People for Period 5 Test

King Leopold

King Leopold

King of Belgium from 1865 to 1909, his rule as private owner of the Congo Free State during much of that time is typically held up as the worst abuse of Europe's second wave of colonization, resulting as it did in millions of deaths.

Mary Wollstonecraft

A Vindication of the Rights of Women, women are not naturally inferior to men, but rather appear that way due to poor education and generational ideals causing women to be subservient.

John Locke

English philosopher, author of the defense of political liberalism, advocate for human knowledge, identity, and self hood.

Baron de Montesquieu

French enlightenment thinker, wrote "The Spirit of the Laws" talking of his ideas of government like checks and balances and the threes national branches

Voltaire

Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological, and educational thought.

Adam Smith

Scottish philosopher and an important part of the Scottish enlightenment, wrote The Wealth of Nations which stated that our individual need to fulfill self-interest resulted in societal benefit. He had the most systematic and comprehensive study of economics up to that time period, which resulted in modern economic structures being based on his ideas. He can be credited to being the founder of capitalism.

James Watt

Invented different types of steam engine that helped start the Industrial Revolution. To describe the efficiency of his engines, he coined the term 'horsepower' and devised a rev counter. Watt's inventions were not confined to engines.

Cecil Rhodes

Acquired territory and mining concessions for the advancement of the British Empire. In the European 'scramble for Africa', Cecil was focused on rapidly expanding British interests, at times it appeared at almost any cost, Prime Minister of Cape Colony

Tupac Amaru II

Leader of the largest uprising in colonial Spanish-American history which raged across the Andes from 1780-1783. It became more violent as it progressed, and also more radical, more antislavery, and more anti-Hispanic.

Eli Whitney

An American inventor who developed the cotton gin. Also contributed to the concept of interchangeable parts that were exactly alike and easily assembled or exchanged

Muhammad Ali

Ottoman governor and leader. He was born in modern day Greece and became prominent in the late 18th century. He was the governor of Egypt in 1805. He led many military campaigns in other regions, such as Sudan, Arabia, and Syria. He had a large role in modernizing and transforming Egypt in the 19th century.

Mahmud II

Ottoman sultan; built a private, professional army; fomented revolution of Janissaries and crushed them with private army; destroyed power of Janissaries and their religious allies; initiated reform of Ottoman Empire on Western precedents

Matthew Perry

A navy commander who, on July 8, 1853, became the first foreigner to break through the barriers that had kept Japan isolated from the rest of the world for 250 years. He delivered a letter from the US president, demanding that Japan open its ports to foreign trade. A year later, he returned for their reply, bringing some Western technology.

Dowager Cixi

Cixi supervised the Tongzhi Restoration, a series of moderate reforms that helped the regime survive until 1911. Although Cixi refused to adopt Western models of government, she supported technological and military reforms and the Self-Strengthening Movement.

David Livingstone

Scottish missionary doctor who explored southern and central Africa. His primary goal was to scout out locations for Christian missions, but he also traced the course of the Zambezi River, naming its greatest waterfall for the British Queen Victoria. He encountered Henry Morton Stanley. He led modest expeditions that posed no threat to anyone.

Karl Marx

German journalist and philosopher, founder of the Marxist branch of socialism. He is known for two books: Manifesto of the Communist Party and Das Kapital

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Leading figure of the early women's right's movement in the United States (1815-1902). She was instrumental in organizing the first women's rights conference, which took place in her hometown of Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848

Queen Victoria

British Queen, under whose rule the British empire reached the height of its wealth and power, forced to accept a new, virtually powerless role after the Chartist movement

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi was an Indian man. He became a lawyer and went to South Africa. While there, he saw the cruelties of British Imperialist rule and helped the South Africans organized protests and civil disobedience against the British. When Gandhi returned to Africa, he became the leader of the Indian Nationalist movement.