HIST 2C Midterm

nation-state

The idea that a country has one ethnicity, one race, one religion, one language, one culture. The idea of creating a nation-state for countries was very popular in the 1700s and 1800s. Imperialism and nationalism reinforced the idea of a nation-state, spreading religion and culture to colonies. 

Mercantilism

Maximizing European wealth. A system that saw the world’s wealth as fixed, meaning that any one country’s wealth came at the expense of other countries. Overseas possessions existed solely to enrich European motherlands.

Orientalism

European way of thinking that presented the East of the world, asia and middle east, as exotic, inferior, “other” deemed to be ruled by Western powers and superiority.

Paradigm Shift

A fundamental change in people’s concepts and understanding of the world and society. Driven by the renaissance and the Scientific revolution, people began to understand science, Isaac Newton.

Hegemony

One group has political, economic, or cultural dominance over groups of people through influence rather than direct force.

Imperialism

Where a country forces their culture onto the colonized. As European countries took parts of Africa, they forced their language and religion onto them. It is the ideology and strategy of expansion. Colonialism is a form of Imperialism. Colonialism is the violent act of displacing people and conquering distant territories, where Imperialism is the ideology that drives the colonialism and expansion.

Opium Wars

Opium, supplied by Europeans, became a very common drug throughout Chinese society in the late 18th century, causing an uneven balance of trade and silver to flow out of China. When the Qing government tried to stop the trade, the Opium Wars broke out. Britain won due to superior military technology, forcing China to open trade, give up Hong Kong, and accept unequal treaties

Global Division of Labor

The global division of labor refers to the way the world economy is divided so that certain countries perform certain actions. Some countries produce high-wage and high-skill labor while others produce cheap low-skill labor. Global north produces finished goods, and manages financial institutions while the global south provides the raw materials and cheap labor, and has limited control over economic systems. Historically this global division of labor was created through the Atlantic slave trade and the berlin conference among other things.

Adam Smith

Scottish philosopher and economist who wrote The Wealth of Nations, which claimed that the “invisible hand” of the market, rather than government regulations, would lead to prosperity and social peace. This influenced capitalism and free trade ideas.

Confucianism

A Chinese philosophy founded by Confucius (Kongzi) in the 5th–6th centuries BCE that emphasized social order, ethics, and family relationships. Rather than focusing on a god or theology, it outlined the qualities of a virtuous leader and was about relationships between people. The Five Relationships, outlined by this philosophy, structured society through hierarchy and duty.

5 Right Relationships

Emperor/subject, father/son, husband/wife, older brother/younger brother, friend/friend. Four relationships are hierarchical, while friendship is generally equal. These relationships are not one-way, the superior party is obligated to act with kindness and care, while the subordinate owes obedience and respect.

Scientific Revolution

In 1540-1700, so 16th century to 18th century, European thinkers created modern science, Galileo understanding the rotations of the Earth and moon and sun, and Newton understanding gravity. Disproved that the Earth was the center of everything. Collisions between scientific theory and the church.

Protestant Reformation

Religious movement in 16th century Europe led by Martin Luther that promoted having an individual relationship with God and rejected church authorities. It called out corruption in the Catholic Church and ultimately broke away from the Church and called themselves “protestants”.

Silk Routes

Network of roads connecting China, central Asia, the middle east, Africa, and Europe. The routes carried people, goods, diseases, religions. Gunpowder, printing, compass, paper were commonly spread across the roads. As well as Buddhism and Christianity. It allowed for lots of economic exchange between countries, a deeply interconnected Eurasia.

Legitimate Commerce

After the abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade, European reformers thought economic prosperity could be achieved through “legitimate trade”. West Africa began exporting raw materials like palm oil, groundnuts, and cocoa for European industrial needs instead of exporting slaves. However, this intensified domestic slavery in Africa as many of the people working on the African plantations producing these raw materials were enslaved people.

Dynastic Cycle

Theory that explains the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties. A new dynasty rises to power, brings stability and prosperity, then becomes corrupt and weak, and is eventually overthrown. Influential families in power legitimize their authority by claiming to be the heirs of previous dynasties.

Silver

Silver was extremely important throughout 1500 to 1800, first found by the Spanish in Bolivia after conquering the indigenous people in South America. Silver was mined by indigenous enslaved people. Silver flowed from the Americas to Europe to China. Europeans used silver to buy chinese goods like tea and silk and porcelain, something the Chinese really only wanted: silver. A third of all silver mined in the Americas ended up in China, as China changed their currency from paper to silver.

