Period 3 (1750-1900)

Units 5 & 6

Economic Imperialism

control of a country's economy by foreign businesses/powers (e.g., Opium Wars leading to unequal treaties, European businesses owning/controlling the rubber industry in the Amazon river basin)*

Transnational Corporation

A firm that conducts business in at least two separate countries; also known as multinational corporations; e.g., British East India Company, United Fruit Company

Industrial Resources

Primary motive for new imperialism (e.g., rubber from the Amazon and Congo river basins, cotton from India and Egypt, palm oil from West Africa)

Transportation & Communication Infrastructure

Expansion of railroads & telegraphs in industrial societies; often brought to colonial territories to facilitate resource extraction and colonial rule

Rationales for Imperialism

Ideological rationales (e.g., scientific racism, Social Darwinism, civilizing missions, spreading Christianity), economic rationales (e.g., industrial resource extraction, securing foreign markets to purchase manufactured goods, establishing transnational businesses), and political (e.g., nationalistic competition)

Social Darwinism

The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their imperialist expansion.

Scientific Racism

the use of scientific theories to support or validate racist attitudes or worldviews; also, to support classification of human beings into distinct biological races

Civilizing Mission

The notion that colonialism was a duty for Europeans and a benefit for the colonized.

Berlin Conference

A meeting from 1884-1885 at which representatives of European nations agreed on rules colonization of Africa

Scramble for Africa

Term given for the rapid invasion of Africa by the various European powers. This began second-wave imperialism in Africa.

Colonial Power Shifts

Shift to state control in colonies previously held by non-state entities. (e.g., Shift from the private ownership of the Congo by King Leopold II to the Belgium government; Shift from the Dutch East India Company to Dutch government control in Indonesia and Southeast Asia)

State Expansion

States gained more control over colonies or solidified control through warfare and diplomacy (England, France, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, U.S- and Japan expand; Portugal and Spain lose ground)

Settler Colonies

Colonies, such as those in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Algeria, Kenya, and Hawaii, where greater numbers of European populations lived among indigenous peoples.

Anti-imperial resistance

Resistance to imperial power, often through warfare and rebellion (e.g., Sepoy/Indian Rebellion, the Yaa Asantwaa War in West Africa, and the battle of Adowa, when Ethiopia defeated Italy and prevented Italy from taking over the country)

Sepoy (Indian) Rebellion

The revolt of Indian soldiers in 1857 against certain practices that violated religious customs; also known as the Sepoy Mutiny and the Indian Rebellion. This rebellion led the passing of colonial power from he British East Indian Company to the direct control by the British government.

Direct Control

Style of imperial government where the head power controlled all levels of government and appointed its own officials to govern the colony.

Indirect Control

Style of imperial rule allowing cooperating native ruler/rulers who profit from the relationship. (e.g., British and Dutch sometimes administering colonies as "protectorates.")

divide and rule

the deliberate intensification of divisions and conflicts by colonial rulers

Apartheid

A social policy or racial segregation involving political and economic and legal discrimination against non-whites. (e.g., colonial and post colonial South Africa)

industrial resources

basic raw materials for manufacturing; huge rationale for imperial expansion (e.g., cotton from India and Egypt, rubber from Amazon & Congo river basins, palm oil from West Africa)

Indentured Servitude

labor under contract to an employer for a fixed period of time, in exchange for their transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities; often as a replacement of slave labor (e.g., Chinese & Indian indentured servants in the Caribbean)

Urban Migration

Migration into cities from rural areas (in this era, often displaced agricultural laborers seeking factory jobs in towns)

Tran-oceanic Migration

the movement of people across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in order to settle in North and South America (e.g., Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Irish, and Italians seeking economic opportunities in the Americas)

labor migration

migration of people from one area of a country to another or across national borders in search of jobs; in this era, includes urban migrations to for factory jobs, agricultural migrations (often to work on cash crop plantations), and laborers seeking jobs as railroad workers or in mines

mining industry

during the late 1800s, mining became a big industry needed to get raw materials (e.g., coal, tin, copper, and diamonds, especially in South Africa)

male migration

Most migrants in this era were male laborers, resulting in significant shits in general roles in home countries

ethnic enclave

A place with a high concentration of an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States

White Australia Policy

A policy that intentionally restricted non-white immigration to Australia

Taiping Rebellion

The most destructive civil war in China before the twentieth century. A Christian-inspired rural rebellion threatened to topple the Qing Empire. Leader claimed to be the brother of Jesus.

Opium War

War between Britain and the Qing Empire that was, in the British view, occasioned by the Qing government's refusal to permit the importation of opium into its territories; the victorious British imposed the unequal Treaty of Nanking on China, an key example of economic imperialism

Boxer Rebellion

Unsuccessful uprising in Qing China aimed at ending foreign influence in the country

China's Self-Strengthening Movement

Defensive reforms in the late Qing Dynasty Aimed to update educational system, diplomatic service, military, set up factories; had mixed results.

Tanzimat Reforms

A set of defensive reforms set about to preserve the weakening ottoman Ottoman Empire; included selective westernization, legal, economic, and education reform, railroad expansion, and limited industrialization; had mixed results

Meiji Restoration

The political program that followed the destruction of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, in which a collection of young leaders set Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization, imperialism, and selective westernization.