The world's first superpower : the rise of the British Empire from 1497 to 1901 PDF
Preview The world's first superpower : the rise of the British Empire from 1497 to 1901
T W ’ HE ORLD S F S : IRST UPERPOWER THE RISE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE FROM 1497 TO 1901 COURSE GUIDE Professor Denis Judd LONDONMETROPOLITANUNIVERSITY The World’s First Superpower: The Rise of the British Empire from 1497 to 1901 Professor Denis Judd London Metropolitan University RecordedBooks™isatrademarkof RecordedBooks,LLC.Allrightsreserved. TheWorld’sFirstSuperpower: TheRiseoftheBritishEmpirefrom1497to1901 ProfessorDenisJudd (cid:1) ExecutiveProducer JohnJ.Alexander ExecutiveEditor DonnaF.Carnahan RECORDING Producer-DavidMarkowitz Director-MattCavnar COURSEGUIDE Editor-JamesGallagher Design-EdwardWhite Lecturecontent©2004byDenisJudd Courseguide©2004byRecordedBooks,LLC 7 2004byRecordedBooks,LLC Coverimage:©PhotoDiscand©Clipart.com #UT048 ISBN:978-1-4025-9589-9 Allbeliefsandopinionsexpressedinthisaudioprogramandaccompanyingcourseguide arethoseoftheauthorandnotofRecordedBooks,LLC,oritsemployees. CourseSyllabus TheWorld’sFirstSuperpower: TheRiseoftheBritishEmpirefrom1497to1901 AboutYourProfessor......................................................................................................4 Introduction......................................................................................................................5 Lecture1 TheTudorEmpirefromtheDiscoveryofNewfoundland in1497totheFoundingofVirginiaandthe DeathofElizabethIin1603 ....................................................................6 Lecture2 ColoniesintheNewWorld......................................................................11 Lecture3 TheBritishinIndia,c.1600-1815............................................................17 Lecture4 TheAmericanRevolutionandthe RestructuredEmpire................................................................................21 Lecture5 AustraliaandNewZealand: Convicts,Settlers,andSelf-Government................................................26 Lecture6 Ireland:MotherCountryorExploitedBritishColony? ............................30 Lecture7 TheCanadianCrisisandtheSpreadof InternalColonialSelf-Government..........................................................34 Lecture8 TradeandDominion:TheProfitsandCommerceofEmpire..................38 Lecture9 TheBritishRaj,1815to1905: TheHighNoonofEmpireinIndia ..........................................................42 Lecture10 TheSuezCanal,Egypt,Sudan,andtheMiddleEast ............................46 Lecture11 ThePartitionofAfrica: OpeningUpthe“DarkContinent”............................................................50 Lecture12 EmpireBuildersandEmpireCritics........................................................54 Lecture13 ConflictandWarinSouthAfrica ............................................................58 Lecture14 HurrahfortheJubilee!QueenVictoria’s1897 DiamondJubileeandtheMeaningofEmpire ........................................62 CourseMaterials............................................................................................................66 RecordedBooks............................................................................................................68 3 Judd Denis of courtesy About Your Professor Photograph Denis Judd DenisJuddisProfessorofBritishandCommonwealthHistoryatLondon MetropolitanUniversity.HewaseducatedatMagdalenCollege,Oxford, goingontotakehisPh.D.attheUniversityofLondon.HeisaFellowofthe RoyalHistoricalSocietyandapolicyadvisertotheForeignand CommonwealthOffice.HeisafrequentbroadcasteronradioandTVinthe UnitedKingdomandabroad,andaregularcontributortotheinternational press.Hismorethantwodozenbookscoverawidevarietyoftopics—histori- calstudies,biographies,children’sstories,andtwonovels. HishistorybooksincludeTheLionandtheTiger:TheRiseandFallofthe BritishRaj(2004),TheBoerWar(withKeithSurridge[2002]),andEmpire: TheBritishImperialExperiencefrom1765tothePresent,withAlisonUttley (2001).Hisearlierwork(datesandlatesteditionsgiven)includesBalfourand theBritishEmpire(1968),TheVictorianEmpire(1970),EdwardVII(1975), TheCrimeanWar(1975),Palmerston(1975),LordReading(1982),Prince Philip(1991),RadicalJoe:ALifeofJosephChamberlain(1993),Jawaharlal Nehru(1993),TheLifeandTimesofKingGeorgeV(1993),andSomeone HasBlundered(1999). SuggestedReadingforThisCourse YouwillgetthemostoutofthiscoursebyreadingProfessorJudd’s book,Empire:TheBritishImperialExperiencefrom1765tothePresent, publishedbyBasicBooks,1998. 