1. Ch. 27.3
Europeans Claim Muslim
Lands

2. Discussion Questions
• Why did Europeans imperialize Africa?
• Examine the map below. What was so
strategic about the extensiveness of the
Ottoman Empire?
• Why was the land of the Ottomans so
desirable to Europeans?

4. RESPONSES
• Natural Resources, labor, Christianity
• Waterways in and out of Mediterranean Sea
– Access to Red Sea, Persian Gulf
– Control of land surrounding Mediterranean Sea
– 6 access points to Med. and Arabian Seas
• Trade routes, especially for areas with no
access to Mediterranean
– Oil deposits in Persia

5. Ottomans Lose Power
• Arab and Ottoman conquests create vast empire
surrounding Mediterranean (Med.) Sea
• Weak successors to Suleyman I lead to failures
– Corruption and theft lead to debt
– Inflation
• Modernization attempt by Selim III fails
– Janissary resist
– Selim overthrown
• Nationalism by people of Ottoman empire rises
– Greece and Serbia gain self-rule

6. Geopolitics and European Land Grab
• Geopolitics defined: An interest in or taking of
land for strategic locations or products
• Current example: 80 percent of European gas
imports travels from Russia through Ukraine
• What happens when Russia and Ukraine spat?

7. Geopolitics and Imperialism
• Location, location, location
– Creates interest for Ottoman land
• Ottomans controlled access to Med. and Atlantic
Sea trade
• Merchants in landlocked countries forced to
travel through Ott. Emp.
• Russia wants access through Black Sea and into
Med.
– Grain exports
• Discovery of Oil in Persia and Arabian Peninsula

8. Russia and Crimean War
• Purpose: give Russia a warmweather port and access to
Black Sea and Med. Sea
• Britain and France enter war
– Prevent Russia from gaining
more Ott. land
– Fight with Otts and defeat
Russia
• First war women established
positions as army nurses and
covered by newspapers
• Florence Nightingale

9. Crimean cont…
• War reveals Ott’s weakness
• Russia helps Slavics in Balkans
• Otts lose:
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Romania
Montenegro
Cyprus
Bosnia
Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Land in northern Africa

10. “Great Game”
• Britain vs. Russia
• Geo-Pol. Struggle over
Muslim land in Central
Asia
– Especially India and
Afghanistan
• England attempts to
spread empire into
Afghanistan
– (b/t Russian (Persia)
and British (India)
empires)

11. Afghanistan’s Importance
• 1800s: Independent
Muslim kingdom
• Physical geography and
resistance discouraged
colonization
• Britain gets out 1881
– 1921 formally agrees to
not extend border
– Soviet Union (Russia) sign
non-aggression pact
• Soviets change policy in
1979 invasion of Afg.

12. Egyptian Reforms
• Initiates political and social reforms to
block Euro imperialism
• Military and economic reforms result
from French occupation
– Egypt’s location (head of Read Sea entering
Med.)
• Muhammad Ali
– Sent by Otts to govern Egypt
– Gains Syria and Arabia
– Europe recognizes M.A. as ruler of Egypt
• Ali reforms:
– Shifted Egyptian agriculture to plantation
cash crop (cotton)
– Effect: Traditional farmers (peasants) lose
land used for food

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Suez Canal
Isma’il (Ali’s grandson) continues modernization
Constructs Suez Canal
– 101 mile ship Canal in Egypt between Port Said
on the Mediterranean and Suez on the Red
Sea.
– Vital shortcut b/t both Euro, East Coast
American, southern Asia and eastern Africa
ports
– Opens 1869.
French contracts with Egypt
10 years to construct
Ismail’s heavy spending and money spent on canal
creates debt
Ismail forced to take out loans from European
banks
Sells canal to Great Britain.
British send soldiers into Egypt
– Concerned for their property
– British occupy Egypt and control the Suez
Canal.

14. Persia’s Pressured
• Russia vs. Britain
– Sphere of Influence
• Russian interests
– Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean
• British want buffer b/t India and
Afghanistan (Russia)
– Persia gives up claims to Afg.
– Oil discovery increases Brit
interest
• Persia lacks capital to exploit
resources
– Sells rights to operate in certain
areas or for certain products
– England develops oil fields (1900s)

15. Tobacco
• 1890 Persian ruler Nasir al-Din grants
concession to British company to export
tobacco
– By religious leaders fearing modernization
• Outrages Persian leader who supports
modernization
– Boycott (heavy smokers)
– Believes concession is a “sell-out”
– Nasir cancels concession and is killed
• Russia and Britain divide country into
spheres of influence
– Economic control established
– Economic and Sphere of Influence forms
used