Strayer, Ways of the World with Sources for the AP® Modern Course, 4E - Chapter 10

scientific racism

A new kind of racism that emerged in the nineteenth century that increasingly used the prestige and apparatus of science to support European racial prejudices and preferences.

civilizing mission

A European understanding of empire that emphasized Europeans' duty to "civilize inferior races" by bringing Christianity, good government, education, work discipline, and production for the market to colonized peoples, while suppressing "native customs," such as polygamy, that ran counter to Western ways of living.

social Darwinism

An outlook that suggested that European dominance inevitably led to the displacement or destruction of backward peoples or "unfit" races; this view made imperialism, war, and aggression seem both natural and progressive.

scramble for Africa

The process by which European countries partitioned the continent of Africa among themselves in the period 1875-1900.

Indian Rebellion of 1857-1858

Massive uprising of much of India against British rule caused by the introduction to the colony's military forces of a new cartridge smeared with animal fat from pigs and cows, which caused strife among Muslims, who regarded pigs as unclean, and Hindus, who venerated cows. It came to express a variety of grievances against the colonial order.

Congo Free State

A private colony ruled personally by Leopold II, king of Belgium; it was the site of widespread forced labor and killing to ensure the collection of wild rubber; by 1908 these abuses led to reforms that transferred control to the Belgian government.

cultivation system

System of forced labor used in the Netherlands East Indies in the nineteenth century; peasants were required to cultivate at least 20 percent of their land in cash crops, such as sugar or coffee, for sale at low and fixed prices to government contractors, who then earned enormous profits from resale of the crops.

cash-crop production

Agricultural production of crops for sale in the market rather than for consumption by the farmers themselves; operated at the level of both individual farmers and large-scale plantations.

female circumcision

The excision of a pubescent girl's clitoris and adjacent genital tissue as part of initiation rites marking her coming-of-age; missionary efforts to end the practice sparked a widespread exodus from mission churches in colonial Kenya.

Africanization of Christianity

Process that occurred in non-Muslim Africa, where many who converted to Christianity sought to incorporate older traditions, values, and practices into their understanding of Christianity; often expressed in the creation of churches and schools that operated independently of the missionary and colonial establishment.

Hinduism

A religion based on the many beliefs, practices, sects, rituals, and philosophies in India; in the thinking of nineteenth-century Indian reformers, it was expressed as a distinctive tradition, an Indian religion wholly equivalent to Christianity.

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)

Leading religious figure of nineteenth-century India; advocate of a revived Hinduism and its mission to reach out to the spiritually impoverished West.

African identity

A new way of thinking about belonging that emerged by the end of the nineteenth century among well-educated Africans; it was influenced by the common experience of colonial oppression and European racism and was an effort to revive the cultural self-confidence of their people.

Edward Blyden (1832-1912)

Prominent West African scholar and political leader who argued that each civilization, including that of Africa, has its own unique contribution to make to the world.

idea of "tribe"

A new sense of clearly defined ethnic identities that emerged in twentieth-century Africa, often initiated by Europeans intent on showing the primitive nature of their colonial subjects, but widely adopted by Africans themselves as a way of responding to the upheavals of modern life.