AP World History: Imperialism

Imperialism

A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

Queen Victoria

British monarch whose reign (1837–1901) coincided with the height of the British Empire's power and global expansion.

Social Darwinism

19th-century ideology that applied Charles Darwin's concept of "survival of the fittest" to human societies, believing that the strongest and most successful individuals, groups, or nations were naturally superior.

Nationalism

A political ideology that emphasizes the interests, culture, and identity of a specific nation, advocating for self-governance and independence.

White Man’s Burden

A concept that justified European and American imperialism by asserting that Western nations had a moral obligation to "civilize" non-Western societies through the spread of their culture, values, and governance.

Rudyard Kipling

A key figure associated with British imperialism and the "White Man's Burden," which was a justification for colonial expansion.

Industrialization

The process of transforming an economy from an agricultural one to one based on manufacturing.

Dr. David Livingstone

A Scottish missionary, doctor, and explorer who explored southern and central Africa, discovered Victoria Falls, and became a national hero for his journeys.

Henry Morton Stanley

Welsh-American explorer, journalist, and colonial administrator known for his famous search for David Livingstone in Africa.

King Leopold II

King of Belgium (1865–1909) and the private owner of the Congo Free State, a vast territory in Central Africa.

Congo Free State

Private state in Central Africa, established in 1885 and personally owned by King Leopold II of Belgium.

Settler Colonies

A territory established by a foreign power where large numbers of settlers move to permanently live and cultivate the land, often displacing the indigenous population.

Manifest Destiny

19th-century belief that the United States was divinely destined to expand its territory across the North American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Rubber

A raw material from the latex of rubber trees.

Guano

The term for the accumulated excrement of seabirds and bats, prized in the 19th century as a highly effective, nitrogen-rich fertilizer.

Quinine

A medication derived from the bark of the cinchona tree that was the first effective treatment for malaria.

British East India Company

A powerful, chartered joint-stock company that evolved from a commercial trading entity into a political and military power controlling large parts of India.

Dutch East India Company

A powerful, multinational corporation that dominated the spice trade, acted as an early form of imperialism, and had quasi-governmental powers like waging war and negotiating treaties.

Gunboat Diplomacy

The use or threat of naval power by a stronger nation to influence the foreign policy of a weaker nation.

Berlin Congress

A meeting of European powers to regulate the colonization and partition of Africa without any African representation.

“Scramble for Africa”

The rapid colonization and division of Africa by European powers between the 1880s and 1914, driven by economic interests, political rivalries, and ideological motivations.

Otto von Bismarck

German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of the German Empire (1871–1890) and is known for unifying Germany under Prussian leadership through strategic diplomacy and military conflict.

Partition of Africa

Late 19th-century division of the African continent into European-controlled colonies.

Sovereignty

The right and power of a nation or people to govern itself, free from external control.

Nation-state

A political entity where a unified "nation," defined by a shared culture, language, or history, governs a "state" with a defined territory, permanent population, and sovereign government.

Colonialism

The practice of one country establishing political control over a foreign territory, settling it, and exploiting its resources and people for the benefit of the colonizing power.

Empire

A large political entity that controls a vast territory and diverse populations under a single supreme authority, often established through conquest.

Citizen

A legally recognized member of a nation or city-state who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection and rights.

Subject

The people or region that is politically, economically, or culturally dominated by an imperial power.

Indirect Rule

A colonial system where imperial powers control a territory through existing local rulers who are supervised by colonial authorities.

Informal Imperialism

A form of domination where a powerful country exerts control over another through economic, cultural, and diplomatic means, rather than direct political or military control.

Gold Coast

A region on the West African coast (modern-day Ghana) known for its abundant gold resources and as a major hub in the transatlantic slave trade.

Settler Colony

A form of colonialism where foreign settlers move to a new territory to live permanently, displacing indigenous populations and establishing a new society that mirrors the colonizing power.

Concessions

A grant of rights or privileges, especially one made by a government to a foreign entity, or a compromise or yielding during negotiations.

Protectorate

Territory with a local government that is under the diplomatic and military protection of a stronger, more powerful state.

Spheres of Influence

A region or area where a foreign power holds dominant political, economic, or cultural control, often without formal annexation.

Sierra Leone

A West African nation established as a British Crown Colony and settlement for freed slaves, particularly Black Loyalists from America after the Revolutionary War, and later, thousands of Africans liberated from illegal slave ships.

