Formal and Informal Empire in the 19th Century - Professor Richard Evans

TL;DR

European empires reemerged in new forms during the second and third quarters of the 19th century, even though European governments had little desire for new overseas colonies. Free trade weakened the old colonial model, while Britain’s naval supremacy enabled extensive commercial and imperial influence: by the mid-1870s, the Royal Navy had more than 500 ships. Read on to understand how trade, diplomacy, naval power, and abolition reshaped empire.

Transcript

I ended the first lecture in this series by describing and trying to account for the collapse of the European Empires in the Americas mostly in Americas in the first in a half century from the mid '70s uh 1770s to the mid 1820s and this evening I want to recount and try and explain the reemergence of European Empires in a new form in the second and... Read More

Key Insights

• 🏤 Economic imperatives, such as the control of resources and expansion of markets, drove the reemergence of European empires in the 19th century.
• ™️ The end of the slave trade and the abolition of slavery reduced the need for colonies based on forced labor, but European powers still sought to control trade routes and resources.
• 🏤 European naval dominance, particularly by the British Royal Navy, allowed European powers to control access to other parts of the world and maintain large-scale empires.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why did European empires reemerge in the 19th century?

European empires reemerged in new forms despite limited enthusiasm among European states for acquiring overseas colonies. Free trade had weakened the old model of exclusive colonial commerce, while naval power, especially Britain’s, allowed states to exert influence and control access without always annexing territory.

Q: What is the difference between formal and informal empire in this lecture?

Formal empire involved acquiring and governing colonial territory. Informal empire rested on commercial and naval power: Britain, for example, dominated trade with Latin America without an obvious need to convert that economic influence into territorial annexation.

Q: Why were European states reluctant to acquire new colonies during much of the 19th century?

The economic imperatives behind the old pre-industrial empires had weakened as monopolized colonial trade gave way to free trade. The 1815 Vienna peace settlement and the Congress system of the 1820s also reflected the great powers’ determination to prevent European and colonial conflicts.

Q: How did free trade change European imperial policy?

European powers opened their remaining colonies to foreign ships during the 1820s, reducing the perceived need to own colonies for exclusive commerce. By the 1830s and 1840s, British policy was gradually establishing free trade as the basic principle of global economic exchange.

Q: How did the Royal Navy support British imperial power?

British naval command allowed Britain to control other powers’ access to regions around the world and made it uniquely capable of maintaining a large-scale empire. By the mid-1870s, the Royal Navy had more than 500 ships, including 61 ironclads, with roughly half the fleet in active commission at any time.

Q: Why did Britain not always annex territories where it dominated trade?

Britain could often secure commercial advantages through naval and economic dominance without assuming formal territorial control. More than 80% of the world’s goods were carried in British ships by the period discussed, and Britain almost completely dominated trade with Latin America.

Q: How did steam power transform British naval strength?

Steam-powered or partly steam-powered ships were introduced in the 1820s, followed by screw-driven vessels in the next decade. These developments supported a major expansion of fast ocean-going ships that were less dependent on wind and weather.

Q: How did abolition weaken the rationale for older colonial empires?

The slave trade had been central to commerce linking Europe, Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean, including the trade in cotton, tobacco, and sugar. Humanitarian, religious, and rationalist ideas challenged slavery, while the revolt in Haiti demonstrated its dangers and missionaries such as John Smith advocated enslaved people’s rights in Demerara.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Economic imperatives drove the reemergence of European empires in the 19th century, as trade became more liberalized and European states sought to control valuable resources and expand markets.

• The end of the slave trade and the abolition of slavery reduced the need for colonies, but European powers still sought to maintain control over trade routes and resources.

• European naval dominance, particularly by the British Royal Navy, allowed European powers to control access to other parts of the world and maintain large-scale empires.