6.1-6.2 AMSCO AP World History Vocab

East India Company

British trading company formed in 1600 that was a powerful political and economic force by taking control of large areas in India

Boer Wars

Conflicts between British and Dutch settlers in South Africa.

King Leopold II

King of Belgium infamous for his brutal exploitation of the Congo free state and oversaw the invasion and pacification of the Congo in central Africa in order to persuade the Belgian govt to support colonial expansion

Spheres of Influence

a country or area in which another country has power to affect developments although it has no formal authority.

Penal Colony

a colony to which convicts are sent as an alternative to prison

Siam

Modern Thailand that avoided European colonization thru skilled diplomacy with Britain and France. It modernized with Meiji-style reforms, building railroads and establishing Western-style schools to support efficient bureaucracy

Manifest Destiny

the belief that the U.S. should extend all the way to the Pacific Ocean westward and it was its divine right to

Great Game

a struggle between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for control of Central Asia in the 19th century.

Imperialism

The policy or practice of a country extending its power and control is very other nations/territories

Sino-Japanese War

A conflict that was caused by Japan asserting its national pride through incursions in Korea which irritated China bc China had a strong presence in Korea for many centuries. Japan's victory gave it control of Korea. Later Japan siezed Taiwan whivh was known as Formosa from the time of Portuguese colonialization.

Phrenologists

People who studied skull shapes and sizes and the believed that a smaller skull size proved the mental feebleness of Africans, indigenous peoples, Asians and these ideas have been proven false.

Social Darwinism

A theory that incorrectly justifies the biological superiority of whites by using Darwin's theory of Evolution

Corvee laborers

unpaid workers who were forced to work on the project as a form of taxation

Settler Colony

Type of colony where large numbers of settlers from the colonizing country, move to the territory, often displacing or marginalizing the indigenous population

Scramble for Africa

the competing efforts of Europeans to colonize Africa

Berlin Conference

A meeting of European powers, organized by Otto Van Bismarck, to regulate African trade, colonization, division of country, etc without African participation

Afrikaners

descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa