernier souffle en 1911. Le premiers empires européens que l’on pourrait caractériser de “modernes” furent ceux du Portugal e de l’Espagne. C’est au 15ème et 16ème siècles que ceux-ci s’établirent d’abord sur le pourtour de l’Afrique encore largement inexplorée mais sur la route des Indes puis dans un second temps vers l’Amérique à proprement parler. Cette évolution, ce retournement d’un continent vers un autre, de l’Asie vers l’Amérique nouvelle avait pour principale motivation les richesses d’un commerce alor en pleine expansion : la traite négrière. Les esclaves achetaient à une élite africaine, notamment au Congo, étaient acheminés par bateau vers les îles européennes des Antilles pour travailler dans le nouveau secteur de la plantation de sucre de canne. Le sucre était ensuite transporté vers l’Europe où sa consommation allait croissante avec l’invention dans le même temps de la patisserie. Avan les plantations de canne à sucre cet aliment était quasi inexistant et n’avait aucune utilité.

The German Austro Hungrian Empire and Ottoman Empire are gone, the emergence of new states, Germany loosing its overseas territories, that came to be absorbed by the British, France and Belgian Empires. Wilson’s fourteen point, the war objective published in 1917 included an important point related to the sovereignty of the people to choose their government, form o government, but in Wilson’s mind this related to the European empires and not to the colonia overseas empire especially in Africa. They were not seen as advanced in the scale of civilisations They were not integrated in Wilson’s objectives. The dismantlement of empires was not on the table in spite of the hopes many had formulated, the publication of his points was greeted with joy widely discuss in Asia, China or India. An intellectual compared Wilson to a new prophet someone who could change the World. But it turned out to be a disappointment. Many delegates from Africa India or China who came hoping to be hard but this did not go anywhere. In fact the post wwI was a time of disappointment, disillusion for the colonial world. Far from the hopes and promises tha were made to recruits and to activate various forms of loyalty. The end of the war was a time o harsh treatment of colonial subject not at all more humanitarian form of government. The time was not a time of reform the Belgians, French and British governor who were appointed were not libera but har liners who wanted to reinforce the colonial structures and who were not ready to open the doors and be open to the demands. A good example is the case of India in April 1919, the Amritsar massacre was an important event and still seen as an important moment. A city in norther India were large gathering had been organised to ask for the end Rowlatt Act. Law voted during the WW quite harsh because of the press was controlled. The act was not set on the side. Protests were organised by the Congress party including Gandhi. The British army massacred, fired on the people Hundreds of people died in Amritsar. Gandhi said that the new policy of non cooperation with the British had to be enforced. It was the end of Gandhi conciliatory work with the British. It is interesting to see how it was told about in the news paper around the world and how the British were accused of horrible actions. The general responsible was set on trial in Britain few years later but it didn’t go anywhere. Remained a very dark moment in history of India.

Often seen as the golden age of colonial empires because of the war, the first WW and the popularity of the colonial soldiers, a feeling that the empires was important if not necessary to the economic and political situation of the European powers. A time, for the first time the colonia

empire became popular, not often the case before WWI. Criticising them as being not human, too expensive. You can read about the discourse of modernisation, the empire was celebrated as a political community encouraging the development of various technologies, education, medicine

promoted as a tool of civilisation following Jules Ferry minister promoting the french colonisation Many believed in colonisation as being good, not only for the europeans but also the colonised Best example is the Paris exhibit in 1931 that took place in the Bois de Vincennes. You can still see the rooms and some bizarre buildings built for the exhibit. The Palais de la porte Dorée was the headquarters of the exhibit organised by Maréchal Lyautey. really the moment the empire wa celebrated, millions of visitors came to the exposition promoting the empire as civilising the non europeans, something positive. The French empire with France portrayed as a sun projecting it light to the world. In the middle the poster promoting the colonial exhibit and on the right a flye that said don’t visit. There was an opposition from the communist party, a counter exhibit Place du colonel Fabien that did not get the same popularity. 1931 can be seen as the moment and the symbo of the interwar period were emits were at the peak of their popularity. An example is the case o railroads promoted as tools of modernisation, so important to modernise the non europeans areas a a way to carry people and various goods from one point to another and railroad track were built in Congo between the Ocean (Pointe Noire) and Brazzaville the capital. The Congo Ocean buil between the 1920 and officially open in 1934. 400 miles. The positive promotion and presentation of this rail road line that open in Congo. Ther reality was far darker than the movie could be showing. If you read André Gide a famous french novelist who traveled in Congo in 1925 had no negative ideas and he was fairly open to the french colonisation when he started his travel. He wa officially appointed as an envoy of ministry of foreign affairs and he was a very prestigious novelist. Soon he wanted to visit the railroad track and he was shocked to see the actual condition that the workers experienced. The book voyage of Congo denounced the conditions, workers dying Famous formula. “One dead per traverse” A way for him to emphasise the huge tall which the building of the track took. The necessity for the Société Civile des Batignolles in charge o recruiting workers not only in Congo but in other colonies and bring them to the rail road tracks they knew they would die and so committed suicide. Not well fed, bananas. The archives speak o them as “moteur à bananes”. And they died and they did not care about the human consequences The book popularised the actual condition that existed in Congo. A symbol of the brutality of th colonial regime. When looking at the railroads we could look at the passengers. Also means o communication in which separation between various categories of person was enforced. The situation in South Africa in 1893 eg Gandhi’s biopic.

