Unit 6: Imperialism

Imperialism

A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically.

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle.

East India Company

British joint-stock company that grew to be a state within a state in India; it possessed its own armed forces.

Dutch East India Company

Government-chartered joint-stock company that controlled the spice trade in the East Indies.

What allowed colonial dominance beyond a trading posts on the coast?

Military technology, quinine (medicine), steamship

British Control of Egypt

-Building of the Suez Canal

-West African colonies

-Sierra Leone- home for freed people throughout the British empire

French in Africa

-Algeria- became a settler colony, attracting many immigrants

"Scramble for Africa"

competing efforts of Europeans to colonize Africa, often led to war

Berlin Conference

A meeting from 1884-1885 at which representatives of European nations agreed on rules colonization of Africa, no Africans were invited

Boer Wars in Africa

British vs the Afrikaners (Dutch who were already there) in South Africa

Result: British drove the Africans & Afrikaners out, some put into concentration camps segregated by race

King Leopold II

King of Belgium who encouraged the exploration of Central Africa/Congo, owned the colony personally, economically exploited the workers for profit

Independent African Countries

only African countries unclaimed by Europeans were Ethiopia and Liberia (founded by formerly enslaved people from the US)

Seven Years War

aka the French and Indian War. French & Indians vs British, English proved to be the more dominant force, ended up controlling the region

Spheres of Influence

Areas in which countries have some political and economic control but do not govern directly (ex. Europe and U.S. in China)

Boxer Rebellion

A 1900 Uprising in China aimed at ending foreign influence in the country. (Boxers vs Europeans, Europeans won)

Imperialism in Southeast Asia

-Dutch- Spice Islands (Indonesia)

-French- Vietnam (French Indochina)

British- Malaya

Siam/Thailand- managed to escape European takeover

Australia's Penal Colony

British sent convicts, some free settlers, to colonize Australia

Manifest Destiny

1800s belief that Americans had the divine right to spread across the continent.

Spanish-American War

1898, a conflict between the United States and Spain, in which the U.S. supported the Cubans' fight for independence

Treatment of Natives in the United States

• Proclamation of 1763

-Cherokee nation & assimilation

-Indian Removal Act

-Ghost Dance

Indian Rebellion of 1857

Indian rebellion against the English, led by the sepoys (Indian soldiers for the British) and their refusal to bite into the animal fat greased bullets)

Indian National Congress

A movement and political party founded to demand greater Indian participation in government.

Southeast Asia Resistance examples

1 Vietnam & the young emperor trying to rebel against the French

2 Philippines resistance against the Spanish & then the Americans

Australia and New Zealand Resistance examples

1 Aboriginals in Australia

2 Maori in New Zealand

Technological Developments

Railroads, steamship, telegraph

Raw materials

Cotton, Rubber, Palm Oil (used for candle making), Ivory, Minerals (copper, tin, gold), diamonds

Economic Imperialism

Situation in which foreign business interests have great economic power or influence, developed as businesses take advantage of natural resources

Opium War

a conflict between Britain and China, lasting from 1839 to 1842, over Britain's opium trade in China

Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing)

peace treaty signed by China and Great Britain, ending the Opium War but also greatly restricting Chinese control over their own trade with western countries

Ethnic enclaves

Clusters or neighborhoods of people from the same foreign country, formed in major cities (Examples: Chinese in Southeast Asia or the Gold Rush, Indians in African like Gandhi)

Popular culture

Boxers, baseball players, vaudeville performers

Examples of Regulation of Immigration

1 Chinese Exclusion Act (United States)

2 Chinese Immigration Act (limited amount of Chinese in Australia)

Causes of the Imperial Age

1 Changes in the Standard of Living

2 Overseas expansion

3 Seeds of Revolution and Rebellion

Guano

Bird droppings used as fertilizer; a major trade item of Peru in the late nineteenth century

Cecil Rhodes

British entrepreneur and politician involved in the expansion of the British Empire from South Africa into Central Africa, diamond business, Prime Minister.

Afrikaners

Descendants of the Dutch settlers in the Cape Colony in southern Africa

corvee labor

unpaid labor required by a governing authority

Indentured Servants

Immigrants who received passage to America in exchange for a fixed term of labor

Kangani Policy

families were able to be indentured together to a colony to work (common with Indians in Southeast Asia)

Ceylon

Former name of Sri Lanka

Spheres of Influence

Areas in which countries have some political and economic control but do not govern directly (ex. Europe and U.S. in China)

Congo Free State

a large area in Central Africa that was privately controlled by Leopold II of Belgium. He was able to secretly treat the people of the colony very badly until he was forced to give it up.

Boxer Rebellion

A 1900 Uprising in China aimed at ending foreign influence in the country.

Siam

former name of Thailand, able to resist colonization

Penal Colony

a colony to which convicts are sent as an alternative to prison

Aborigine

The general named often used to describe the original inhabitants of Australia.

Maori

indigenous people of New Zealand

Spanish-American War

In 1898, a conflict between the United States and Spain, in which the U.S. supported the Cubans' fight for independence (Resulted in US getting remaining Spanish colonies in the Pacific & Atlantic)

Roosevelt Corollary

Addition to the Monroe Doctrine asserting America's right to intervene in Latin American affairs

The Great Game

Used to describe the rivalry and strategic conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire before WWI.

Balkan Peninsula

A large peninsula in southern Europe bounded by the Black, Aegean, and Adriatic seas. Many nationalist movements began here

Proclamation of 1763

law forbidding English colonists to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains

Indian Removal Act

1830, this act's provisions paved the way for the reluctant—and often forcible—emigration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West.

Tupac Amaru II

Mestizo leader of Indian revolt in Peru; supported by many in the lower social classes; revolt failed because of creole fears of real social revolution.

Ghost Dance

a religious dance of native Americans looking for communication with the dead, asking them to return and conquer the white settlers

Sepoy Rebellion

The revolt of Indian soldiers in 1857 against certain practices that violated religious customs; also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.

Jose Rizal

Filipino revolutionary leader who fought for sovereignty from the Spanish

Philippine Revolution

1899-1902: Rebels in Philippines fought US troops for 3 years trying to achieve independence.

Pan-Africanism

A movement that stressed unity among all Africans

Railroads

Were essential to westward expansion because they made it easier to travel to and live in the west

Steamships

greater storage capacity, lower cost, and easily follow regular schedule, better than clipper ships

Cash Crops

a crop produced for its commercial value rather than for use by the grower.

Export Economies

A function of international trade whereby goods produced in one country are shipped to another country for future sale or trade.

rubber

a tough elastic polymeric substance made from the latex of a tropical plant or synthetically.

De Beers Mining Company

Owned by British Cecil Rhodes, this company controlled up to 90% of the world's rough diamonds.

Monocultures

large areas of land with a single plant variety

Opium

substance derived from the poppy plant from which all narcotic drugs are derived

"banana republics"

small Central American countries under the economic power of foreign-based corporations

contract labor system

Labor sold on a contractual basis to private employers. Private employers provided the equipment and inmates made products to sell.

Great Famine

The result of four years of potato crop failure in the late 1840s in Ireland, a country that had grown dependent on potatoes as a dietary staple.

Diaspora

A dispersion of people from their homeland

emigrate

To leave one country or region and settle in another

colonial service

British government services

Colonization Society in Japan

its goal was to export Japan's surplus population and commercial goods by expanding their territory and colonies

ethnic enclave

A place with a high concentration of an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 law that prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers into the US

White Australia Policy

A policy that intentionally restricted non-white immigration to Australia

standard of living

level of economic prosperity