What policies did European nations use to gain control of Muslim lands?

Answer 1

Answer 1

The ottoman empire collapse and they jumped on the land and resources knowing they were down on their knees after their defeat in World War I.

Answer 2

The Europeans used a number of policies and methods to gain control of Muslim Lands:

Superior Military Power: The Europeans had military technologies that were significantly more advanced than anything in the arsenals of all of the Islamic States (with the exception of the Ottoman Empire). As a result, they were able to massacre any army sent to impose their colonial expeditions.

Treaties with Local Rulers: Several colonizers, the British especially, preferred to leave the conquered Islamic Empires in charge of their domains since they already had a number of ministers and officials on the local levels in the various territories. The colonizers would then dictate what the Islamic Empire would need to do and the state would comply in order to remain in what little power and luxury they still had.

Protection of Minorities: Christians, Jews, and other religious minorities were in a terrible position in the Islamic World prior to colonial arrival, where they were forced to pay additional taxes and unable to actively take part in governmental affairs. In the colonial system, all indigenous inhabitants were equal. Christians and Jews took the opportunity to ascend to higher ranks in government, receive superior Western education, and become entrepreneurs under the colonial auspices. As a result, these minorities became staunchly protective of the colonizers since they had essentially liberated them.

White Man's Burden: Many Europeans were persuaded by the writings of Rudyard Kipling and John Stuart Mills (and others) that there was only one true trajectory for human civilization and that the Europeans were simply further along that trajectory than the citizens of the colonial empires. Therefore, it was incumbent on the European since he was so much further along, to push the non-European States into the Modern Era. This view was seen by most in the colonized territories to be insulting to their own culture and beliefs.

Divide and Conquer: Relatively straightforward, the Europeans would draw borders arbitrarily to prevent one ethnic group from being able to unite entirely against the colonizers and would include multiple ethnic groups with animosity towards each other to be in the same colonial borders to prevent them from working together for independence. A good example of the first would be the Baloch in British India and Persia. A good example of the second would be the Acehnese and Balinese in Indonesia.

Answer 2

Answer 1

Mainly for five reasons:

1. To control the resources that Muslim Countries have and to get hands on the Natural Resources of these countries as oil, natural gas, minerals, ...
2. To limit the spread of Islam and prevent these Muslim countries from acquiring power, science, and technology. In addition, to control the spread of Islam and to help convert Muslims to Christianity.
3. to block the spread of Islam as many non-Muslims convert to Islam
4. to falsify the history of those countries and spoil their traditions
5. to help Israel to have an upper hand

Answer 2

There were several reasons that Europeans were interested in controlling what are traditionally considered Islamic Lands. Most of those reasons exist irrespective of Islam and have more to do with the political and social climate in Europe during the Imperialist Period in Europe.

The following reasons detail the reasons for European conquests in both Islamic and non-Islamic countries in Asia and Africa:

Resources: There were an incredible variety of resources produced around the world that fed into the European industrial machine. Indonesia and Malaysia had rubber trees, Central Africa produces coltan and other metal ores, the Persian Gulf is known for petroleum, etc. The European powers wanted to gain access to these resources to power their industrial rise.

Strategic Territory: Numerous colonies had specific strategic locations, such as Egypt with the current Suez Canal, Morocco with the Straits of Gibraltar, India because of its massive spice production and outlets to the Indian ocean. Indochina was close to the unconquerable Qing Empire. Many colonies were chosen specifically based on where they were and how effectively defense could be maintained by holding those positions.

Christian Evangelism: Many Europeans believed quite strongly at the time that their technological success was correlated with their belief in Christianity. In their view, non-Christians like the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. were hindered by the mentalities present in their religions from being technologically astute. In order to "help" these people to becomes more modern and more worldly, it was "necessary" to teach them the proper way to believe so that they too could succeed. Sometimes this evangelism was benign. At other times, it erupted into full-scale conflict, such as the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

White Man's Burden: Europeans were fascinated with the philosophy of J.S. Mills Jr. and Rudyard Kipling who believed that there was really only one track to humanity and each person was on this track to ultimate advancement. As Europeans were further along this track, it was "incumbent" on them as an act of generosity to help those who were not as technologically or "culturally" advanced. There were campaigns across Africa, Asia, and Australia to "Europeanize the Natives" so that they would be "able" to progress properly.

Contrary to Answer 1, on account of the White Man's Burden philosophy, numerous technologies were brought to Africa and Asia with the explicit purpose of teaching the indigenous people how to use such devices (and therefore modernize them).

Labor and Military Augmentation: The colonies, especially in Asia, had very high populations relative to European countries. This allowed them to add large numbers to their labor force and to create new military divisions from this large population.

Appearance of Power: European Leaders ascribed power and dominance to those countries who were able to amass a large number of colonies, especially if they were in coveted or strategic locations.

It is worth noting that while Europeans sowed discord between many different ethnic groups which had previously co-existed without problems or with minimal problems in order to more effectively govern, the impetus for this was effective governance (as opposed to seeding discord). As a result, it is not a reason why Europeans were interested in controlling those territories.

A second note is that Contrary to Answer 1, colonization was not intended to "re-write" history in a specific way. Certainly, Imperialists did come at African and Asian history differently than the Indigenous Peoples, which is to be expected. Many of the differences though, in the modern analyses of history in Africa and Asia that conflict with local versions of that history have more to do with an evidence-based view of history (in which sources are compared and unearthed artifacts are compared which predominates in the West) with a traditional view of history (in which what traditional leaders have said about history is viewed as correct and predominates among the Indigenous Peoples).

The following reasons detail the reasons for European conquests specifically in the Islamic lands in Asia and Africa:

Proximity: Islamic Lands were typically closer to Europe than non-Islamic Lands. Spain was interested in Morocco and France was interested in Algeria for exactly these reasons. The Middle East had heavy interaction with Europe prior to colonization relative to Central Africa or Southeast Asia and therefore, more Europeans were aware of the societies and places there.

"Barbarism": This is sort of the corollary to the Christian Evangelism and the White Man's Burden. Muslims were seen as barbaric, backward, and outmoded. They were seen to be ruling in unconscionable ways according to ridiculous principles. This "barbarity" needed to be set aright and fixed for the benefit of those people.

Zionism: Colonization did not really favor Zionism until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. At that point, Christian Zionists in the United Kingdom saw the creation of Jewish State in the former Land of Israel as a desirable outcome in its restoration of Biblical Prophecy. As a result, Palestine was created as a Class-A Mandate with the intent to set it free as the Jewish State. However, relatively soon, Britain reverted and decided that the creation of a Jewish State was against its better interests to avoid causing issues with Muslims and limited its support of Zionism by the later 1930s and 1940s.

Answer 3

Oil had been discovered there.