When it comes to the 1920’s 1930’s the discourses of modernisation were promoting emphasising the positive impact. Several elements were mentioned, the railroads, the building o ports and roads and cities and of course medicine and education often promoted as the ways in which the lives of the colonies were improved in significant ways. The reality is more complex When looking at the datas it is clear that a small umber of children had access to primary education not secondary out of reach even in the metropoles. Anywhere between 10 and 20% of children had access to a primary education especially in cities but in the most remote children had no education sometimes priests could be teaching. Very few learned to read or to write in the colonial world Images promoting education but the reality is far from the colonial discourses. When it came to secondary education and higher very fe had access, in cities there were special studentship Martinique island had no university so students had to go metropolitan France. Either came from wealthy families able to send children to study but those coming from poor families could only hope for a studentship but only 3 a year. Among them Aimé Césaire got one awarded by the governor. Studied in Prep School in Louis Le Grand were he met Sanghor. Since Gandhi studied law in London, he came from a wealthy family who could pay for his studies. He became a lawyer

and settled in South Africa. The reality of education is not met with the official discourses were inviting at that time.

When it comes to medicine, the other institution promoted as helping the colonised. There were specialist in the medicine colonial who had specific institutions, the medical school in Toulon école du Pharo, specialised in training for tropical disease. They had to perform all kind of dutie when assigned in their position in remote areas. What is important is to understand that the colonia physicians were very few in large areas. In charge of thousands of people but they had limited means. The main purpose was to vaccinate the people to avoid the spreading of disease. Yellow fever or Sleep sickness with epidemics in the Congo. Spread at that time because of colonisation o Congo by the French and Belgians. Created a specific passport that all Congolese had to bring with them specifying they had been vaccinated as to avoid the spreading of the disease. Medicine wa linked to the bureaucracy, a way to control people. Figure out where people were and control the whereabouts of the local population. Refer to Foucault as a tool to control people, the knowledge o bodies connected to specific policies. The connection the colonised had with the colonial power The needle, the physician embodied the colonial power. “Toobab” Toubib a french physician, the interesting is that it comes from Arabic. It came from Arabic, French language and traveled back to Africa to be synonymous to white people. It says a lot about how the colonisers were first seen physicians. The reality of colonial powers was embodied in professional knowledge who came and looking at your body if you happened not to be too far. A very concrete example of the colonia power. The with person as a physician. Many colonised experienced papers, the reality of powe was transmitted through the production of specific papers, the passport, the laisser passer, working permit you needed to have in order to work, travel or whatsoever. An administration that produced papers, and looking at the archives all are about specific form of IDs. The colonial refined thei bureaucracies and able to produce IDs and people were concerned about having the right IDs. Many had no connection with the ID themselves. The bureaucratic means through which the colonia powers were shared.

True in the experience of cities. Historical studies who wrote about cities, Not invited by the colonisers in the 17 or 19th century but the colonisers built European neighbourhood. eg Dakar Looking at the map, the grid with straight lines were built with the objective of bringing modernity to these areas with streets with trees, modern building that promoted the colonial powers. Still exis today with administrative building. the palace of the governor in Dakar is the presidential palace They were modern promoted next to the old neighbourhood. Example of Algiers, on the left you have the modern neighbourhood. And then you have the old Algiers The Casbah. The modern buildings on the forefront, the old Arabic city with high density and narrow street and in the middle Malcolm Theoleyre wrote his dissertation on Algiers and what he studied was the neighbourhood in-between the two with a mixed population. 25% mixed neighbourhood. When focused you can study various forms of cultural interactions that existed. The architect tried to bring modernity while at the same time being inspired by the local architecture and orientalism. All these signs and symbols were twisted to fit in. A way to insist on the new culture developed in the cities with people coming from the countryside or villages attracted to the cities not only for jobs but also to take some distance from the patriarchal power. Young people, refer to young men but also women who wanted to avoid the local authorities of their father, the local chief. Some opened little stores selling littl goods. prostitution was also a way of making a living. All these people experimented a new materia culture, houses with modern style European clothes. Dresses but also shirts, these were new things experimented in those cities. A new form of culture including music. In the 1930’s with rackards They would bring it from Europe or the Caribbean. When coming from Cuba arrived in Africa in

Western and central Africa was a revolution in Music. Cubas was especially important producer o music. In Congo a new generation inspired by the Cuban music who created a new genre the

Afro)cuban music that spread throughout the African continent and later Europe. Still very popula in various part of Africa. The Congolese Rumba was invented by Wendo Kolosoy in the 1930’s Cities were the place you could attend concert, meet the sellers. A way for the Congolese to listen to music the Belgians were not so happy. It’s talking about the history of their connections. Why there are so many similarities between Congo and Caribbean. The culture of money, people had access to an economy based on currencies. The currency was also an important element in the developmen of city on the coast were exchanges with the other world was more intense whether in Africa or French Indo-China.

