GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES
How England Became Mistress of the Seas
Great Britain as a Colonizing Power—Colonies in the Pacific
Region—Colonization in Africa—British Colonies in Africa—The Mahdi
Rebellion in Egypt—Gordon at Khartoum—Suppression of the Mahdi
Revolt—Colonization in Asia—The British in India—Colonies in
America—Development of Canada—Progress in Canada
In the era preceding the nineteenth century Spain, France, and Great
Britain were the great colonizing Powers, the last named being the
latest in the field, but rapidly rising to become the most important.
The active Powers in colonization within the nineteenth century were
the great rivals of the preceding period, Great Britain and France,
though the former gained decidedly the start, and its colonial empire
today surpasses that of any other nation of mankind. It is so enormous,
in fact, as to dwarf the parent kingdom, which is related to its
colonial dominion, so far as comparative size is concerned, as the
small brain of the elephant is related to its great body.
Other Powers, not heard of as colonizers in the past, have since come
into this field, though too late to obtain any of the great prizes.
These are Germany and Italy, the latter having recently added to its
acquisitions by the conquest of Tripoli. But there is a great Power
still to name, which in its way stands as a rival to Great Britain, the
empire of Russia, whose acquisitions in Asia have grown enormously in
extent. These are not colonies in the ordinary sense, but rather
results of the expansion of an empire through warlike aggression. Yet
they are colonial in the sense of absorbing the excess population of
European Russia. The great territory of Siberia was gained by Russia
before the nineteenth century, though within recent years the Russian
dominion in Asia has greatly increased, and has now become enormous,
extending from the Arctic Ocean to the borders of Afghanistan, Persia
and the Asiatic empire of Turkey.
GREAT BRITAIN AS A COLONIZING POWER
With this preliminary preview we may proceed to consider the history of
colonization within the recent period. And first we must take up the
results of the colonial enterprise of Great Britain, as much the most
important of the whole. In addition to Hindustan, in which the dominion
of Great Britain now extends to Afghanistan and Thibet in the north,
the British acquisitions in Asia now include Burmah and the west-coast
region of Indo-China, with the Straits Settlements in the Malay
peninsula, and the island of Ceylon, acquired in 1802 from Holland.
In the eastern seas Great Britain possesses another colony of vast
dimensions, the continental island of Australia, which, with its area
of nearly 3,000,000 square miles, is three-fourths the size of Europe.
The first British settlement was made here in 1788, at Port Jackson,
the site of the present thriving city of Sydney, and a part of the
island was maintained as a penal settlement, convicts being sent there
up to 1868. It was the discovery of gold in 1851 to which Australia
owed its great progress. The incitement of the yellow metal drew the
enterprising thither by thousands, until the population of the colony
is now more than 4,000,000, and is still growing at a rapid rate. There
are other valuable resources besides that of gold. Of its cities,
Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, with its suburbs, has more than
500,000 population; Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, 600,000,
while there are other cities of rapid growth. Australia is the one
important British colony obtained without a war. In its human beings,
as in its animals generally, it stood at a low level of development,
and it was taken possession of without a protest from the savage
inhabitants.
COLONIES IN THE PACIFIC REGION
The same cannot be said of the inhabitants of New Zealand, an important
group of islands lying southeast of Australia, which was acquired by
Great Britain as a colony in 1840. The Maoris, as the people of these
islands call themselves, are of the bold and sturdy Polynesian race, a
brave, generous, and warlike people. A series of wars with the natives
began in 1843 and continued until 1869, since which time the colony has
enjoyed peace. It can have no more trouble with the Maoris, since there
are said to be very few left. They had vanished before the “white man’s
face.” At present this colony is one of the most advanced politically
of any region on the face of the earth, so far as attention to the
interests of the masses of the people is concerned, and its laws and
regulations are interesting experiments for the remainder of the world.
In addition to those great island dominions in the Pacific, Great
Britain possesses the Fiji Islands, the northern part of Borneo, and a
large section of the extensive island of Papua or New Guinea, the
remainder of which is held by Holland and Germany. In addition there
are various coaling stations on the islands and coasts of Asia. In the
Mediterranean its possessions are Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus, and in
America the great dominion of Canada, a considerable number of the
islands of the West Indies, and the districts of British Honduras and
British Guiana.
The history of colonization in two of the continents, Asia and Africa,
presents certain features of singularity. Though known from the most
ancient times, while America was quite unknown until four centuries
ago, the striking fact presents itself that at an early date in the
nineteenth century the continents of North and South America had been
largely explored from coast to center, while the interior of Asia and
Africa remained in great part unknown. This fact in regard to Asia was
due to the hostile attitude of its people, which rendered it dangerous
for any European traveler to attempt to penetrate its interior. In the
case of Africa it was due to the inhospitality of nature, which had
placed the most serious obstacles in the way of those who sought to
enter it beyond the coast regions. This state of affairs continued
until the latter half of the century, within which period there was a
remarkable change in the aspect of affairs, both continents being
penetrated in all directions and their walls of isolation completely
broken down.
COLONIZATION IN AFRICA
Africa is not only now well known, but the exploration of its interior
has been followed by political changes of the most revolutionary
character. It presented a virgin field for colonization, of which the
land-hungry nations of Europe hastened to avail themselves, dividing up
the continent between them until, by the end of the century, the
partition of Africa was practically complete. It is one of the most
remarkable circumstances in history that a well-known continent
remained thus so long unexplored to serve in our own days as a new
field for the outpouring of the nations. The occupation of Africa by
Europeans, indeed, began earlier. The Arabs had held the section north
of the Sahara for many centuries, Portugal claimed—but scarcely
occupied—large sections east and west, and the Dutch had a thriving
settlement in the south. But the exploration and division of the bulk
of the continent waited for the nineteenth century, and the greater
part of the work of partition took place within the final quarter of
that century.
In this work of colonization Great Britain and France stand foremost in
energy and success. Today the British possessions and protectorates in
Africa embrace 2,132,840 square miles; or, if we add Egypt and the
Egyptian Soudan—practically British territory—the area occupied or
claimed amounts to 2,446,040 square miles. The claims of France,
including a large area of the Sahara desert, are much larger, covering
4,000,000 square miles. Germany lays claim to 930,000;; Italy, to
59l,000; Portugal, to 800,000; Spain, to 86,600, the Congo Free State,
to 800,000; and Turkey to the 363,200 square miles of Egypt. The parts
of Africa unoccupied or unclaimed by Europeans are a portion of the
Desert of Sahara, which no one wants; Abyssinia, still independent;
Morocco, a French protectorate; and Liberia, a state over which rests
the shadow of protection of the United States.
BRITISH COLONIES IN AFRICA
Of the British colonial possessions in Africa the most important is
that in the far south, extending now from Cape Town to Lake Tanganyika,
and including an immense area replete with natural resources and
capable of sustaining a very large population. This region, originally
settled in the Cape Town region by the Dutch, was acquired by the
British as a result of an European war. Subsequently the
Boers—descendants of the Dutch settlers—made their way north, beyond
the British jurisdiction, and founded the new colonies of the Transvaal
Republic and the Orange Free State. The British of Cape Town at a later
date followed them north, settling Natal, defeating the Zulu blacks and
acquiring new territory, and eventually coming into hostile contact
with the Boers.
Defeated at first by the latter, a war of conquest broke out in 1899,
ending in 1902 with the overthrow of the Boer republics, after a brave
and vigorous resistance on their part. Under the ambitious leadership
of Cecil Rhodes and others, British dominion in South Africa was
extended northward over the protectorates of Rhodesia and Basutoland,
reaching, as stated, as far north as Lake Tanganyika and embracing an
area of about 1,300,000 square miles. Other British colonial
possessions in that continent include the large province of British
East Africa, covering 520,000 square miles, a large area in Somaliland
and possessions on the west coast of 150,000 square miles area. To
these, in a minor sense of possession, should be added Egypt, now
extending to British East Africa.
