Introduction: Technology, Imperialism, and History Imperialism and technology. Historiography of the causes of imperialism. The place of technology in the literature of imperialism. The causes of this disregard. A new model of causality. Stages of imperialism and the organization of this book.

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PART ONE: STEAMBOATS AND QUININE, TOOLS OF PENETRATION

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Chapter One: Secret Gunboats of the East India Company Invention of the steamboat. Introduction of the gunboat. First steamers in India. The Burma War. The Ganges steamers. The Select Committee of 1834. Thomas Love Peacock. Francis Rawdon Chensney Macgregor Laird. Iron vs. wooden boats. The Euphrates Expedition. Steamers for the Indus. More steamers for Mesopotamia. Six more gunboats. Mystery of the Nemesis' destination. The reasons for secrecy.

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Chapter Two: The Nemesis in China Sino-European relations. The opium trade. Demands for war. The first steamers in China. Preparations for war. The Nemesis. Captain Hall. The campaign of 1841. The Yangtze expedition, 1842. Chinese paddle- wheelers. Gunboats in Asia after 1842. The interaction of means and motives.

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Chapter Three: Malaria, Quinine, and the Penetration of Africa The paradox of unknown Africa. Early explorations. Macgregor Laird and the 1832 Niger expedition. European military death rates in West Africa. Malaria. Quinine. Experiments in Algeria. Experiments in West Africa. Medical results of quinine prophylaxis. Europeans enter Africa. Cinchona plantations and quinine supply. Steamers and the conquest of Nigeria. Other rivers.

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PART TWO: GUNS AND CONQUESTS

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Chapter Four: Weapons and Colonial Wars of the Early Nineteenth Century Introduction. The modern gun. Muzzle-loading smoothbores. Percussion. Rifling. Bullets. Early nineteenth-century colonial wars. India. Chinese weapons. Burma. Algeria 1830-1850. Conclusion.

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Chapter Five: The Breechloader Revolution Introduction. The Dreyse. Single-shot breechloaders. Repeaters. Smokeless powders. Gun manufacture. Machine guns. The arms of colonial troops.

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Chapter Six: African Arms Introduction. Dane guns on the coast. Sudanic weapons. Forest weapons. African iron. Imports of breechloaders. Restrictions on imports. Breechloaders in the Central Sudan.

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Chapter Seven: Arms Gap and Colonial Confrontations Explorers. Stanley. Disparity of firepower. The Eastern Sudan. Samori Toure. Ethiopia. Strategy and tactics.

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PART THREE: THE COMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTION

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Chapter Eight: Steam and the Overland Route to India Colonial links to Europe. Speed of communications. Early ocean steamers. Inefficiency. Three routes to India. Demand for steam routes. Calcutta and the Enterprize. Bombay and the Hugh Lindsay Steamer imperialism. The Red Sea Route. The P and O.

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Chapter Nine: The Emergence of Efficient Steamships Advantages of iron. Early iron boats. The propeller and the compass. The Great Britain. The economics of iron. The compound engine.

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Chapter Ten: The Suez Canal Inauguration. Preparations. Corvee labor and construction machinery. Impact.

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Chapter Eleven: The Submarine Cable The need for communication. Early underwater cables. Technological advances. The cable network of the sixties and seventies. Eastern and Associated. British imperial cables.

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Chapter Twelve: The Global Thalassocracies Steel hulls. The triple-expansion engine. Size of ships. Number of ships. Freight rates. Harbors and coaling stations. The demise of sail. Industrial time. Shipping lines. British lines to Africa. Mackinnon and the British India Line. French and German lines. British power. The lesser thalassocracies. Global change.

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Chapter Thirteen: The Railroads of India Traditional transportation in India. Motives for building railroads. Stephenson. Guarantees. Construction. Later lines. Consequences of Indian railroads.

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Chapter Fourteen: African Transportation: Dreams and Realities Traditional transportation. Advantages and costs of railroads. Chronology of African railroads. The African railroad network. Steamers on the Congo. The Matadi-Leopoldville railroad. The Trans-Saharan projects.

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Chapter Fifteen: The Legacy of Technological Imperialism The imperialism of British India. The crucial decades, 1860-1880, and the cost of conquests. Information flow and technological diffusion. Legacies of imperialism: jingoism, racism, fascination with machinery.

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Bibliographical Essay:

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Index:

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