ShmoopTube

00:00

it's not hard to guess the biggest way that steamships changed the world.

00:06

seriously we've only said it like a bajillion times so far in the unit, but

00:10

we'll say it one more time for the cheap seats. faster and cheaper transportation

00:15

meant that more Goods could get more places and make more money. that was [steam boat throws out money]

00:20

especially true across the Atlantic. suddenly European and American markets

00:24

were only a week apart rather than a few months. and trade exploded like that time

00:30

we put tinfoil in the microwave. I'll kind of like that time. the

00:33

steamship trade explosion was a good thing for most people. steam ships also

00:37

really changed warfare. this isn't the warfare technology units so we won't go super

00:42

deep into it yet, but to consider this a teaser trailer. the first thing people [steam boats talk]

00:46

did with steam ships was put big guns on them. of course. because that's what

00:52

humans do we love blowing things up. and man do they need a new hobby. but there

00:56

are more pieces to the Steamship puzzle. first there's the fact that not

01:00

everybody had equal access to steam power. only the most developed

01:04

industrialized nations had steam ships and back in the day this was mainly just

01:08

Britain in the U.S.. well second those nations were interested in new sources [man smiles on the beach]

01:13

of natural resources. new markets to buy their stuff and generally wait to extend

01:18

their influence and power. so basically steamships helped

01:22

industrialized nations combined military expansion with economic growth. kind of

01:27

like killing two birds with one stone. which is mean. never do that.

01:31

but we guess it was more like they were killing native populations who get in

01:35

their way of their super awesome empires instead. which is arguably way meaner. [man teaches history class]

01:42

well speaking of mean it's time to meet Commodore Matthew C Perry, American naval

01:48

officer and no relation to Matthew Perry of friends Fame. well this guy was a

01:53

poster boy for American imperialism. well let's set the scene .ever since the 17th

01:59

century Japan had a closed-door policy. no foreigners could enter the country

02:04

and no natives could leave it. no major trading vessels no foreign diplomats no

02:09

ambassadors no international vacations. zilch. in the early 1850s American [men in Japanese garb hold stop sign]

02:15

politicians decided they were a little tired of Japan's closed doors . maybe they

02:20

wanted to take a cool vacation,or maybe they were just eager for new

02:23

markets and trading opportunitie.s so what'd they do well they sent Commodore

02:27

Perry to renegotiate. well that's one way to describe what he did. Perry showed up

02:33

with a fleet of steam ships some really big guns and a nasty letter

02:38

demanding that the emperor concede to American trading demands. if they didn't [Perry pictured talking to Japanese man]

02:43

ferry was gonna blow their country to pieces. ha real chill Perry. real chill.

02:48

while Perry's knock on Japan's door wasn't the only time steamships helped

02:52

industrialized countries get a little richer and more powerful .there are some

02:57

historians who claim that the entire Scramble for Africa was mainly thanks to

03:02

shallow draught gunboats. oh and fYI the Scramble for Africa was that charming

03:08

period when all of Europe decided it would be super cool to own another

03:11

continent .Oh fun. anyway those shallow draft gunboats really did the trick. [map of Africa surrounded by boats]

03:17

there were small and maneuverable little boats packed with guns, and they could

03:21

navigate up African rivers and take over surrounding towns and cities. this led to

03:26

the popular African saying gunboats stink .all right fine well maybe that

03:32

wasn't a saying but we're sure they had some choice words for it. [Africans Pickett about boats]

Full Transcript