We have mentioned the respective regions held by other European nations
in Africa, France surpassing Great Britain in colonial area though not
in population. Among the French African possessions are included the
great island of Madagascar, lying off the east coast of the continent.
Mention should be made here of the extensive and promising Congo Free
State, under the suzerainty of Belgium. Covering eight hundred thousand
square miles, it comprises the populous and richly agricultural center
of Africa, its vast extension of navigable waters yielding
communication through its every part.
The occupation of Africa, at least that part of it which became British
territory, was not consummated without hostile activities. The most
recent of these was the long war between the Boer and British armies,
the final success being a costly and not very profitable triumph of the
British arms. Of other hostile relations may be mentioned the invasion
of Abyssinia by a British army in 1867, the suppression of the revolt
of Arabi Pasha in 1879, and the series of events arising from the
Mahdist outbreak in 1880.
THE MAHDI REBELLION IN EGYPT
The latter events call for some mention; and need to be preceded by a
statement of how Britain became dominant in Egypt. That country had
broken loose in large measure from the rule of Turkey during the reign
of the able and ambitious Mehemet Ali, who was made viceroy in 1840. In
1876 the independence of Egypt was much increased, and its rulers were
given the title of khedive, or king. The powers of the khedives
steadily increased, and in 1874–75 Ismail Pasha greatly extended the
Egyptian territory, annexing the Soudan as far as Darfur, and finally
to the shores of the lately discovered Victoria Nyanza. Egypt thus
embraced the valley of the Nile practically to its source, presenting
an aspect of immense length and great narrowness.
Soon after, the finances of the country became so involved that they
were placed under European control, and the growth of English and
French influence led to the revolt of Arabi Pasha. This was repressed
by Great Britain, which bombarded Alexandria and defeated the
Egyptians, France taking no part. As a result the co-ordinate influence
of France ended, and Great Britain was left as the practical ruler of
Egypt, which position she still maintains.
In 1880 began an important series of events. A Mohammedan prophet arose
in the Soudan, claiming to be the Mahdi, a Messiah of the Mussulmans. A
large body of devoted believers soon gathered around him, and he set up
an independent sultanate in the desert, defeating four Egyptian
expeditions sent against him, and capturing El Obeid, the chief city of
Kordofan, which he made his capital in 1883.
The effort to subdue the outbreak proved a long and arduous one, and
was accomplished only after many years and much loss to the British and
Egyptian forces. No time was lost in sending an army against the
fanatical Arabs. This was led by an English officer known as Hicks
Pasha. He fell into a Mahdist ambush at El Obeid, and after a desperate
struggle, lasting three days, his force was almost completely
annihilated, Hicks being the last to die. Very few of his men escaped
to tell the tale of their defeat.
Other expeditions of Egyptian troops sent against Osman Digna (“Osman
the Ugly”), a lieutenant of the Mahdi, similarly met with defeat, and
the Mahdists invested and besieged the towns of Sinkat and Tokar.
To relieve these towns, Baker Pasha, a daring and able British leader,
was sent with a force of 3,650 men. Unfortunately, his troops were
mainly Egyptian, and the result of preceding expeditions had inspired
these with a more than wholesome fear of the Mahdists. They met a party
of the latter, only about 1,200 strong, at a point south of Suakim, on
the Red Sea. Instantly the Egyptians broke into a panic of terror and
were surrounded and butchered in a frightful slaughter.
“Inside the square,” said an eye-witness, “the state of affairs was
almost indescribable. Cavalry, infantry, mules, camels, falling baggage
and dying men were crushed into a struggling, surging mass. The
Egyptians were shrieking madly, hardly attempting to run away, but
trying to shelter themselves one behind another.” “The conduct of the
Egyptians was simply disgraceful,” said another officer. “Armed with
rifle and bayonet, they allowed themselves to be slaughtered, without
an effort at self-defense, by savages inferior to them in numbers and
armed only with spears and swords.”
