History Vocabulary

Boers

Dutch farmers in South Africa (early 1800s).

Zulu

Indigenous South Africa tribe of people. The Boers invaded their land.

Indochina

French territories in Asia, Vietnam, Laoss, Cambodia. French largely influenced the war.

Sepoy

Indian soldiers who served in the armies, of various European powers in India. Most notably the British East India Company.

Imperialism

Policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy, military force, or economic and cultural dominance, often by acquiring new territories or colonies.

Seven Years’ War

A global conflict involving most of Europe’s great powers. The French and Indian War (North America) was part of this.

Indian Rebellion of 1857

A major uprising against the rule of the British East India company.

The British Raj

89 year period of direct British rule over the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947.

Cecil Rhodes

British developer of diamond and gold industries in South Africa.

Congo Free State

The personal possession of King Leopold 2 of Belgium from 1885-1908.

King Leopold 2

(1835-1909) was the second king of the Belgians, reigning from 1865-1989. Brutal and ruthless founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, which he ran as his personal property from 1885 to 1909.

The Opium Wars

Two armed conflicts in the mid-19th century between Western Countries and the Qing dynasty of China.

Spheres of Influence

Geographic area where one country has significant cultural, economic, military, or political power over other nations, even without direct control.

Taiping Rebellion

Peasant revolt in China in 1850-1864. It severely weakened the Chinese government..

Sino-Japanese War

War ended in a Japanese victory (1895). China gave up island of Fermosa (Taiwan) to Japan. Japan became influential in Korea.

Russo-Japanese War

Ended in a Japanese victory in 1905. Japan gained control of Southern Manchuria, a region bordering Russia and Japan. Japan made Korea a colony.

Dadabhi Naoroji

One of the founders of the INC who emphasized unity among the Indian people to help gain independence from the British.

Indian National Conference

Founded in 1885 by a group of Indians to organize and push for reforms in British ruled India. Consisted of mostly middle class and British.

British East India Company

A powerful, for-profit trading company that became a colonial ruler in India.

Scramble for Africa

The rapid colonization, annexation, and division of nearly the entire African continent by European powers between roughly 1881-1914. This was driven by economic interests, political rivalries, and rotation of racial superiority.

Meiji Restoration

The reign of Emperor Meiji in Japan from 1868-1912 that was marked by rapid modernization and industrialization.

Nationalism

Pride in one’s country.

Why did nations imperialize?

Glory, God, Money & Fame.

The Anglo-Zulu War

A war that occurred in 1879 when the British invaded Zululand in South Africa.

Cetshwayo

Zulu leader during the Anglo-Zulu war who assembled an army of 50,000 warriors.

Menelik 2

Ethiopian ruler renowned for his successful military strategy against colonial ambitions in 1889.

Battle of Adwa

The 1896 climatic battle of the first Italo-Ethiopian war. Ethiopian fighters defeated the Italians.

Self-Strengthening Movement

Reform-movement that was China’s Qing Empire’s attempt to address internal and external problems facing the country. It involved various military, economic, trading, and diplomatic agendas.

Empress Dowager Cixi

Was a Manchu noblewoman who had de facto control of the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 years, from 1881 until her death in 1908.

The Righteous & Harmonious (Order of) Fists

Chinese secret society. This group practiced a form of martial arts that resembled boxing, at least to Western eyes. The ‘Boxers’ as they became known, embarked on an armed campaign.

Boxer Rebellion

An ant-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China from 1899-1901, led by a secret society known as the “Righteous and Harmonious”