once a land of ancient empires and
legendary rulers asia saw itself turn
into a colony of the expanding european
powers in the early modern period
drawn to the asian silk and spice trade
their colonization efforts were
initially directed to harness the
continent's economic power
eventually the european states started
to use more and more force and by the
start of the 20th century the eastern
world would be almost entirely in the
hands of colonial empires
welcome to our quick rundown on european
expansion in asia and the pacific this
is a prelude video to our series on the
pacific war we'll release weekly
episodes with events that started 80
years prior don't forget to subscribe to
never miss them we're going to talk
about events that happened 80 years ago
in this series but we are still in 2021
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in 1492 the european discovery of the
new world issued a new age of maritime
exploration
for the last century portuguese
explorers had been already trying to
bypass muslim territories to trade
directly with west africa while also
attempting to reach the indies and its
lucrative spice trade
the portuguese sent an expedition into
african waters at last discovering that
the indian ocean was accessible through
the cape of good hope
on may 20th 1498 an expedition led by
vasco de guma finally managed to reach
india by sea
thus the portuguese colonial empire was
born
soon they established entropos in kochi
calicut and goa later expanding their
estado de india across the region with
crucial acquisitions of dew dharman
puliket colombo and chittagong among
others
in southeast asia the portuguese
captured malacca and established
settlements in the spice islands of solo
tenete and ambon as well as on east
timar and makassar but they also
disrupted and diverted trade in the
region and spread christianity in
eastern indonesia
commercial contact was established with
mainland realms in southeast asia as
well
and in burma portuguese mercenaries
became essential for the expansion of
the tuangu empire
in china after a long period of conflict
the portuguese would be allowed to
establish an entrepreneur in macau while
in japan they benefited from the state
of civil war feasing goku jidai and the
chinese embargo to monopolize trade
between japan and europe
the portuguese also managed to spread
christianity in japan successfully
converting one of the daimyos to
catholicism who granted them the small
fishing village of nagasaki to act as a
center of trade in the region
although direct control of the village
ended just a couple of years later
nagasaki would nevertheless remain the
main port of call for the portuguese
ships thanks to its predominantly
christian population
meanwhile
thanks to the magellan el cano
circumnavigation the crown of spain
managed to discover and gradually
colonize the philippine archipelago
the spaniards also established
themselves in the spice island of tidore
sparking a decade of conflicts with
neighboring portuguese tenete that would
be concluded with the treaty of zaragoza
in 1529 granting the philippines to
spain and the moluccas to portugal
from their center in manila spanish
colonists would go on to settle guam and
the mariana caroline and palau islands
in 1580 the establishment of the iberian
union led to the decline of the
portuguese empire in the east as england
france and the dutch republic began to
create their own overseas empires
the dutch would be the main culprits for
the downfall of the portuguese
successfully attacking their possessions
in asia and eventually taking control of
malacca ceylon the malukas the southern
malabar coast and regions of karamandal
and surat
the initial course of action taken by
the dutch east indies would be to found
a chartered company the voc and
establish a colonial center in the city
of jakarta which the dutch renamed to
batavia
from there the dutch would continue to
assault the commercial interests of the
portuguese slowly expanding their
control over southeast asia leaving only
east timor and macau in the hands of the
portuguese
they would also colonize the southern
tip of the island of formosa modern-day
taiwan to use as headquarters for
attacks against the philippines
in response
the spaniards established their own
colony in the north of the island
although it was soon overtaken by the
dutch
the fate of formosa would be finally
decided when the chinese warlord
kashinga invaded in 1661
managing to take full control of the
island
meanwhile in japan the tokugawa
shogunate started to show animosity
towards the religious intentions of the
portuguese leading to their expulsion in
1639
and the establishment of the sakaku
isolationist policy in japan
yet again the dutch benefited from this
to establish a monopoly over japanese
trade being the only european power to
operate in japan from the port of
deshima in nagasaki
with the fall of the portuguese hegemony
over the east the british and french
empires would also start establishing
their own chartered companies in the
17th century
whereas the french arrived late and only
established a few colonies in india the
british east india company quickly set
out to found trading posts in sumatra
bengal and india
from there they established their
control over bengal established their
first colony in malaysia with the
acquisition of penang island and managed
to expel the dutch from ceylon
once the british had established a
foothold over this island they soon
warred against the kingdom of candy and
established a protectorate over the
entirety of ceylon and the neighboring
maldives
following a series of conflicts with the
french and dutch empires the british
would manage to take most of their
possessions in india becoming the
dominant european power in the region
within a century most of the indian
subcontinent gradually fell under the
rule of the british east india company
which promoted the establishment of the
british raj in 1858 to assume direct
control over india
in burma relations with the british east
india company had always been tense
after the burmese annexation of arakan
leading to a war in 1824
this was one of the most expensive
operations of the chartered company but
in the end it saw the british takeover
of manipur assam arakan and tenecerium
as well as the birth of british
supremacy in asian coastal waters
a second war broke out in 1852 in which
the british annexed the province of
lower burma leaving the burmese state in
shambles
in the 19th century
the british also decided to take a more
expansionist role in malaysia sponsoring
a coup in the sultanate of johor and
founding the colony of singapore
they would then negotiate with the dutch
for the session of malacca and the
remaining dutch forts in india in
exchange for all british possessions in
sumatra and the recognition of dutch
rights to indonesia
british malaya would continue to grow
across the century as the straight
settlements were established and the
malay sultanates were gradually annexed
as protectorates
at the same time the british established
a protectorate over the raj of sarawak
in northeastern borneo and then
established a colony on the labuan
islands
meanwhile the french would take great
interest in the region of indo-china
after enjoying very good relations with
vietnam the french empire would start to
continually intervene in the country in
the 19th century culminating with an
attack on tehran and the founding of the
colony of cochin china
in 1867 all of southern vietnam fell
under french control and a protectorate
over cambodia was officially established
the french would go on to establish
protectorates over the islands of new
caledonia tahiti tahuwata and wallace
and fotuna
initially the tahitians would offer
strong resistance against the colonists
yet they would be subdued at last and
the french would go on to expand across
modern day french polynesia
with the british they would also
establish an anglo-french condominium
over the new hebrides with one english
side and the other one french
meanwhile in china there was an
increasing demand for opium that was
strongly damaging the chinese population
prompting the daogwang emperor to end
the opium trade with the europeans
in response britain sent a military
expedition in 1839 thus starting the
first of the opium wars
the chinese would be defeated in a
humiliating way and as a consequence
they would have to open their foreign
trade with europe and to seed the island
of hong kong to the british empire
furthermore china was left in a state of
social unrest and it would need the help
of french and british troops to quell
the taiping and nyan rebellions
in 1856 another incident over opium
would renew war with the british empire
joined by the united states and the
french and russian empires the british
would win again further opening
commercial areas in china legalizing the
opium trade and acquiring the kowloon
peninsula next to hong kong
the russian empire which over the last
centuries had been expanding across
central asia and siberia would also go
on to annex the entire region of outer
manchuria
in 1884 the french empire would obtain
control over northern vietnam following
their victory over china in another war
thus consolidating their colony in
indochina
but the success of the french also
threatened the british population in the
region prompting them to declare war
against the burmese and annex the
province of upper burma
this left the kingdom of siam entirely
surrounded by european powers and the
siamese would have to relinquish some
territories on the frontiers to maintain
their independence
thus the british received the shan
states and some possessions in malaysia
while the french enlarged their
indo-chinese colony with the addition of
modern-day laos
in the 19th century the dutch also
started to gradually expand their east
indies across maritime southeast asia
and by 1920 they had acquired the modern
day borders of indonesia
meanwhile the british expanded into
brunei and north borneo and managed to
colonize fiji christmas island caucus
islands the pitkin islands the union
islands the southern solomon islands and
the gilbert and elise islands
by the 20th century great britain also
colonized the islands of tonga and neway
the phoenix islands and the southeastern
side of the island of new guinea
yet the crown jewel of their oceanic
empire would be the colonies of
australia and new zealand from where the
british controlled all their pacific
possessions
at the end of the century the
assassination of german missionaries in
china would spark another conflict with
european powers culminating with a
scramble for concessions in 1898 that
awarded the germans with their lease
over the jajok bay and jianjin that
granted the british a lease over way
highway and the new territories of hong
kong and that gave a lease over
guangzhou one to the french
the recently established german empire
also colonised the north-eastern part of
new guinea the bismarck archipelago the
northern solomon islands western samoa
and nauru
finally the entrance of the united
states into the pacific the last main
foreign player in the region would
coincide with the downfall of the
spanish empire
in 1898 the same year that the u.s
annexed hawaii american intervention in
cuba led to the ultimate conquest of the
philippines and guam in the pacific
weakened from their defeat against the
us the spaniards could no longer protect
their pacific possessions including the
mariana carolina and palau islands so in
1889 they sold these territories to the
german empire for a significant sum of
gold marks ending the spanish presence
in the region
the start of the next century would also
see an increasing american interest in
the pacific with the colonization of
wake island the midway atoll the johnson
atoll eastern samoa and the howland and
baker islands thus completing the
colonization of oceania
as you can see most of southeast asia
and oceania were left in the hands of
western powers by the turn of the 20th
century
our prelude series that will soon morph
into the weekly coverage of the pacific
war will continue next week as we
observe how the japanese turned from an
isolationist state into a regional power
in the east laying the initial
groundwork for the rise of the japanese
empire so make sure you are subscribed
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