Baker and his staff officers, seeing affairs were hopeless, charged the
enemy and cut their way through to the shore, but of the total force
two-thirds were left dead or wounded on the field. Such was the
“massacre” of El Teb, which was followed four days afterwards by the
capture of Sinkat and slaughter of its garrison.
To avenge this butchery, General Graham was sent from Cairo with
reinforcements of British troops. These advanced upon Osman and
defeated him in two engagements, the last a crushing one, in which the
British lost only 200 men, while the Arab loss, in killed alone,
numbered over 2,000.
GORDON AT KHARTOUM
These events took place in 1884 and in the same year General Charles
Gordon—the famous Chinese Gordon—ascended the Nile to Khartoum, to
relieve the Egyptian garrison of that city. He failed in this, the
Arabs of the Soudan flocking to the standard of the Mahdi in such
multitudes that Khartoum was cut off from all communication with the
north, leaving Gordon and the garrison in a position of dire peril.
It became necessary to send an expedition for their relief, this being
led by Lord Wolseley, the hero of the Zulu and Ashanti wars. This
advanced in two sections, a desert and a river column. Two furious
attacks were made by the Mahdists on the desert troops, both being
repulsed with heavy loss. On reaching the river, they proceeded in
steamers which Gordon had sent down the Nile to meet them. But there
was unavoidable delay, and when the vicinity of Khartoum was reached,
on January 28, 1885, it was learned that the town had been taken and
Gordon killed two days before. All his men, 4,000 in number, were
killed with him.
SUPPRESSION OF THE MAHDI REVOLT
After this misfortune the Arabs were left in possession for nearly
twelve years, no other expedition being sent until 1896, while it was
not until 1898 that the Anglo-Egyptian forces reached the vicinity of
Khartoum. They were commanded by General Kitchener, one of the ablest
of British soldiers. His men were well drilled and very different in
character from those led by Baker Pasha. They met the Arabs at
Omdurman, near Khartoum, and gave them a crushing defeat, more than
10,000 of them falling, while the British loss was only about 200. This
ended the Arab resistance and the Soudan was restored to Egypt,
fourteen years after it had been taken by the Mahdi.
Brief mention of the holdings of other nations in Africa must suffice.
Germany has large areas in East Africa and Southwest Africa, with
smaller holdings elsewhere. The possessions of France extend from
Algeria and Tunis southward over the Sahara and the Soudan, with
holdings on the east and west coasts. Portugal has large, feebly held
districts in the south-central coast region, and Italy holds small
districts on the Red Sea and Somaliland and the recently acquired
Tripoli. Spain’s holdings are on the coast of Morocco and the Sahara.
COLONIZATION IN ASIA
The colonizing enterprise in Asia within recent years has been confined
to Great Britain, France and Russia, which nations have gained large
possessions in that great continent. Russia has made its way during
several centuries of conquest over Siberia and Central Asia, until its
immense possessions have encroached upon Persia and Afghanistan in the
south and China in the east. At present, while the dominion of Russia
in Europe comprises about 2,000,000 square miles, that in Asia is more
than 6,500,000 square miles, the total area of this colossal empire
being more than equal in area to the entire continent of North America.
The possessions of other nations in Asia are, aside from small holdings
on the Chinese coast, in the south of that continent. Holland has a
group of rich islands in the Indian Ocean, Portugal some small
holdings, and France a large area in Indo-China, gained by invasion and
conquest. This includes Cambodia, Cochin-China and Tonquin, won by hard
fighting since 1862.
Great Britain, in addition to the extensive peninsula of India, with
the neighboring rich island of Ceylon, has of late years acquired the
fertile plains of Burmah, now included in its Empire of India, the
whole covering an area of nearly 2,000,000 square miles. Its other
Asiatic possessions include Hong Kong, in China; the Straits
Settlements and other Malay states; Borneo and Sarawak, ad Aden and
Socotra, in Arabia.
THE BRITISH IN INDIA
The British control of India began with the founding of commercial
settlements early in the seventeenth century. Areas of land were
gradually acquired, and rivalry began later between England and France
for the control of Indian territory. The power of the British East
India Company in India was largely extended by the military operations
of the famous Lord Clive, and under Warren Hastings, a later governor
of ambitious character, received new accessions.
