COLONIAL HISTORY
On June 7, 1494, the Spanish and the Portuguese signed the Treaty of Tordesillas that divided the world in two spheres. The imaginary line ran through the Atlantic: Spain gained lands to the west, including all the Americas, except Brazil, which was granted to Portugal. The eastern half including Africa and India was given to Portugal. In the absence of accurate measurements of longitude, the issue of where the line should be drawn in Asia refused to go away.
Portugal (1511-1641/1975): The Portuguese were the first Europeans to dominate trade in SEA and the first to set up trading posts in military-occupied ports (Barton 50). They defeated Moslem naval forces in 1509 and seized Malacca in 1511 (Barton 50), until the Dutch captured it in 1641. Southeast Asia felt Portuguese impact the least. The Portuguese controlled only the small territory of East Timor.
Spain (1565-1898): Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines in 1521. Spanish expeditions from 1525 to 1536 claimed the Philippines. In 1565, Spain conquered Cebu. In 1571, Spain established the city of Manila and by 1600 it had gained control of most of the archipelago (Barton 50). The Katipunan (KKK)—Filipino revolutionaries—under Andrés Bonifacio fought against the Spaniards and became the first Asian country to be independent in 1898, except that the U.S. took the reigns of power thereafter.
Magellan: Magellan led the first circumnavigation of the globe. He was born to a family of lower nobility and educated in the Portuguese court. Just like Columbus who came before him, Magellan believed the Spice Islands can be reached by sailing west, around or through the New World. As Magellan did not get any support from the Portuguese monarchy, he sought and got the assistance of the teenaged Spanish king, Charles I (a.k.a. the Holy Roman emperor Charles V) on March 22, 1518. Magellan got five ships. In September, 1519, he sailed with 270 men. His Italian crewmember, Antonio Pigafetta, kept a diary of and recorded the voyage. They sailed on to the Philippines, arriving on March 28, 1521. On April 7, 1521, he arrived in Cebu and befriended an island king—Datu Humabon. On April 14, 1521, Datu Humabon and 800 of his people were drawn in a mass baptism. Later, though, Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan in a battle in Mactan on April 27, 1521.
Sebastian del Cano took over the remaining three ships and 115 survivors. The two remaining ships sailed from the Philippines on May 1 and made it to the Moluccas (Spice Islands) in November, loaded with valuable spices. Hoping that at least one ship would return to Spain, the Trinidad went east across the Pacific, while the Victoria continued west. On September 6, 1522, the Victoria and 18 crewmembers—including Pigafetta—arrived in Spain. It was the first vessel to circumnavigate the globe.
Spain and Portugal used the Cross and the Sword. The U.S. beat and replaced Spain.
The Netherlands (1605-1799 & 1825-1940s): The Dutch arrived in Indonesia in 1596. Dutch colonialism was carried out initially by the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) from 1605 to 1799. It’s main preoccupation was profits in trade through monopolies, not political rule.
When it collapsed in 1799, the government of Netherlands took over VOC’s assets in 1825 and put Indonesia under its administrative authority, the process of which was completed in the 1930s (Wilson). The Dutch had taken control of most of the commercial islands in the East Indies and occupied Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and Java (Barton 50). They built a port at Batavia and kicked out the Portuguese from the Indies, except for East Timor (Barton 50).
The Dutch could not keep the Netherlands East Indies after WWII as they hoped to because the Indonesians fought a war of national liberation to set up a republic in 1945. The U.N. recognized Indonesian independence in 1949.
The Dutch acquired their empire to protect their trade. And they were after commodities. But not as raw materials: these were spices, for resale. The Dutch were 250 years in Indonesia.
Britain (1824-1957): Britain acquired parts of its empire through, or to aid, its traders. Using their navies, the British penetrated SEA from the west side, while the French from the east (Barton 50). The British used force to annex Burma between 1826 and 1888 (Barton 50) in three Anglo-Burmese Wars. The British maintained Burma as a province of British India, unlike other colonies which kept their ethnic identities. Top British and middle Indian administrators ruled Burma. In 1935, Britain consented to separate Burma from India and this was put into force in 1937 (Wilson). In 1948, Burma negotiated with Britain for its independence.
