AP Euro - New Imperialism

Imperialism

Control of one people by another, whether political, economic, or cultural.

Old Imperialism

16th–18th century system where Europeans built coastal trading posts in Africa and Asia rather than conquering inland territory.

Portugal (Old Imperialism role)

Established trading posts along West Africa, India, and Indonesia; dominated the spice trade in the 16th century.

Netherlands (Old Imperialism role)

Built trading posts in Indonesia and Ceylon; dominated the 17th century spice trade.

European Trade in Asia (Old Imperialism)

Europeans often respected and cooperated with local rulers in India, China, Japan, and Indonesia.

Spain in the New World

Established a massive empire in Central and South America and parts of North America; severely subjugated Indigenous peoples.

Portugal in Brazil

Created a sugar colony and imported massive numbers of enslaved Africans.

England in North America

Founded the 13 colonies and Caribbean sugar islands.

France in the New World

Controlled New France (Canada) and Caribbean sugar colonies.

New Imperialism

1880s–1914 wave of European conquest focused on Africa and Asia, marked by direct territorial control and economic exploitation.

European global control 1800 vs. 1914

Europeans controlled ~7% of the world in 1800; ~84% by 1914.

British Empire (scale)

By 1900 controlled ~25% of world population and ~20% of world territory.

Technology enabling New Imperialism

Steamships, Minié rifles, breech-loading guns, machine guns, quinine.

Model of New Imperialism

Britain’s occupation of Egypt in the 1880s.

Economic motive for New Imperialism

Industrial Revolution created surplus goods and a search for markets and raw materials.

Market limitations in colonies

Colonial populations were too poor to buy European goods; Germany’s colonial trade was only ~1% of its international trade.

Key raw materials sought

Ivory, rubber, diamonds, cocoa, tea, cotton, spices.

Missionary motive for New Imperialism

Religious revivalism prompted Christian evangelism, especially in Africa.

David Livingstone

First white humanitarian and missionary in south and central Africa.

Henry Morton Stanley

Journalist who found Livingstone; his reports and treaties facilitated Leopold II’s control of the Congo.

Strategic motive for New Imperialism

Need for naval bases and fear of rivals sealing off markets.

“Haves” vs “Have-nots”

Britain considered a "have"; Germany and Italy viewed as latecomers seeking power.

Social Darwinism

Idea that strong nations naturally dominate weaker ones; used to justify conquest.

Herbert Spencer

Social Darwinist who applied “survival of the fittest” to human societies.

White Man’s Burden

Belief that Westerners had a duty to civilize non-Western peoples; coined by Rudyard Kipling.

Scramble for Africa

Rapid European conquest of Africa between the 1880s and 1914.

African control by 1914

All of Africa except Liberia and Ethiopia was colonized.

Congo Free State

Territory personally controlled by Leopold II, acquired through Stanley’s treaties.

Leopold II

King of Belgium whose personal colony in the Congo became notorious for brutality.

Belgian control of Congo (1908)

Belgian Parliament seized the Congo from Leopold due to global outrage.

British control of Egypt

Declared a protectorate in 1883 to safeguard the Suez Canal.

Muhammad Ali (Egypt)

Ottoman governor who made Egypt strong and semi-independent by 1849.

Suez Canal shares

Britain bought significant shares in 1875, gaining control of the canal.

Berlin Conference

1884–85 meeting that set rules for dividing Africa; required effective occupation; ended slave trade.

Purpose of Berlin Conference

To prevent conflict among European powers during African colonization.

Bismarck’s role

Organized the Berlin Conference to manage imperial competition.

Result of Berlin Conference

Accelerated the Scramble for Africa; only Ethiopia and Liberia remained free by 1914.

British Sudan policy

Expansion south from Egypt; site of major military conflict.

Battle of Omdurman

1898 battle in which Kitchener’s British forces killed 11,000 Sudanese with modern weapons while suffering only 28 deaths.

Fashoda Incident

1898 confrontation between Britain and France over Sudan; France backed down.