During the nineteenth century many accessions of territory were made,
the one threat to British dominion in the peninsula being the great
Sepoy rebellion, or Indian Mutiny, which needed all the resources of
the Company to overcome. The most important event that succeeded was
the taking over the powers of government, so far exercised by the East
India Company, and vesting them in the Crown, which assumed full
control of the now immense holdings of the Company. Subsequently came
the raising of India to the dignity of an empire, and the adding to the
title of Queen Victoria the further title of Empress of India. Since
that period the establishment of British dominion in India has become
almost complete, extending to the Himalayas in the north, and over
Baluchistan in the west and Burmah in the east. As a result India,
Canada and Australia have become the great trio of semi-continental
British colonial possessions, India being far the richest and most
populous of them all.
COLONIES IN AMERICA
We have next to deal with the British colonial possessions in America,
including the great Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland, and the minor
holdings of British Guiana, British Honduras, and the several islands
of Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbadoes, the Bahamas and the Bermudas. Of these
Canada is the only one that calls for notice here.
Occupying the northern section of the western hemisphere lies Great
Britain’s most extended colony, the vast Dominion of Canada, which
covers an immense area of the earth’s surface, surpassing that of the
United States, and nearly equal to the whole of Europe. Its population,
however, is not in accordance with its dimensions, though of late it is
growing rapidly, being now over 7,000,000. The bleak and inhospitable
character of the far northern section of its area is likely to debar
that region from ever having any other than a scanty nomad population,
fur animals being its principal useful product. It is, however, always
unsafe to predict. The recent discovery of gold in an arctic country
traversed by the Klondike river, brought miners by the thousands to
that wintry realm, and it would be very unwise to declare that the
remainder of the great northern region contains no treasures for the
craving hands of man. So far as the fertile regions of Manitoba,
Alberta and Saskatchewan are concerned, the recent demonstration of
their great availability as wheat-producing territory has added
immensely to our conception of the national wealth of Canada, which
promises to become one of the great wheat-growing regions of the earth.
First settled by the French in the seventeenth century, this country
came under British control in 1763, as a result of the great struggle
between the two active colonizing powers for dominion in America. The
outcome of this conquest is the fact that Canada, like the other
colonies of Great Britain, possesses a large alien population, in this
case of French origin.
DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA
At the opening of the nineteenth century the population of Canada was
small, and its resources were only slightly developed. Its people did
not reach the million mark until about 1840, though after that date the
tide of immigration flowed thither with considerable strength and the
population grew with some rapidity. In 1791 the original province of
Quebec had been divided into Upper and Lower Canada, and racial and
religious conditions of the next fifty years led to severe political
conflicts. As a result an act of union took place, the provinces being
reunited in 1840.
Upper Canada, at the opening of the eighteenth century, was only
slightly developed, the country being a vast forest, without towns,
without roads, and practically shut out from the remainder of the
world. The sparse population was made up largely of United Empire
Loyalists—refugees from the successful revolution in the Thirteen
Colonies. But it began to grow with the new century, numbers crossed
the Niagara River from the States to the fertile lands beyond,
immigrants crossed the waters from Great Britain and France, Toronto
was made the capital city, ad the population of the province soon rose
to 30,000 in number. Lower Canada, however, with its old cities of
Quebec and Montreal, and its flourishing settlements along the St.
Lawrence River, continued the most populous section of the country,
though its people were almost exclusively of French origin. The
strength of the British population lay in the upper province.
In time the union which existed between the two larger provinces of
Canada became unfitted to serve the purposes of the entire colony. The
maritime provinces began to discuss the question of local federation,
and it was finally proposed to unite all British North America into one
general union. This was done in 1867, the British Parliament passing an
act which created the “Dominion of Canada.” The new confederation
included Ontario (Upper Canada), Quebec (Lower Canada), New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia. Four years later Manitoba and British Columbia were
included, and Prince Edward Island in 1874. Since then other additions
have been made. A parliament was formed consisting of a Senate of life
members appointed by the Crown and an Assembly elected by the people.
