AP World - Unit 6: Imperialism

1883 Slavery Abolition Act

Ended slavery in parts of the British Empire which created a need for labor.

Alexander Graham Bell

Invented the telephone in 1876. The patent for the telephone was the most valuable patent ever issued.

Alessandro Volta

An Italian scientist who invented the first electric battery.

André-Marie Ampère

A French man who worked out the principles governing the magnetic effect of electricity now known as electromagnetism.

Anarchist

Person who opposes all forms of government.

Assembly Line

A method of manufacturing in which a product is put together as it moves along a belt with individuals stationed along the belt to work on specific tasks.

Assimilation

The act of becoming part of another culture.

Banana Republics

Small Central American countries that fell under the economic power of foreign corporations.

Berlin Conference

A meeting of several European powers to discuss the orderly colonization of Africa in which colonial boundaries and trade movements were established.

Bessemer Process

Process to make stronger steel at a lower cost.

Black Gold

Nickname for oil.

Boer Wars

Two wars fought in 1880-1881 and 1899-1902 between the British Empire and two independent Boer states.

Bourgeoisie

Owners during the capitalist stage of the 1800s that Marx believed was unfair to the proletariat.

Boxer Rebellion

A violent, armed uprising in China that sought to drive all foreigners from China from 1899 to 1901.

British East India Company

Monopolistic trading body established by the British which exploited Southeast Asia and India for trade.

Cartels

Corporate combinations that control entire industries.

Collective Bargaining

Groups of workers from industry unions that negotiate with management for workers as a group.

Compulsory Education

The requirement that children attend school through a certain age.

Congo Free State

Privately owned colony by King Leopold II of Belgium from 1885-1908 in which he kept all profits and exploited workers.

Cottage Industry

Manufacturing that occurs in a person's home such as weaving.

The Chinese Exclusion Act

U.S. federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur in 1882 that prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers.

Chinese Immigration Act

An 1855 response to the large influx of Chinese miners in Australia that limited the number of Chinese immigrants that came ashore from each ship.

Culture System

Introduced by the Dutch in 1830 in the Dutch East Indies in which farmers had to choose between growing cash crops for export or performing mandatory unpaid work.

David Ricardo

A British political economist who wrote Principles of Political Economy and Taxation.

Division of Labor

Assigning different parts or tasks of the manufacturing process to different people in order to improve efficiency.

The Enclosure Movement

A movement in England to take land that was public land and change it to privately owned land.

Economic Imperialism

When foreign business interests have great economic power and influence which takes advantage of natural resources outside their borders.

Edmund Cartwright

English inventor of the first wool combing machine.

Eli Whitney

An American inventor known for his idea of interchangeable parts in machinery.

Entrepreneur

A person who starts up and takes on the risk and profits of a business.

Ethnic Enclaves

Groups or neighborhoods of people from the same foreign country.

Export Economies

Colonies that turned into centers of production that focused on sending their raw materials or products elsewhere.

Factors of Production

A favorable combination of the needed factors: land, capital, and labor.

Factory Act of 1802

An Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom designed to improve conditions for those working in cotton mills.

Factory Act of 1833

This allowed for the Factory Act of 1802 to be enforced, improved conditions for children working in factories.

Free Enterprise

An economic system in which individuals and businesses are allowed to compete for profit with a minimum of government interference.

George Stephenson

An English engineer who perfected a steam locomotive that ran on rails.

Ghost Dance

Around 1869, the Northern Paiute Indians thought the dead would return to drive out the white invaders.

Great Famine

From 1845 to 1849, the potato crop was destroyed in Ireland causing about 3 million people to emigrate to other nations.

Henry Ford

Perfected a system to mass produce cars making them more widely available at lower prices.

Humanitarians

People who work to improve the conditions of others.

Imperialism

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

Indentured Servitude

A type of labor (often coerced) in which a person takes out a loan in exchange for agreeing to work without a salary to repay the loan.

Indian Rebellion of 1857

A violent uprising against the British in colonial India after the British began using cow and pig fat to grease their rifle cartridges.

Indian Removal Act of 1830

Cherokee and other Native Americans from the southeast were forced to relocate to Oklahoma.

Industrial Capitalism

An economic and social system in which trade, industry and capital are privately controlled and operated for a profit.

The Industrial Revolution

The transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States beginning in the 1760s.

Interchangeable Parts

All the parts of a machine were alike so a broken part could be replaced rather than having to replace the entire machine.

James Watt

An inventor best known for his improvements to the steam engine.

Jane Addams

Founder of the Settlement House Movement and the first American woman to earn the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Jan Matzeliger

He invented and patented a machine which made footwear that drastically increased the amount of shoes that could be made in a day.

Jeremy Bentham

An English philosopher and founder of utilitarianism; argued law was useful and therefore good; believed people should be educated so they could make decisions for themselves.

Jethro Tull

An English agricultural pioneer who created the seed drill to allow seeds to be planted in straight rows making the process of planting faster and more efficient.

