Chapter 10 Section 2: Self-Rule for British Colonies

Chapter 10 Section 2: Self-Rule for British Colonies

Colonization  

• 1800 - British had colonies around the world

• - Asia and Africa were British outposts

• - Dominated control of trade with locals

• - No control over local population

• Canada, Australia, & New Zealand

• - European colonist dominated natives

• - As GB industrialized/prospered, so did colonies 

Struggle in Canada  

• French were the first to colonize Canada - Very good relationship with natives (trade, marriage, etc.)

• 1763 - Great Britain in control after winning the French & Indian War

• French and British settled different regions of the country - differences in language/religion caused tension

• - French- Roman Catholic, British- Protestant

• Both groups wanted voice in Parliament - •Parliament created two new provinces

• - Upper Canada (Ontario)- British, Lower Canada (Quebec)- French

Open Ended

In your opinion, was dividing Canada into two separate provinces a good solution for dealing with tensions between French Catholics and English Protestants?

Why or why not?

Dominion of Canada

• Division of Upper/Lower Canada eased tension for a while

• Middle class colonists began to push for political/economical reforms

• Late 1830s - Rebellion broke out in both regions

• Lord Durham - Reformer sent to Canada to investigate

• -Solution:

  - Upper & Lower Canada should be reunited as Province of Canada and immigration encouraged

  - Colonists should be allowed to govern themselves 

Dominion of Canada

• Mid 1800s - Canadians felt that they needed a central government to protect citizens from the U.S. (US had attacked Canada during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812)

• 1867 - Dominion of Canada formed

  -the united provinces were no longer a colony

• Allowed to self govern, BUT still part of British Empire

• Canada was free to act like its own country with its own laws and parliament, gained financial independence and the responsibility to defend itself

• •A British governor-general represented British interests within Canada, essentially filling the shoes of the sovereign

• While Canada is still technically part of the British Commonwealth today, it became a fully independent nation in 1982

Multiple Select

What led to the Dominion of Canada?

• Tensions between Protestant and Catholic settlers

• The French and Indian War

• Demands from the middle-class for more self-rule

• Desire for safely against the United States

Australia

• Claimed by James Cook in 1770 for Great Britain

• Considered uninhabited by the British

  - Aborigines (native group)—longest ongoing culture in the world

• 1788- Began colonizing with criminals (penal colony)

  - GB’s prisons were overcrowded

  - Could buy land and settle once released

  -Death sentences turned into life sentences in penal colony

• 1800s settlers began arriving

  - Biggest business- exporting sheep wool

• 1851 - Gold Rush

• 1901 - Became the independent Commonwealth of Australia (it is still technically a part of the British Commonwealth

Multiple Select

Why was Australia first founded as a penal colony?

• The journey to Australia was long and difficult - not many people wanted to take it

• Prisoners worked extra hard and made the best settlers

• British jails were crowded and settlement helped alleviate this

• Britain always used prisoners to first settle its colonies

• Settling Australia was dangerous and difficult, and prisoners were deemed expendable

New Zealand 

• 1769 - Claimed by James Cook

• Māori

  - Polynesian culture that settled N.Z. in A.D. 800

• Land rights were recognized - tensions between settlers and Māori in the 1850s as settlers wanted more land - war in 1860

• 1850s - self governing with Parliamentary forms of government

• 1893- first nation to give full voting rights to women (white only)

• 1907 -Became the Dominion of New Zealand

• 1986 - N.Z. became fully independent (member of British Commonwealth

Open Ended

How were the fates of aborigines and Maori similar to that of indigenous peoples in the United States?

Ireland 

• 1100s- Pope gave Great Britain control of Ireland

• Britain became Protestant in the 1500s - laws limited rights of Catholics living in Ireland

• Became part of GB in 1801

  - United Kingdom created (England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland)

• Catholic Emancipation Act 1829- restored some rights to Catholics

• 1840s - Great Famine

  - British owned best Irish farmland - used it for raising sheep and wheat to export to Britain

  - Peasants depended on potatoes as food source

• 1845-48 plant fungus ruined nearly all potatoes

• -Approx. 1 million people died , over 1.5 million emigrated

Ireland 

• Irish Catholics wanted Home Rule (Independent control from GB)

  - Feared by Protestants (minority)

• 1912 Ireland separated in Northern Ireland (6 counties) & Southern Ireland (36 counties)

• 1914- 36 Southern Ireland counties granted Home Rule, BUT WWI postponed it

  - Irish Republican Arm (IRA)- unofficial military group force seeking independence

  -Attacked British officials in Ireland (Easter Sunday 1916 - IRA uprising in Dublin)

• 1922 Irish Free State declared independent

Open Ended

Why might Britain been more reluctant to grant home rule to Ireland than to its other colonies?