The europeans traveling to the colonial world at that time, professional opportunities women had in those part of the world. The example of medicine. But there were also Europeans travelling without any high level professional abilities, authority, the Europeans were not only the administrator, the military or business men. You also had low level Europeans settling, café owne who decided to close his café to reopen it in Brazzaville. He wanted to discover a new world and make a living. This man and his family who settled. His children are still living there, they made a living without becoming wealthy. This people sometimes called “les petits blancs” had interaction with the colonised on a daily basis, sometimes marrying a woman. European children and African children had daily interaction before the trajectories that would tear them apart. They would have the daily interactions up to the point the white children would go to school. The world of families white families with fairly high level position, when it comes to les petits blancs it is interesting to study them. Sometimes called “blancs maniocs” is a poor whiter person whose living and statu make him close to the colonised. There are still hierarchies that make them closer to the colonised which does not mean they don’t have a racial understanding of their position. They have daily interactions with the colonised. The customers were African customers who came to have drinks and eat in this place. The “push actors” that push people away from their native city “pull factors” the jobs. We can possibly guess that some visitors, young, were inspired when visiting the exhibi and decided to spend sometime in he colonial world and discover the realities that were promoted a the exhibit.

Since non europeans also traveled within the empires we can think of the Asian migrants, the asian migration as important. The coolie trade by the mid 19th century, involving thousands of Chinese and Indians who settled in the Reunion, Ile Maurice, South Africa who traveled to work in the Sugar cane field in the west indies but also various to engage in various trades. That’s an importan trade of the migration with migrants using the empire as a sphere in which they could not trave freely but a real possibility to go from one continent to another. Some spend time in Australia, o South Africa. The British migrants spending sometime in Australia then hearing about the golden miles in South Africa then off to Vancouver. All used the empire as a sphere in which they could travel, much more easily for Europeans. The migrations within the African empire had existed before the colonial empires. Travel for the harvest that accelerated during the colonisation Migration towards the metropoles. This is the time when Paris, London, Lisbon or Amsterdam became with large number of subjects settling in this cities and engaging in business. In Pari working in Metro, Laundry. In Marseille working in the port half legal half illegal and contributing making of Marseille a hub. The same is true in Bristol, an interesting city because of its vibran musical scene, west indies/Africa. The migrations are important and have political effect since there were more political possibilities in those cities than in the colonial world.

The local elites that were obviously under a control. the colonial power managed to incorporate the local elites in the new forms of colonial power, the local aristocratic elites were incorporated in the

colonial order because it offered them positive elements including the possibility to keep variou form of political power, ownership of land especially the case in Indochina confronted by the French colonial power. It was almost a positive development for them. A way to secure their position, class and aristocratic position with the help of the police and military. Rewarded with the children sent to elite school in Europe or in the colonised world. Some went to Leopoldville. These young men were carefully chosen as the sons of well known Congolese families, so they could socialised and be under control. Another form of reward was the one of decoration symbolic rewards, Beyond the traditional elite that were most often included. There were new educated elites The French called them assimilés or évolués. It was a person coming from the colonial world who had reached a high level of education whose level, language whose social abilities were comparable to that of a French person. What the French tried to promote. The évolués was often promoted as the outcome of the colonisation and people like Aimé Césaire and Senghor were called évolués and very furious hearing about that because what they wanted to promote was not to turn their back on their original culture. Criticised the french policy of assimilation, but they were very much at the heart of the colonial power and expected to behave well and promote the good colonial power tha enabled them to reach this level. Counting on the évolués to affirm its legitimacy and positive effect

The first case was of India, following the massacre and the non cooperation policy promoted by Gandhi the opposition by Congress and the British was more and more obvious. Gandhi who became the leader in 1920 promoted the policy of non cooperation, encouraged not to buy British goods, clothes, manufactured in cities like Manchester. The time when he doesn’t wear his British suit, only what the poor Indian peasant wear. He makes his own clothe. He told all Indians should spin their own cloth and not buy the textile manufactured in England. A time when he goes to jai for two years. Following the killing of policemen. Accused of fuelling the anti British sentiment The Congress official policy was yet to ask for Indian Independence but for India to become a dominion a half indecent status which many former colonies had including Australia, New Zealand Ireland and also South Africa. British colonisation had a significant population and on the othe hand India and Africa. In the Congress party wanted India to become a Dominion, to remain part o the empire but it was refused. Negotiated with the Congress. 1931 Gandhi participated in London to a round table, largely promoted at that time. He as very famous, called a stranger Fakhir. He was received by the king in 1931 and he payed a visit to the textile workers that suffered from the boycott organised. He was afraid of meeting them because he knew his policy was hurting the workers. He ...