Studies in Comparative World History
1 total work
Michael Adas discusses five millennial movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that took place in European colonies in Africa, Asia and Oceania: the revolt led by Prince Dipanagara in the Netherlands East Indies (1825-1830), the Pai Marire or Hau Hau movement of the Maoris of New Zealand (1864-1867), the Birsa disturbance among the Mundas of Chota Nagpur in east-central India (1899-1900), the Maji Maji rebellions in German East Africa (1905-1906), and the Sya San uprising in Burma (1930-1932). The participants in the rebellions sought to change unacceptable sociocultural systems by extralegal rather than constitutional means, by force rather than reform, withdrawal or passive resistance. Each of the groups mounted a rebellion aimed at the overthrow not only of the political regime, but also of the existing sociocultural order. Professor Adas views the rebellions from the perspectives of both the coloniser incumbents and the participants themselves. The work concludes with a discussion of the patterns displayed by the revolts, the campaigns of repression launched by the Europeans, and the historical legacy of these movements.