John D. Rockefeller

An American entrepreneur and founder of the Standard Oil Trust which ended oil competition. He was known for being a ruthless competitor.

John Kay

Invented the flying shuttle which moved the weft-carrying shuttle quickly across the loom leading to faster cloth production.

John Stuart Mill

Believed government should work for the good of all its citizens; rejected economic systems that left workers in poverty; called for the government to protect working children and to improve factory conditions; wrote On the Subjection of Women; believed government should support education and guarantee individual liberty.

Joseph Pulitzer

He was a Hungarian immigrant who created the first modern mass-circulated newspaper. His paper included crowd-pleasing features such as color comics. His newspaper, the New York World, became known for its sensational headlines.

J.P. Morgan

He gained control of key industries like the railroads and steel. He would buy up stock of companies in trouble, and then run them in a way that eliminated the competition to increase his profit.

Kangani System

A system in Ceylon, Burma, and Malaya in which entire families were recruited to work on plantations.

Knights of Labor

Founded in 1869, this was the first major labor organization in the United States. They organized unskilled and skilled workers, campaigned for an eight hour workday, and aspired to form a cooperative society in which laborers owned the industries in which they worked.

Laissez-faire Economics

Government and regulators have minimal involvement in the operations of private businesses.

Manifest Destiny

The belief in the 19th century US that American settlers were destined to expand across the continent.

Mark Twain

An American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He is best known for writing Huckleberry Finn, and he is widely considered the father of American literature.

Mary Harris Jones

Labor organizer, known as Mother Jones. She fought for coal workers' rights by speaking in Appalachian mining towns, encouraging them to join unions. She also fought for child labor laws.

Mass Production

Manufacturing large quantities of a specific product.

Matthew Boulton

He financed the first factory to manufacture steam engines. The industry adapted the engine to power spinning and weaving machines and steam replaced water as industry's major power source.

Mechanization

Automatic machinery used to increase production.

Migration

The movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions.

Monocultures

A lack of agricultural diversity especially in developing nations.

Monopoly

A market in which there are many buyers but only one seller.

Monroe Doctrine

A US policy drafted in 1823 which opposed European colonialism in the Americas.

Nationalism

Identifying with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.

Natal Indian Congress

Founded by Gandhi, this organization worked to expose discrimination against Indians in South Africa.

Opium War

From 1839 to 1842 war waged between the Chinese and British over the Chinese government's objection to the importation of opium.

Patent

A document giving someone the sole right to make and sell an invention.

Penal Colony

A colony established for the purpose of relocating convicts. In 1788, Britain began sending its convicts to Australia.

Proclamation of 1763

An act from the British that reserved all land from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River for Native Americans. This was the first instance of a European power granting territorial rights to indigenous people.

Proletariat

The working class that Marx thought would be driven into poverty by the capitalists and revolt.

Realist

Writers who tried to show life as it really is.

Richard Arkwright

He invented a new way to drive machines by waterpower; began the modern factory system of production.

Robert Fulton

The first to build a profitable steamboat.

Samuel Morse

Used the work of Volta and Ampere to invent the telegraph and Morse code to make a practical communication device.

Samuel Gompers

The creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers. He believed skilled workers were hard to replace because they have to be trained. It barred African Americans, unskilled workers, and immigrants.

Spanish-American War

The US victory in 1898 that brought Guam, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines under the control of the US.

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle. Used to justify racist beliefs.

Socialism

A political and economic system in which the government owns the means of production and operates them for the benefit of all the people.

Steerage

A large open area beneath a ship's deck that was used for storing cargo but later became an area for low cost and low class travel.

Tariffs

Taxes on imported goods.

Ten Hours Act of 1847

This set a 10 hour working day for women and for children younger than 18. Since this included most workers, factory owners extended this to everyone.

Thomas Newcomen

An English inventor who created the atmospheric engine which was the first practical fuel burning machine.

Tenements

Overcrowded housing with poor conditions such as polluted air, lack of clean water, crime, fires, and diseases.

Thomas Malthus

An English economist who wrote Essay on the Principle of Population; he theorized that population growth would outrun the food supply without limits imposed upon reproduction.

Trail of Tears

The route of forced relocations of Native Americans between 1830 and 1850. The walk was over 5,000 miles long, and over 100,000 Native Americans were forcibly removed from their homelands.

Treaty of Nanking

After the Opium War, this treaty required China to open ports to foreigners, give Hong Kong to Britain, allow the trade of opium, and pay damages.

Urbanization

Movement of people from rural areas to cities with rapidly growing populations.

Utopian Socialist

Early socialists who believed that people could live together in small cooperative settlements where everyone could work together for the common good and they would collectively own all means of production and share in the production.

White Australia Policy

Legislation of the new Commonwealth of Australia that effectively stopped all non-European immigration into the country and that contributed to the development of a racially insulated white society.

White Man's Burden

White Europeans claimed responsibility for caring for and civilizing natives of their respective colonies.

Wilbur and Orville Wright

The first to build and fly an airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 7, 1903.

Yellow Journalism

Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensationalism and attract readers.