Unit 2: Imperialism ID + Significances

Formal Empire ID

Official political control over colonies that officially belong to the empire

Formal Empire Significance

The term formal empire describes how imperial powers exercised direct political control over colonies, where a metropole like Britain governed distant territories like Nigeria in order for imperialism to operate through territorial claims, treaties of protection, and colonial administrations that allowed imperial states to control land and resources.

Informal Empire ID

Influence over region or country but not formally a colony

Informal Empire Significance

The term informal empire is significant because it describes how imperial powers could control other countries without officially turning them into colonies by using military pressure, economic sanctions, and extraterritoriality as seen with Britain in the First Opium War, where Britain forced China into unequal treaties and trade, demonstrating imperial power without direct territorial rule.

Imperialism ID

The ideas, policies, and practices that justify and sustain control of one country by another.

Imperialism Significance

Shaped the modern world by influencing borders, languages, trade, and politics while also contributing to conflicts such as World War I due to imperial competition for territory and resources.

Colonialism ID

The experience and system of governance of groups being ruled under imperialism

Colonialism Significance

Changed societies by imposing new political structures, economic systems, and racial hierarchies as seen in Hong Kong where the English spread through British Colonialism.

Chinua Achebe ID

Nigerian author of things fall apart and proponent of anti-colonialism

Chinua Achebe Significance

Critiques colonialism and provides an African perspective that differs from the European view of “civilizing missions” by showing how British rule disrupted Igbo culture and leadership structures.

Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 ID

A meeting of European powers to divide up Africa without African participation.

Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 Significance

Formalized European territorial claims and accelerated the claims for Africa with treaties and exploration rather than African consent.

Settler Colonies ID

Colonies in areas like Algeria, South Africa and Kenya where Europeans migrated in large numbers and established communities

Settler Colonies Significance

Europeans seized the most fertile land and dominated agriculture and exports while Indigenous populations were forced into cheap labor and excluded from economic power.

Peasant Export Colonies ID

Colonies structured around smaller African agricultural production for export.

Peasant Export Colonies Significance

In colonies like Ghana and Nigeria, African farmers grew cash crops for global markets which tied local economies to imperial trade networks and sometimes reduced food production, increasing vulnerability to famine.

Indirect Rule ID

Colonial governance system developed in Northern Nigeria that relied on diplomacy and residents without governance.

Indirect Rule Significance

Indirect rule allowed colonial governments to control populations with fewer officials by relying on local elites which created resentment because these leaders enforced colonial policies on behalf of imperial authorities.

Women’s War of 1929 ID

Occurred in southern Igboland where women protested “sitting on a man” against the British colonial state.

Women’s War of 1929 Significance

The protest showed how colonial rule disrupted precolonial gender systems where women had political power resulting in the mobilization of protest against colonial authorities, as organized African resistance.

Herero and Nama Genocide ID

The beginning of colonial violence and first genocide of the 20th century in which German rule killed many Herero and Nama people.

Herero and Nama Genocide Significance

This genocide illustrates the extreme racial violence from imperial rule which resulted in colonial conflicts over land seizures, forced labor, and racial hierarchy.

Foreign Concession (in the context of China) ID

Land such as Hankou and Tianjin were forced to open ports and controlled by other empires.

Foreign Concession (in the context of China) Significance

These concessions gave foreign merchants economic and political privileges inside Chinese territory which reveals how imperial powers exerted an informal empire in China without fully colonizing it

Comprador ID

Intermediaries who acted as translators, negotiators, and currency brokers between foreign companies and Chinese merchants.

Comprador Significance

Facilitated imperial trade by acting as translators, negotiators, and brokers in global markets which helped foreign businesses operate in China and link local economies to international imperial trade.

Korean Empire ID

A short-lived state created as Korea attempted to modernize and assert independence due to rising imperial pressures.

Korean Empire Significance

Reflects how states responded to imperial pressure by reforming their military, economy, and government, but despite that Korea was colonized by Japan.

March 1st Movement ID

Large protest in Korea against Japanese colonial rule

March 1st Movement Significance

Demonstrated Korean resistance to imperial rule and forced Japan to relax some colonial restrictions. The movement also inspired Korean nationalism and independence activism.

Logo Map ID

The map that outlines territory lines and is used for “branding” a nation

Logo Map Significance

Logo maps hide imperial power by showing only the mainland territory and ignoring overseas colonies or military bases.

Manifest Destiny ID

The belief and expansion mission that the United States was divinely destined to expand and spread across the continent.

Manifest Destiny Significane

Justified American expansion and settler colonialism by portraying territorial conquest as morally righteous.

Guano ID

Guano is bird and bat droppings used as fertilizer, which became valuable for agriculture.

Guano Significance

Led the United States to claim distant islands with guano deposits revealing how economic resources drove imperial expansion beyond the mainland.

Queen Liliʻuokalani ID

Last sovereign monarch of the kingdom of hawaii

Queen Liliʻuokalani Significance

Her overthrow by American business interests led to U.S. annexation of Hawaii revealing

economic and strategic interests that contributed to American imperial expansion.

W.E.B. Du Bois ID

First african american to get phd from harvard who studied the slave trade and was a civil rights activist.

W.E.B. Du Bois Significance

Argued that imperial competition, racism, and economic exploitation were major causes of World War I linking global imperialism to racial inequality and conflict.

Entente cordiale ID

Agreement between Britain and France meant to solve territorial disputes.

Entente cordiale Significance

The agreement helped stabilize imperial rivalries and formed the basis for alliances in World War I showing how colonial competition influenced international diplomacy.