Extraterritoriality

Legal principle that exempts people from local laws while abroad. It existed during the Opium Wars, which made British people immune to Chinese laws. This highlights the unequal power of imperialism.

Enlightenment

The new way of thinking that emerged in the 17th century and 18th century that challenged pre-existing ideas about life and challenged the Church. It involved human reason over religious beliefs. John Locke argued that all humans posesed natural rights. The Social contract. Sovereignty resided in the people not the kings.

Gunboat Diplomacy

The use of naval power to coerce nations into policy changes or economic benefits. The British did this during the Opium Wars to force China into accepting unequal trade agreements and get them to open more ports. This ultimately led to unequal treaties, like the Treaty of Nanjing.

Haitian Revolution

Haitian people, owned by France, saw that the French established the rules of Unviersal freedom and rights, and argued for their own freedom under these laws. Led by Toussaint Louverture.

Settler Colonialism

A form of colonialism where settlers permanently occupy and claim indigenous land, like the British in the Americas. Britain did not have settler colonialism in India, britain never intended for settlers to replace Indians. Disease and Legal and cultural erasure allowed for this process.

Popular Sovereignty

The idea that people control the power of the state. The government is created and sustained by the consent of its people. Rooted in enlightenment thought.

Free Trade

An economic idea associated with Enlightenment thought and thinkers like Adam Smith that argues trade should occur with minimal government interference and should be without tariffs, quotas, and other restrictions on imports and exports. Free trade ideas spread alongside Enlightenment principles like popular sovereignty in Europe during the 1700s–1800s.

Atlantic Slave Trade

Triangular Trade Structure, where Europe supplied guns/textiles/alcohol to Africa, Africa traded slaves to the Americas, and the Americas supplied sugar, tobacco, coffee, and cotton to Europe. Turned to African slaves after disease wiped out indigenous populations. Created gender imbalances and sparked feuds throughout Africa.

French Revolution

The French Revolution began as a result of growing inequality between peasants and the monarchy. 97% of the population were the poor ones, who also were forced to pay all the taxes. On July 14th, 1789, Parisians stormed the political prison of Bastille and chopped peoples heads off. People wanted liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty. Liberté, égalitié, and Fraternitié. Military crises and food shortage drove the terror and madness. 1789-1799.

Central Country

Wealthy and industrialized countries that dominate and benefit from the global economic system at the expense of poorer countries.

Marxism

A 19th century economic and political theory developed by Karl Marx that critiques capitalism and exploitation of wage workers. It advocates for a transition to communism, where the means of production are collectively owned. It was developed in response to rapid industrialization and harsh working conditions of the 19th century.

Fredrick Douglass

• Born into slavery in Maryland (c. 1818)

• Separated from his mother as a child (common tactic to weaken family bonds)

• Did not know his exact age or father (shows dehumanization of slavery)

• His enslaver’s wife briefly taught him the alphabet

• Her husband stopped it, saying education would make him “unfit to be a slave”

• Douglass secretly continued learning to read and write

• Witnessed extreme violence (e.g., beatings of enslaved people)

• Saw how religion was used to justify cruelty

• Successfully escaped to the North

• Became a powerful abolitionist speaker and writer

Abina and the Important Men

• Set in the British Gold Coast 

  • England started to abolish slavery, but they continue to import children, particularly young girls, to work and are willing to ignore unpaid labor (palm oil)

• “Thus we have the situation we’re in today…Legally, there is no slavery in the colony and protectorate. Yet as magistrates, my peers and I do not go out to actively try to find slaves to liberate them.” 

• All men jury (many of which are slave owners or friends of slave owners) 

• “English justice was supposed to eliminate slavery but instead it has just shifted it onto the backs of children, who have become safer slaves to own than adults.” 

• “History is an act of silencing”

  • Only some perspectives are ever recorded (not the poor, powerless, or illiterate) 

  • Only some documents ever make it to be archived 

  • Only some archived material is ever turned into histories by historians who decide what is important enough 

  • Only some histories are chosen to be in the list that is widely read 

15th century

• Ming China becomes isolated from global trade.

• Columbus reaches the Americas

16th century

• Luther posts his theses and begins Protestant Reformation

17th century

• Qing replaces Ming Dynasty

18th century

• Beginning of industrial revolution in Britian

• American Independence. 

• French revolution

• Haitian revolution

19th century

• Britain abolishes slave trade

• US abolishes slavery

• Marx’s communist manifesto

• Indian rebellion against British colonialism.

• Berlin conference: European powers partitioning Africa.