Some important questions which have arisen in Canada since the dates
above given had largely to do with its relations to the United States
and its people. One of the most troublesome of these was that relating
to the productive fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland and the coasts
of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. For years the problem of the rights
of American fishermen in these regions excited controversy. Several
partial settlements have been made and in 1877 the sum of $5,000,000
was awarded to Great Britain in payment for the privileges granted to
the United States. A treaty was signed in 1888 for the settlement of
other branches of this vexatious question.
The discovery of gold on the Klondike River in 1896 developed another
problem, that of the true boundary between Alaska and Canada. At first,
under the belief that the gold region was in Alaska, it brought a rush
of American miners to that region. But it was soon found that the
mining region was in Canada and the mining laws imposed by the Canadian
authorities were bitterly objected to by the American miners. The
question of boundary has since been definitely settled by an
international tribunal of British and American jurists and the present
boundary line marked out by a scientific commission.
The industrial development of the Dominion within recent years has been
great. Agriculturally the development of the fertile wheat fields of
the middle west is of the most promising character, while railway
progress has been highly encouraging. The building of the Canadian
Pacific Railway was a remarkable enterprise at the time of its
construction. Recently Canada is approaching a position of rivalry with
the United States in this particular, a new transcontinental line, the
Grand Trunk Pacific, having been completed in 1914, while the Canadian
Northern is rapidly progressing.
PROGRESS IN CANADA
Railways have spread like a network over the rich agricultural
territory along the southern border land of the Dominion, from ocean to
ocean, and are now pushing into the deep forest land and rich mineral
and agricultural regions of the interior and the northwest, their total
length in 1914 approaching 30,000 miles.
These roads have been built largely under different forms of government
aid, such as land grants, cash subsidies, loans, the issue of
debentures, and the guarantee of interest on bonds.
In manufacturing industry almost every branch of production is to be
found, the progressive enterprise of the people of the dominion being
great, and a large proportion of the goods they need being made at
home. The best evidence of the enterprise of Canada in manufacture is
shown by the fact that she exports many thousand dollars worth of goods
annually more than she buys—England being her largest customer and the
United States second on the list.
Not only is the outside world largely ignorant of the importance of
Canada, but many of her own people fail to realize the greatness of the
country they possess. Its area of more than three and one-half millions
of square miles—one sixteenth of the entire land surface of the
earth—is great enough to include an immense variety of natural
conditions and products. This area constitutes forty per cent of the
far extended British empire, while its richness of soil and resources
in forest and mineral wealth are as yet almost untouched, and its
promise of future yield is immense. The dimensions of the dominion
guarantee a great variety of natural attractions. There are vast
grass-covered plains, thousands of square miles of untouched forest
lands, multitudes of lakes and rivers, great and small, and mountains
of the wildest and grandest character, whose natural beauty equals that
of the far-famed Alpine peaks. In fact, the Canadian Pacific Railway is
becoming a route of pilgrimage for the lovers of the beautiful and
sublime, its mountain scenery being unrivaled upon the continent.
In several conditions the people of Canada, while preserving the
general features of English society, are much more free and
untrammeled. The class system of Great Britain has gained little
footing in this new land, where early every farmer is the owner of the
soil which he tills, and the people have a feeling of independence
unknown to the agricultural population of European countries. There has
been great progress also in many social questions. The liquor traffic
is subject in some Provinces to the local option restriction; religious
liberty prevails; education is practically free and unsectarian; the
franchise is enjoyed by all citizens; members of parliament are paid
for their services; and though the executive department of the
government is under the control of a governor-general appointed by the
Crown, the laws of Canada are made by its own statesmen, and a state of
practical independence prevails. Recognizing this, and respecting the
liberty-loving spirit of the people, Great Britain is chary in
interfering with any question of Canadian policy, or in any sense
attempting to limit the freedom of her great transatlantic colony.