The British (Raffles) set up Singapore in 1819 and the Netherlands ceded Malacca to Britain in 1824 (Barton 50). Britain governed Penang (acquired in 1786), Singapore, and Malacca as the Straits Settlements from which Britain expanded into the Malay Peninsula from 1874 to 1914 (Wilson). The Malay States negotiated for and gained independence as the independent Federation of Malaya in 1957. Penang, Malacca, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore became part of Malaysia in 1963, but Singapore was told to withdraw in 1965 (Wilson). Brunei decided to stay out of the new country and is now an independent country.
France (1859-1954): The French, under Louis XIV, exchanged embassies with Siam from 1600 to 1700. European influence on SEA amplified. The French went to Vietnam in 1858 and seized Saigon in 1859 (Wilson). By 1867, the French annexed Cochin China (the south) and Cambodia. The French used Cochin China as the base from which they moved westward and northward. By 1893, they set up protectorates over Annam, Laos, and Tonkin, all of which became the “French Indochina” (Barton 50). By 1907, the French completed their conquest of Indochina (Wilson).
At the end of WWII, the French fought a war trying to maintain its control over its SEAsian territories. French Indo-China ended with the French humiliation at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. At the Geneva Conference of 1954, Vietnam gained its independence.
Myth about Thailand: There is a long-standing myth that Thailand was never colonized. Factually speaking, though, Siam was being squeezed from the west by the British and from the east by the French (Barton 58). Siam had to give up large chunks of land in exchange for keeping its territorial integrity. Only the middle core of Siam was unoccupied (Barton 58).
U.S.A. (1898-1946): After the global triumph of the U.S. over Spain in 1898, the U.S. moved in to colonize the Philippines. Admiral Dewey defeated Spain in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898 and the Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899 but the U.S. did not recognize it. Hence, the Philippine-American War started in 1899 and went on for about 10 years. About 400,000 to 600,000 Filipinos were killed and 10,000 Americans died. On Feb. 6, 1899, the U.S. Senate voted to annex the Philippines. On July 4, 1901, U.S. President McKinley set up civil government and appointment the Philippine Commission which was headed by William Howard Taft.
Mark Twain was the most famous literary adversary of the Philippine-American War and he served as a vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League from 1901 until his death. The Philippines became a commonwealth in 1935 and independent in 1946 after World War II.
The western colonial powers had economic, social, political, and cultural impact on the peoples and states of SEA. They brought about rapid changes in SEA.
EFFECTS
- MASS ECONOMIC BITTERNESS
- SOCIO-CULTURAL CLEAVAGE
- ECONOMIC GROWTH
COLONIAL PARTNERS
- COOPTATION
- COLLABORATION
RESPONSE
- NATIONALISM
- STRUGGLE FOR SELF-DETERMINATION
- ANTI-COLONIAL NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENTS
- JAPANESE AGGRESSION
- DECOLONIZATION
Nationalism, Decolonization, and Independence
Colonial experience had an impact on the rise of anti-colonial as well as anti-fascist (anti-Japanese aggression) nationalist fervor that spawned independence movements. Southeast Asian elites responded to western colonialism in a continuum anywhere from adaptation, collaboration, to resistance. The traditional elite failed in their struggle. Many Filipino intellectuals identified themselves with colonial Spain and the U.S.
Cultural and indigenous religious movements surfaced and emphasized a national identity based upon traditional religious and cultural values. For instance, the Young Man’s Buddhist Association in Burma set up in 1906 aimed to bring down western influence. In Indonesia, the Sarekat Islam which was a nationalist political party (1912) aimed to bring Moslem Indonesians under its reformist agenda.
Western-style political movements were created; they drew inspiration from western ideologies and models. Western education sons of the traditional aristocracy or the bureaucratic elite at the national level and school teachers, government officials and clerks at the local local level led nationalist movements. In Burma, University of Rangoon students formed the Dobayma Asiyone (“We Burman”) society in 1935. Dobayman Asiyone members called themselves Thakins (“Master”). Furthermore, Aung San, U Nu and Ne Win would rise to become key figures in independent Burma.
In the Philippines, some leaders who were exposed to western ideals waged a revolutionary war against Spain. Others later cooperated with the U.S.
In Malaya, educated Malays joined the civil service and worked closely with the British rulers (Wilson).
Dutch-educated Indonesians formed the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) in 1927. It later became a clandestine movement and the leaders went into political exile.
In Indochina, only in Vietnam was the nationalist movement present.
No comments:
Post a Comment