#14 - Responses to Imperialism

Monocultures

The practice of growing a single crop, tree, or plant species over a wide area; often established in colonized lands to maximize cash crop production for imperial powers, leading to reliance on one crop and soil depletion.

Cassava

A starchy root vegetable native to South America that was introduced to Africa; its cultivation as a cash crop and staple food was often associated with colonial agricultural practices and population growth in certain regions.

Tupac Amaru II

Leader of a large Andean uprising against the Spanish in Peru (1780-1781); though unsuccessful, his rebellion was one of the first major challenges to colonial authority in the Americas.

Samory Toure

West African resistance leader (1830s-1900) who founded the Wassoulou Empire; he resisted French imperial advances for over a decade before his eventual capture.

Yaa Asantewaa War

The final major war (1900) between the Ashanti Empire and the British, led by Queen of the Ashanti Confederacy; fought in the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) over the Golden Stool, symbolizing Ashanti sovereignty.

Sepoy Rebellion

Also known as the Indian Mutiny or the First War of Indian Independence (1857-1858); an uprising by Indian soldiers (Sepoys) in the British East India Company's army against British rule, triggered by cultural insensitivity and led to the end of the EIC rule and the beginning of the British Raj.

Indian National Congress

A political party established in 1885 by English-educated Indians to advocate for a greater share in government and, eventually, full Indian self-rule and independence from Britain.

Sokoto Caliphate

A large Islamic empire founded in 1804 by Usman dan Fodio in what is modern-day Nigeria; an example of an Islamic reform movement and state-building in West Africa before being conquered by the British in the early 1900s.

Usman dan Fodio

West African Muslim scholar and reformer who led a jihad (holy war) to establish the Sokoto Caliphate; promoted a purified form of Islam and challenged corrupt local Hausa rulers.

Cherokee Nation

A sovereign Native American nation historically inhabiting the southeastern United States; subject to forced removal from their ancestral lands by the U.S. government during the 1830s.

Trail of Tear

The forced relocation of approximately 100,000 Native Americans, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole nations, from the southeastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi River; resulted in the deaths of thousands.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local laws enacted in the Southern and some border states of the U.S. between the end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877 and the mid-1960s; these laws enforced racial segregation and disenfranchisement.

Zulu Kingdom

A powerful monarchy in Southern Africa that ruled over a vast territory; famously resisted British imperial expansion in the late 19th century until its defeat in the Anglo-Zulu War.

Anglo-Zulu War

A war (1879) fought between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom in Southern Africa; despite an initial devastating Zulu victory at Isandlwana, the British ultimately defeated the Zulu and ended their independence.

Ghost Dance

A late 19th-century Native American religious movement that incorporated various spiritual beliefs; it promised the removal of white settlers and the return of the buffalo and ancestral ways of life, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Xhosa Cattle Killing-Movement

A pivotal 1856-1857 movement in the Eastern Cape of South Africa; the Xhosa people, believing they would drive the British out, killed their cattle and destroyed their crops, leading to mass famine and the collapse of Xhosa resistance.

Pan Africanism

A movement that has sought to unify native Africans and people of African descent worldwide; promotes solidarity and shared identity in the struggle against colonialism and racial discrimination.

Mahdist Wars

A series of conflicts (1881-1899) in Sudan, led by Muhammad Ahmad; the state successfully resisted Egyptian and initial British forces before being finally defeated by the British.

Maori

The indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (Aotearoa); faced displacement and conflict during the British colonization of the island, including the New Zealand Wars (Land Wars).

Maji Maji Rebellion

A violent resistance movement (1905-1907) in German East Africa (modern Tanzania); local people, united by the belief that sacred water would protect them from German bullets, rebelled against forced labor policies and cotton cultivation.

Empress Cixi

A powerful and conservative de facto ruler of the Qing Dynasty (1861–1908); often resisted modernizing reforms, although she eventually supported some late-Qing reforms, and navigated imperialist pressure.

100 Days Reform

A failed 1898 national cultural, political, and educational reform movement in China designed to modernize the government and social system, initiated by Emperor Guangxu and supported by scholars like Kang Youwei; swiftly reversed by Empress Cixi.

Taiping Rebellion

A massive rebellion (1850-1864) in China led by Hong Xiuquan; one of the world's bloodiest civil wars, it sought to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and establish a utopian Christian kingdom, severely weakening the Qing state.

Hong Xiuquan

The leader of the Taiping Rebellion, who proclaimed himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ; his movement blended elements of Chinese tradition with an interpretation of Christianity.

Boxer Rebellion

An anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising (1899-1901) in China by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists (the Boxers); besieged foreign legations in Beijing before being defeated by a coalition of imperial powers.

Tongzhi Restoration

A series of conservative reforms and attempts at self-strengthening (1860-1874) following the Taiping Rebellion; aimed to stabilize the Qing dynasty by restoring the traditional order and selectively adopting Western technology (Self-Strengthening Movement).

Aboriginal

The indigenous people of mainland Australia and Tasmania; experienced mass displacement, loss of land, and discriminatory policies under British colonization, including the White Australia Policy.

Push Factors

Conditions that compel a person or group to leave their home region, such as war, famine, political persecution, economic hardship, or lack of opportunity.

Pull Factors

Conditions that attract a person or group to a new region, such as economic opportunity, political stability, religious freedom, or available land.

Immigrate

To enter and usually settle permanently in a foreign country.

Emigrate

To leave one's own country in order to settle permanently in another.

Migrate

To move from one place to another, often in a large group, and often seasonally or for a long period of time; encompasses both emigration and immigration.

Ethnic Enclaves

Neighborhoods or geographic areas within a larger city or region where a particular ethnic group has clustered, often due to shared language, culture, and mutual support networks (e.g., Chinatowns, Little Italys).

Indentured Servivtude

A system where a person signs a contract to work for a fixed number of years in exchange for transportation, food, shelter, and training; a key labor system used in European colonies following the abolition of slavery, often drawing workers from India and China.

Chinatowns

Specific ethnic enclaves, typically in North America, Europe, or Australia, inhabited mainly by people of Chinese descent; their existence is often tied to patterns of migration and the push/pull factors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Diaspora

The dispersion of people from their original homeland; a term used to describe communities of a given ethnic or national group living outside their ancestral home (e.g., the African Diaspora, the Indian Diaspora).

Penal Colony

A settlement established to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population; a common practice of European imperial powers (e.g., Great Britain's use of Australia).

Irish Potato Famine

A period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1849; caused by the failure of the potato crop due to blight, it was exacerbated by British economic policies and led to a massive wave of Irish migration to the U.S. and other countries.

Chinese Exclusion Act

A United States federal law signed in 1882 that prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers; it was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in U.S. history and reflected growing nativist sentiment.

White Australia Policy

A set of laws and policies passed in the early 1900s by the Australian government designed to stop non-white immigration, particularly from Asia; effectively favored immigrants from Great Britain and Europe and lasted until the mid-20th century.

Homesteading

A U.S. policy that encouraged Western migration by providing settlers public land in exchange for occupying and cultivating the land for five years; this often came at the expense of Native American land and sovereignty.