The Humanistic Tradition, Book 5 Romanticism, Realism, and the Nineteenth-Century World

72

TJ123-8-2009 LK VWD0011 Tradition Humanistic 6th Edition W:220mm x H:292mm 175L 115 Stora Enso M/A Magenta (V)

READING 30. 1

Q To whom might the terms “half-devil”

and “half-child” apply?

Q How is the “White Man” in this poem described?

ALASKA

(U.S.)

CANADA

UNITED

STATES

GREENLAND

(DENMARK)

ICELAND (DENMARK)

DENMARK GERMAN EMPIRE

AUSTRIA- HUNGARY

BRITAIN GREAT

SWEDEN

NETH.

BEL.

ITALY

GREECE OTTOMAN

EMPIRE

PORTUGAL

MOROCCO

LIBERIA

ANGOLA

TRIPOLI

EGYPT

ARABIA

CHINA

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

INDIA BURMA

SIAM

PERSIA

AFGHANISTAN KOREA JAPAN

TAIWAN (JAPAN)

FRENCH INDOCHINA PHILIPPINE

ISLANDS PACIFIC ISLANDS

(MULTIPLE COLONIAL POWERS; see inset)

DUTCH EAST INDIES

AUSTRALIA

ZEALAND NEW

ETHIOPIA

BRITISH EAST

GERMAN EAST AFRICA

AFRICA

MADAGASCAR

MOZAMBIQUE

SOUTH-WEST GERMAN

AFRICA

FRANCE

FRENCH

WEST AFRICA ANGLO-

EGYPTIAN SUDAN

SOUTH AFRICA UNION OF

BELGIAN CONGO

SPAIN

MEXICO CUBA

VENEZUELA

COLOMBIA

ECUADOR

PERU

CHILE

BOLIVIA

PARAGUAY

URUGUAY

BRAZIL

ARGENTINA

PUERTO RICO

E

QUAT

ORIA

L^ AF

RICA

MANCHU

RIA

SENEGAL

FREN

CH^

CONGO

MELAN

ESI

A (^)
MICR
ONE
SIA
(^)
PO
LY
N
ES
IA
PACIFIC ISLANDS
PACIFIC
OCEAN
PACIFIC
OCEAN
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
INDIAN
OCEAN
ARABIAN SEA
CASPIAN SEA
BLACK SEA
RED SEA
HUDSONBAY
GULF OFMEXICO
CARIBBEAN SEA BAY OF
BENGAL
SOUTH CHINA
SEA
MEDITER
RANEAN SEA
Equator Equator
Key
Belgium
France
German Empire
Great Britain
Italy
The Netherlands
Portugal
Russian Empire
Spain
United States
Other
independent
states
72 CHAPTER 30 Industry, Empire, and the Realist Style
72

From Kipling’s “The White

Man’s Burden”(1899)

Take up the White Man’s burden— 1

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go bind your sons to exile

To serve your captive’s need;

To w ait in heavy harness, 5

On fluttered folk and wide—

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half-devil and half-child.

..........

Take up the White Man’s Burden—

Ye dare not stoop to less— 10

Nor call too loud on Freedom

To cloak your weariness;

By all ye cry or whisper,

By all ye leave to do,

The silent, sullen peoples 15

Shall weigh your Gods and you.

Take up the White Man’s burden—

Have done with childish days—

The lightly proffered laurel,

The easy, ungrudged praise. 20

Comes now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years,

Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,

The judgment of your peers!

Kipling dedicated “The White Man’s Burden” to the

United States to commemorate the American annexation

of the Philippines in 1899, but the pattern for colonialism

had been fixed by the British. In the race for overseas

colonies, Britain led the way. The first major landmass to

be subjugated was India, where commercial imperialism

led to conquest, and finally, to British rule in 1858. In

less than a century, the nation had established control

over so much territory across the globe that it could

legitimately claim that “the sun never set” on the British

Empire (Map 30.1).

The most dramatic example of the new imperialism was

in Africa. In 1880, European nations controlled only 10

percent of the continent; but by 1900 all of Africa, save

Ethiopia and Liberia, had been carved up by European

powers, who introduced new models of political and

economic authority, often with little regard for native

Map 30.1European Colonies and Independent Nations in 1900. For many of the “independent states,” such as

Persia and China, the political and economic influence of the West presented an often destabilizing threat.