4 m ©Clipart.co and PhotoDisc © Introduction Thiscoursewillexaminethegrowthanddevelopmentofthelargestempire inworldhistory—theBritishEmpire—beginningwiththelatefifteenthcentury TudordynastyinEnglandandendingwiththedeathoftheQueen-Empress Victoriain1901. Bythebeginningofthetwentiethcentury,therewereveryfewcountriesor peoplewhohadnotbeenaffected,onewayoranother,bytheimpactofthe British.TheEmpireitselfbythencoveredoveraquarteroftheworld’sland surface,theRoyalNavydominatedtheoceans,andoneineveryfour humanbeingslivedunderBritishrule. YetdespiteallofthisglobalpowerandtheemergenceofBritainbythe beginningofthenineteenthcenturyastheworld’sfirsttruesuperpower,the BritishEmpirehadveryhumble,small-scaleorigins. Inthecourse,weshallproceedchronologically,butalsolookmoreclosely atparticularthemesandcountries.Thecoursewillnotprovideafullycom- prehensivesurvey,anenormoustaskanyway;rather,weshallseekto uncoverandunderstandtheessentialhistoricaltruthsaboutthismightiest ofempires. 5 Lecture1: TheTudorEmpirefromtheDiscoveryofNewfoundlandin1497tothe FoundingofVirginiaandtheDeathofElizabethIin1603 Beforebeginningthislectureyoumaywantto... ReadDenisJudd’sEmpire:TheBritishImperialExperience,from1765to thePresent,pp.1-17. Introduction: Thislectureexplainshow,underthenewTudordynastyfrom1485,England turnedawayfromitspreoccupationswithFranceandEuropeandestab- lishedthefoundationsoftheBritishEmpireinNorthAmerica,theCaribbean, andIndia. Issues... 1.HowimportantwastheinfluenceofmonarchslikeHenryVIIandElizabeth Iinthisprocessofexpansionandcolonisation? 2.WhatdidEnglandstandtogainfromthispenetrationofthewiderworld? 3.Wastradeandcommercealwaysmoreimportantthantheplanting ofcolonies? 4.WerethefoundationsofBritishnavalsupremacylaidduringthisperiod? TheTudors—RenaissancePrinces? 1.Havingendedthelengthyand bloodyWarsoftheRoseswithhis victoryoverRichardIIIin1485,the newTudorking,HenryVII,set aboutunitinghiskingdomwith strongandrelativelyenlightened centralgovernment.Healsobrought thewarringfactionstogetherby marryingElizabethofYork,the daughterofthesecond-to-last Yorkistking,EdwardIV.Inthe Tudors,thehousesofYorkand Lancasterwereatlasttrulyunited. 2.ButHenryVIIwasalsointerested inthenewscienceandtheageof discoverythatColumbus’sepic EONE 1h4a9d2uvnoleyaasgheedto. theWestIndies Clipart.com R 3.In1497-8,HenrybackedCabot’s © U T voyagetotheAmericas,during HenryVII C (1457-1509) E L 6 m Clipart.co © JohnCabotpreparestoboardshipinBristolharboronhisfirstattempttoreachAsiaona northerlyroutein1496.Hisfirsttryfailed,butonthesecondvoyage(1497)hereached Newfoundland. whichNewfoundlandwasdiscovered.Fromthen,Englandwasinvolvedin thesettlementofNorthAmerica. 4.HenryalsoencouragedEnglishmarinerstoseektheelusivenorthwest andnortheastseapassagestotheIndies.Althoughitprovedimpossible toreachtherichesoftheIndiesthisway,Englishexplorersandmer- chantsdideventuallyreachareaslikeHudson’sBayinCanadaandthe RussianEmpire,withitstradingpotential,intheeast. 5.HenryVII’sgranddaughter,ElizabethI,wasthenextTudortoexpand England’stradeandempirewiththefoundingofVirginiaandtheestab- lishmentin1600oftheEastIndiaCompanytotradewiththeSpice IslandsandIndia. 6.Eachmonarchhopedthatextratradewouldswelltaxesandbenefit thempersonally. NorthAmerica 1.ThediscoveryofNewfoundland,thoughitwastoprovemostvaluablefor itsrichcodfisheries,openedthedoortoEnglish,thenBritish,colonisation inNorthAmerica. 