Chapter 20

Chapter 20 was all about colonial encounters. The century and a half between 1750 and 1900 was a second  round of European conquests. Germany, Italy, Belgium, the US, Japan, were new players in this scene of conquests. Europeans constantly had to fight long and hard to make their new Empires. The peoples of India and Indoensia colonial conquest grew out of early interaction with European trading firms.  There were lots of endless but peaceful negotiations among the Great Powers who were competing about "who got what" and there was lots of military action, sometimes lasting decades. Being under European rule was difficult for many people. Small scale societies crashed, there was a loss of life, and homes cattle, crops, and lands were devastated. Many men found employment, status, and security in European led armed forces. The shortage and expense of European administrators and the difficulties of communicating across cultural boundaries made it necessary for colonial rulers to rely heavily on a range of local intermediaries.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857-1858 was triggered by the introduction into the colony's military forces of a new cartridge smeared with animal fat from cows and pigs.

In some respects, European colonial empires were but the latest in a long line of imperial creations, all that had enlisted cooperation and experienced resistance from their subject peoples. European racism really affected those Whose western education and aspirations threatened the racial divide. Not only were Europeans foreign rulers, but they also led the way to a new life, which grew out of their own modern transformation. Just as in Europe, artisans suffered so much when cheaper machine manufactured merchandise displaced their own handmade goods.

Religion dramatically changed during the colonization. There was widespread conversion to Christianity and it took place in places like New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and especially non Muslim Africa. As in the Americas, military defeat shook confidence in the old gods and local practices, fostering openness to new sources of supernatural power that could operate in the wider world now impinging on their societies.