Imperialism Vocabulary

Imperialism

Maintaining or extending power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing hard and soft power. 

Markets

Countries may seek to control or dominate markets in other countries to sell their goods and services and increase their exports.

Open Door Notes/Policy

The proposition is to keep trade in China open equally to all countries, preventing any nation from controlling trade in the region.

Philippines Rebellion 1899

February 4, 1899, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo who sought independence rather than a change in colonial rulers.

Colony

In this form of imperialism, a powerful nation installs its own government and maintains direct control over other territories and regions.

Morality

Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.

Empire

An extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority.

Sphere of Influence

A region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity.

Sovereignty

Supreme power or authority.

Civil Disobedience

It is a nonviolent action engaged in by an individual who refuses to obey a law for moral or philosophical reasons.

Annexation

The forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following the military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act.

Spanish-American War

Began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to United States intervention in the Cuban War of Independence.

Yellow Journalism

Refers to sensationalistic, salacious, and sometimes slanted stories that newspapers present as objective truth.

Big Stick Diplomacy

The idea is negotiating peacefully but also having strength in case things go wrong. Simultaneously threatening with the "big stick", or the military.

Protectorate

A state that is controlled and protected by another.

Social Darwinism

The idea that certain people become powerful in society because they are innately better - “survival of the fittest”. It has been used to justify imperialism, racism, eugenics, and social inequality at various times over the past century and a half.

Autonomy

The right or condition of self-government.

Nationalism

The belief that your own country is better than all others. Sometimes this belief makes people not want to work with other countries to solve shared problems.

Extraterritoriality

Refers to the application of a nation's law to persons, conduct, or property outside its own territory.

Raw Materials

Because the Industrial Revolution increased the production capacity of Western states astronomically, there was an enormous hunger for raw materials to satisfy demands.

Globalization

Describes the growing interdependence of the world's economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information.

Militarism

The belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values.

Culture

A concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. Often originated from or attributed to a specific region or location.

Boycott

An act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest.

16th Amendment

Congress taxes based on the amount income.

17th Amendment

Direct elections of senators.

18th Amendment

Made buying and drink alcohol illegal.

19th Amendment

Women are allowed to vote.