Note: By 1875, colonization of the American West as well as the territories of the various European countries was over. The combined effects of the railroad and the introduction of various diseases effectively eliminated indigenous opposition, although there were certainly uprisings.

Thematically, this is what is happening in the late 19th century, virtually everywhere in the World.

As the century turned, Africa began to emerge from a Dark Age stretching as far back as life on earth, into all the years that lay ahead - years of Renaissance, Enlightenment, Industry, and, if you will, Anxiety. It is fitting that Grogan made his symbolic trek (across Africa - 1891-92) as a survey for a railroad, the means through which foreign capital, the paraphernalia of technology, and foreigners themselves would enter. But because an incision is also a wound, the railroad was also the means through which the old life suppurated and poured out of Africa. This, then, is the tragic paradox of the white man's encroachment. The deeper he went into Africa, the faster the life flowed out of it, off the plains and out of the bush and into the cities, vanishing in acres of trophies and hides and carcasses. The coming of the white man, who imposed his steel tracks, his brains and his will, on the great continent was attended by glory and courage, ennobled by sacrifice, enriched by science and medicine and law. But it marked the beginning of the end in a land where nature herself had always been sovereign

There are also some important conflicts between 1875 and 1900:

• 1877: Satsuma Rebellion in the Battle of Shiroyama > Japanese Imperial Army finally extinguishes the Samurai.

• Sino-French War: 1884-1885 > Gives French control of the Red River area and Hanoi; also lead to collapse of the Jules Ferry government (you know, 3 cheers for colonial expansion).

• 1890: Wounded Knee Massacre represents the last major skirmish in the American Indian Wars

• 1898: America gains control over Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines after the Spanish American War. But, War of the Philippines goes from 1899 - 1913 (tho mostly over by 1902).

• 1899 -1902: Start of the Boer ( Dutch and German Farmers ) War in South Africa > The first true guerrilla war where the enemy did not wear uniforms > beginning of the end of the British Empire.

  
  
  http://homework.uoregon.edu/pub/class/phys361/19b.ppt
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Week 9