1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism

Abstract

The year 1899 was the pinnacle of Imperialism as a belief-system in Britain. Britain's continual Imperial expansion, throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, had led the British to believe in themselves and their Imperial role with unshakeable self-confidence and pride. It was also marked off by a series of small colonial military campaigns, in which the British armed forces were almost uniformly victorious. The detailed history of the six-day campaign is given, but it is desirable to preface it with a brief account of the British Imperialist belief-system which underpinned it. The British Imperialism in the late nineteenth century is first introduced. The chapter then describes Hong Kong in the age of Imperialism.