2.WiththesettlementofVirginiain1585,Englandwasonitswaytobecom- ingthedominantforceinNorthAmerica—eventhoughitprovedtobea longstruggletoputVirginiaonasoundandself-sufficientbasis. 3.ThecontinentnotmerelyallowedincreasingnumbersofBritishsettlersa newlife,oftenfreefromreligiousintoleranceathome,butalsoboosted thevolumeoftrade. 4.ProfitabletradetooksometimetobecomeestablishedintheNewWorld, althougheventuallycropsliketobacco,andthensugarandcotton,were verysuccessful. 7 5.Literally,anewEnglandwasbeingcreated3,000milesfromoldEngland, andsoonprovedtobeahavenforreligiousandpoliticaldissenters,anda placewheresocialexperimentsinpatternsoflivingcouldoccur. TheWestIndies 1.ThisregionwasalsoopenedupbyEnglishsettlersandmerchantsunder theTudors. 2.Forsometime,whiteindenturedservantsandconvictsdidmuchofthe hardwork—incolonieslikeSt.Kitts,Barbados,Nevis,andAntigua. 3.Eventually,however,itwasthoughtbetterandcheapertoimportblack slavesfromWestAfrica,inthenowinfamous“triangleoftrade.”This tradebeginsinearnestintheearlysixteenthcentury. 4.Thehugeprofitsfromthecane-sugar tradesoonmadetheCaribbeanafiercely contestedareabetweenEuropeanpow- ers,andahotspotofpiracy. 5.InEnglishcolonies,asinNorthAmerica, colonialassembliesranonthelinesof theWestminsterParliamentanddomi- natedthelocalpoliticalandcommer- cialscene. IndiaandtheSpiceTrade 1.LikemanyEuropeans,the Elizabethansdesperatelywantedto breaktheMuslims’Eastern Mediterraneancontroloverthe extremelylucrativespicetradefrom IndiaandtheEastIndies. 2.Asearlyas1583,anEnglishexpe- dition,ledbyLondonmerchant RalphFitch,travelledthroughthe MunidddelrestEanadstin(gn,otthineg,oitlhbouubgbhlinnogtto ©Clipart.com thesurfaceinwhatisnowIraq),onto ElizabethI India,andthenontomodern (1553-1603) Indonesiainsearchofthespicetrade. 3.In1600,ElizabethI,hopingfortradeandcustomsprofits,charteredthe EastIndiaCompany.Itwasthiscompanythatwaseventuallytobecome thedominantEuropeancommercialandimperialpowerinIndia. E 4.BythetimeofElizabeth’sdeath,Englishmerchantswerebeginningto N O openuptheirtradecontactswithanIndiaruledbytheMughalEmperors E andavarietyofpowerfulprinces. R U T 5.Forthemostpart,earlyEnglishtradersanddiplomatswereoverawedby C E thewealthandsophisticationoftheMughalimperialsysteminIndia. L 8 SeaPowerandPiracy 1.England,Shakespeare’s“jewelsetinasilversea,”hadalwaysbeena maritimenationofsailors,fishermen,smugglers,andmenjustmessing aboutinboats. 2.ItwasthereforenaturalthattheEnglish,backedbyarapidlyexpanding overseastradeandanambitiousmonarchy,shouldsoonbecomethe greatestseapowerintheworld. 3.ExplorerslikeSirWalterRaleighsoonbecamethesuperstarsoftheirday andfavouritesatcourt,regalingtheirlistenerswithstrangetravellers’tales andholdingoutthelureofdiscoveringsomefabulouslywealthy“el Dorado”infardistantplaces. 4.ElizabethIusedherfamous“seadogs,”fast-sailing,daring,andruthless sailorslikeDrakeandHawkins,toharrySpanish,Portuguese,andFrench shipping;toraidtheSpanishcoast;andtoplundertheCaribbeanand LatinAmerica. 5.Thedividinglinebetweenpiracyandpatrioticendeavourwasoftenvery hardtosee,butElizabethusedhershipsinthecomplexstrugglebetween ProtestantEngland,backingtheProtestantNetherlands,andthegreat CatholicpowersofEurope. 6.Inthisway,theplantingofEnglishcoloniesintheNewWorldwaspartof thebuildingofananti-Spanish,anti-CatholicempireintheWest. 7.Thisclimaxedin1588whenPhilipIIofSpainsenttheSpanish- PortugueseArmadatoinvadeandconquerEngland. 8.ThestunningandcomprehensivevictoryoftheEnglishfleetin1588over thearmadaconfirmednotonlyElizabeth’sthronebutalsothearrivalof Englandasamajormaritimepower. 9.BythetimeoftheQueen’sdeath,therefore,Englandwasfirmlysetonthe paththatwastoleadtowardherglobalimperial,colonial,andcommercial greatness—thoughthereweretobemanydisappointmentsandfailures ontheway,andaseriesofferociouswarstobefoughtovertradeand coloniesagainsttheCatholicseapowersofSpain,Portugal,andFrance. m Clipart.co © FrancisDrakeacceptingthesurrenderofaSpanishCaptainfromtheSpanishArmada,1588 9
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