Imperialism - A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.
Cecil Rhodes - British entrepreneur and politician involved in the expansion of the British Empire from South Africa into Central Africa. The colonies of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) were named after him
Economic Concessions - Agreement between nations relating to trade and tariffs. Ex. European nations abused Chinese economies, markets and territories
Suez Canal - A ship canal in northeastern Egypt linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea. Increased migration and trade between Europe and Asia by eliminating routes around Africa.
"Great Power" - State that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale (large military)
Quinine - An agent that proved effective in controlling attacks of malaria, which had previously decimated Europeans in the tropics.
Scientific Racism - A new kind of racism that emerged in the nineteenth century that increasingly used the prestige and apparatus of science to support European racial prejudices and preferences.
Civilizing Mission - A European understanding of empire that emphasized Europeans' duty to "civilize inferior races" by bringing Christianity, good government, education, work discipline, and production for the market to colonized peoples, while suppressing "native customs," such as polygamy, that ran counter to Western ways of living.
Social Darwinism - An outlook that suggested that European dominance inevitably led to the displacement or destruction of backward peoples or "unfit" races; this view made imperialism, war, and aggression seem both natural and progressive.
Berlin Conference - Conference that German chancellor Otto von Bismarck called to set rules for the partition of Africa. This meeting from 1884-1885 included representatives of European nations to agree on rules colonization of Africa
Scramble for Africa - The process by which European countries partitioned the continent of Africa among themselves in the period 1875-1900.
Reservations - Areas of federal land set aside for Native Americans
African Identity - A new way of thinking about belonging that emerged by the end of the nineteenth century among well-educated Africans; it was influenced by the common experience of colonial oppression and European racism and was an effort to revive the cultural self-confidence of their people.
Indian Rebellion - massive uprising of much of India against British rule caused by the introduction to the colony's military forces of new cartridge smeared with animal fats from pigs and cows which caused strife among Muslims, who regarded pigs as unclean and Hindus who venerated cows. It came to express a variety of grievances against the colonial order
Mutiny - Open rebellion against authority
Bwana - a master, often used as a respectful form of address corresponding to sir in various parts of Africa
Subsistence Farming - farming that provides for the basic needs of the farmer without surpluses for marketing
Anthropologist - scientist who studies the physical characteristics and cultures of humans and their ancestors
Sati - Hindu custom that called for a widow to join her husband in death by throwing herself on his funeral pyre
Enfranchisement - A statutory right or privilege granted to a person or group by a government (especially the rights of citizenship and the right to vote).
Congo Free State - A private colony ruled personally by Leopold II, king of Belgium; it was the site of widespread forced labor and killing to ensure the collection of wild rubber; by 1908 these abuses led to reforms that transferred control to the Belgian government.
Cultivation System - System of forced labor used in the Netherlands East Indies in the nineteenth century; peasants were required to cultivate at least 20 percent of their land in cash crops, such as sugar or coffee, for sale at low and fixed prices to government contractors, who then earned enormous profits from further sale of the crops.
Maji Maji - A 1905 rebellion against German colonizers in Tanganyika (Tanzania), African warriors in German East Africa sprinkled "magic water" on their bodies in hopes that it would turn the German bullets into water.
Cash Crop Production - Agricultural production of crops for sale in the market rather than for consumption by the farmers themselves; operated at the level of both individual farmers and large-scale plantations.
female circumcision, female genital mutilation - a cultural practice that involves removal of part or all of a girl's genitalia and may involve the surgical closure of her vagina until she is married
Africanization of Christianity - process that occurred in non-Muslim Africa where many who converted to Christianity sought to incorporate older traditions, values, and practices into their understandings of Christianity; often expressed in the creation of churches and schools that operated independently of the missionary and colonial establishment
Swami Vivekananda - Leading religious figure of nineteenth-century India (1863-1902); advocate of a revived Hinduism and its mission to reach out to the spiritually impoverished West He used Hinduism to unite his country and offer a sense of community
Sino Japanese War - (1894-1895) Japan's imperialistic war against China to gain control of natural resources and markets for their goods. It ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth which granted Japan Chinese port city trading rights, control of Manchuria, the annexation of the island of Sakhalin, and Korea became its protectorate.
Sino - derived from the Latin word "Sinae," which was used by ancient Roman and Greek writers to refer to the people of China