Cape Colony

A Dutch and later British settlement at the southern tip of Africa.

Afrikaners

South African ethnic group descended primarily from Dutch, French, and German settlers who established the Cape Colony for the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century.

Boers

Descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa.

Boer Wars

Two conflicts fought between the British Empire and the Boer republics in Southern Africa from 1880–1881 and 1899–1902, driven by British imperial expansion and the discovery of gold.

Sepoys

Indian soldiers who served in the armies of the British East India Company and later the British Indian Army.

British Raj

Period of British rule over the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Sino-Japanese War

Chinese and Japanese War.

Suez Canal

Canal in Egypt that connects to Middle East.

Cairo

Capital of Egypt.

Corvee Laborers

Individuals required to perform unpaid, mandatory labor for the state or a lord, typically for a set number of days each year, in exchange for land or as a form of taxation.

Liberia

West African nation founded in the 1820s by the American Colonization Society (ACS) as a homeland for freed and freeborn African Americans. 

Abyssinia

Historical name for the Ethiopian Empire (c. 1270–1974), a long-standing African kingdom known for successfully resisting European colonization, a Christian heritage, and its connection to the Solomonic dynasty.

Open Door Policy

U.S. foreign policy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that proposed that all nations have equal trading rights in China, preventing any single power from monopolizing trade.

Monroe Doctrine

U.S. foreign policy from 1823 that warned European powers against further colonization or intervention in the Western Hemisphere.

Spanish-American War

War between Spain and United States, ended Spanish rule.

Roosevelt Corollary

Extension of the Monroe Doctrine in which the U.S. claimed the right to intervene in Latin American countries to prevent European intervention and maintain stability.

Neocolonialism

The practice where a former colonial power maintains influence over a newly independent nation through indirect, non-military means, primarily through economic, political, and cultural pressure.

United Fruit Company

American multinational corporation that, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, used its vast economic and political power in Central America and the Caribbean to control the tropical fruit trade.

“Banana republics”

Derogatory term for a politically unstable country whose economy is dominated by a single export commodity, such as bananas, and largely controlled by foreign companies.

Indochina

The region in Southeast Asia comprising modern-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, particularly during the era of French colonialism from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries.

The Great Game

19th-century political and diplomatic rivalry between the British and Russian Empires for control over Central Asia, particularly Afghanistan.

Cecil Rhodes

British imperialist, businessman, and statesman in southern Africa who played a key role in the late 19th-century expansion of the British Empire (CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY).

Telegraph

19th-century communication technology that transmits messages via electrical impulses over wires, most notably through Morse code.

Steamships

Water vessel propelled by steam power, which revolutionized transportation by being faster and more reliable than sailing ships.

Maxim gun

The first truly automatic, recoil-operated machine gun, invented by Hiram Maxim in 1884.

Artillery

Large-caliber guns used in land warfare, such as cannons, howitzers, and mortars, that fire projectiles over long distances.

De Beers Mining Company

Multinational corporation founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes that came to dominate the global diamond market through a near-monopoly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Manchus

People who took over Ming Dynasty and set up Qing Dynasty.

Qing

Last imperial dynasty of China, which was founded by the Manchu.

Qian Long

The sixth emperor of China's Qing Dynasty, known for presiding over a period of great prosperity and the largest territorial expansion of the empire.

Lord Macartney

British envoy who led the failed 1793 Macartney Embassy to China to open more trade ports and establish diplomatic relations.

Canton System

Qing Dynasty policy that restricted all foreign trade to the single port of Guangzhou (Canton), China, beginning in 1757.

Opium

The addictive narcotic drug derived from the poppy plant.

Opium Wars

Two mid-19th-century conflicts between China and Western powers, primarily Britain, driven by trade imbalances and the illegal opium trade.

Treaty of Nanking

Peace treaty that ended the First Opium War, imposing a series of one-sided terms on China that marked the beginning of a century of unequal treaties and increased Western imperialism.

Unequal Treaties

Agreements between Western powers and non-Western nations (like China and Japan) that were imposed through "gunboat diplomacy" and granted significant privileges to the foreign powers.

Extraterritoriality

Legal principle that allows foreign nationals living in a country to be exempt from local laws and instead be subject to the laws of their own country.