Cecil Rhodes

Prime Minister of Cape Colony; promoted Cape-to-Cairo British imperial vision.

Cape Colony

British-controlled region in South Africa under Rhodes’ influence.

Boer War

1899–1902 war between Britain and the Boers after discovery of gold and diamonds; Britain won.

Kruger Telegram

Wilhelm II congratulated the Boers on resisting the British; infuriated Britain.

Union of South Africa

1910 political union of Transvaal, Orange Free State, Cape Colony, and Natal under British control.

French Algeria

Under French control since 1830; part of France’s North African empire.

French Tunisia

Became a French protectorate in 1881.

French West Africa

French-controlled region including Ivory Coast and Sahara territories.

French Morocco

Mostly under French control by 1914.

Cameroon (German colony)

Acquired by Germany after the Berlin Conference.

Togoland

German colony in West Africa.

German East Africa

German colonial territory later known as Tanganyika.

German Southwest Africa

Colony where Germany brutally crushed a rebellion, killing over 50,000.

Italy in Africa

Late entrant to imperialism; held Eritrea and later Libya.

Eritrea

Italy’s first African colony in the 1880s.

Ethiopia

Defeated Italy at the Battle of Adowa in 1896, remaining independent.

Battle of Adowa

1896 Ethiopian victory over Italy; first major African defeat of a European power.

Libya

Italian colony taken from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.

Portugal in Africa

Controlled Angola, where forced labor amounted to slavery.

Opium Wars

Conflicts where Britain forced China to accept opium trade and unequal treaties.

Treaty of Nanking

1842 treaty giving Hong Kong to Britain, opening ports, and granting extraterritoriality.

Taiping Rebellion

Civil war in China (1850s) in which ~20 million died; suppressed with British help.

Spheres of Influence (China)

Areas controlled economically by Britain, France, Russia, Japan, and Germany.

Sino-Japanese War

1894–95 conflict where Japan defeated China and gained Taiwan.

Open Door Policy

1899 U.S. demand that all nations have equal trading rights in China.

Boxer Rebellion

1900 anti-foreign uprising in China crushed by a multinational army.

Fall of Qing dynasty

Occurred in 1911; replaced by a republic led by Sun Yat-sen.

British East India Company

Controlled India after the Seven Years’ War until the Sepoy Mutiny ended its rule.

Sepoy Mutiny

1857–58 revolt sparked by cartridge grease issue and broader resentment of British rule.

British Raj

Direct British parliamentary rule in India beginning in 1858.

British reforms in India

Included modern education, irrigation, railroads, cotton and tea industry development, and political unification.

Indian National Congress

1885 political organization of educated Indians seeking equality and self-rule.

Burma

British colony acquired in the 1820s.

Malay Peninsula

British-controlled region (Malaysia).

North Borneo

British-controlled region in Southeast Asia.

French Indochina

French-controlled Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Tahiti and New Caledonia

French-controlled islands in the South Pacific.

German Pacific colonies

Germany controlled Samoa and the Marshall Islands.

Spanish-American War (colonial result)

U.S. acquired Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii in 1898.

Commodore Perry and Japan

Forced Japan to open to Western trade in 1853.

Meiji Restoration

1867 reform movement that rapidly modernized Japan and enabled it to become an imperial power.

Russo-Japanese War

1904–05 war in which Japan defeated Russia and gained major concessions.

Treaty of Portsmouth

1905 treaty mediated by Theodore Roosevelt ending the Russo-Japanese War.

Impact of Russo-Japanese War

Russia shifted focus to the Balkans; contributed to Russian Revolution; Japan annexed Korea; inspired Asian nationalism.

Karl Marx on imperialism

Claimed it resulted from capitalism’s need for ever-expanding markets.

J. A. Hobson

Argued imperialism benefited wealthy elites and was driven by need for markets.

Hobson’s wage theory

Believed raising workers’ wages would reduce the need for foreign markets.

Lenin’s imperialism argument

Viewed imperialism as leading inevitably to colonial rivalries and war.