Economic Imperialism
Independent but less developed nations controlled by private business interests rather than by other governments; examples include British East India Company influence in India, Banana Republics in Honduras
Social Darwinism
The application of ideas about evolution and "survival of the fittest" to human societies - particularly as a justification for their racism and imperialist expansion
Civilizing Mission
the concept that Western nations could bring "advanced" science and economic development to non-Western parts of the world that justified imperial administration; included notion that colonialism was a duty for Europeans and a benefit for the colonized.
White Man's Burden
idea that Europeans had a duty to spread their religion and culture to those "less civilized;" originally coined by a British poet and writer named Rudyard Kipling in his poem of the same name
Belgian Congo
Exploited by Leopold II at Belgium under the Berlin Act, Leopold was supposed to act as a trustee. He violated the agreement and stripped the country of its resources and mutilated its people
Settler Colony
Large numbers of people come to the colonies to live in the colony and establish a permanent presence. Britain established these including Jamestown and New Zealand
Xhosa Cattle Killing Movement
Pivotal movement that weakened the Xhosa and ushered in a new era of colonial expansion and domination of South Africa by the British. The prophecy was that killing all cattle would bring back ancient chiefs and ancestors; an example of an indigenous rebellion against European imperial expansion
Ghost Dance Movement
The last effort of Native Americans to resist US domination and drive whites from their ancestral lands, often viewed as an indigenous religious movement.
Indian Revolt of 1857
Also called the Indian's first War of Independence, the Great Rebellion, Indian Mutiny, or the Sepoy Mutiny and began in 1857 as a mutiny of Sepoys (soldiers) of the British East Indian Company army; was ended by British military and resulted in full British control of India and loss of British East India Company's power
Opium Wars
wars between Great Britain and China, began as a conflict over the opium trade as GB illegally imported opium produced in the Middle East and South Asia in hopes of forcing trade with China; ended with the Chinese treaty to the British- the opening of 5 Chinese ports to foreign merchants, and the grant of other commercial and diplomatic privileges
Boxer Rebellion
1899 rebellion in Beijing, China started by a secret society of Chinese who opposed the "foreign devils". The rebellion was ended by British troops; led to decreased power and influence of the Qing Dynasty
Taiping Rebellion
(1850-1864) A revolt by the people of China against the ruling Manchu Dynasty because of their failure to deal effectively with the opium problem and the interference of foreigners.
Spheres of Influence in China
an area where a foreign nation controlled economic developments such as railroad construction and mining; occurred in China after the Opium Wars
ethnic enclave
A place with a high concentration of an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area; a result of migration movements driven by industrialization
Chinese Exclusion Act
(1882) The US denied any Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.
White Australia Policy
Before 1973, a set of stringent Australian limitations on nonwhite immigration to the country. It has been largely replaced by a more flexible policy today; a reaction to migrations driven by industrialization
Cecil Rhodes
British entrepreneur and politician involved in the expansion of the British Empire from South Africa into Central Africa. The colonies of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) were named after him; representative of African imperialism in the 19th century
Treaty of Nanjing
1842, ended Opium Wars in China and led to diminished Chinese political and economic power; set up 5 treaty ports where westerners could live, work, and be treated under their own laws; one of these was Hong Kong.
British East India Company
A joint stock company that controlled most of India during the period of imperialism. This company controlled the political, social, and economic life in India for more than 200 years.
Berlin Conference
A meeting from 1884-1885 at which representatives of European nations agreed on rules to colonize Africa
Imperialism
A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries politically, socially, and economically.
Nationalism
Loyalty and devotion to a particular nationality
Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)
The Sino-Japanese War of 1884 to 1895 and the subsequent harsh peace treaty revealed China's helplessness in the face of aggression, triggering a rush for foreign concessions and protectorates in China.
Formosa
Former name of Taiwan
Phrenology
the detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities.
Charles Darwin
English naturalist. He studied the plants and animals of South America and the Pacific islands, and in his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) set forth his theory of evolution.
David Livingstone
Scottish missionary and explorer who discovered the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls (1813-1873) and who hoped to open the African interior to trade and Christianity to end slavery
Dutch East India Company
Government-chartered joint-stock company that controlled the spice trade in the East Indies.
King Leopold II
King of Belgium (r. 1865-1909). He was active in encouraging the exploration of Central Africa and became the infamous ruler of the Congo Free State (to 1908), and set off a scramble among European powers for African colonies in the late 1800s
Empress Dowager Cixi
Empress of China and mother of Emperor Guangxi. She put her son under house arrest, supported anti-foreign movements like the so-called Boxers, and resisted reforms of the Chinese government and armed forces.
Sierra Leone and Liberia
African nations founded by former slaves freed from European and North American enslavement
Gold Coast
Region of the Atlantic coast of West Africa occupied by modern Ghana; named for its gold exports to Europe from the 1470s onward.
Cape Colony
Dutch colony established at Cape of Good Hope in 1652 initially to provide a coastal station for the Dutch seaborne empire; by 1770 settlements had expanded sufficiently to come into conflict with Bantus.
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.
Abyssinia
modern-day Ethiopia, one of only two independent nations in Africa during the European Colonial Age - managed to successfully prevent Italian colonization
Ceylon
Former name of Sri Lanka, an island in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of India, was a colony of Britain during the Colonial Age
Dutch East Indies
Colony controlled by the Dutch East India company exported cash crops of sugar, tea, coffee, and tobacco, plus rubber and tin making it a valuable colony
Indochina
a French colony comprised of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam; it won independence from France in 1954
Malaya
British colony conquered in the 1870s which provided abundant supplies of tin rubber
Siam
known today as Thailand, Siam remained relatively independent during through the nineteenth century because they served as a buffer between the colonies of Britain and France in Indochina.
Treaty of Waitangi
The treaty signed by the British and Maori in 1840 giving Britain control over New Zealand.
Scramble for Africa
Term given for the rapid invasion of Africa by the various European powers. This began imperialism in Africa. - Sudden wave of conquests in Africa by European powers in the 1880s and 1890s. Britain obtained most of eastern Africa, France most of northwestern Africa. Other countries (Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain) acquired lesser amounts.
Monroe Doctrine
1823 - Declared that Europe should not interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere and that any attempt at interference by a European power would be seen as a threat to the U.S. It also declared that a New World colony which has gained independence may not be recolonized by Europe. (It was written at a time when many South American nations were gaining independence). Mostly just a show of nationalism, the doctrine had no major impact until later in the 1800s.
Manifest Destiny
A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.
Roosevelt Corollary
Roosevelt's 1904 extension of the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States has the right to protect its economic interests in South And Central America by using military force
Great Game
a struggle between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for control of Central Asia in the 19th century.
concentration camp
a camp where prisoners of war, political prisoners, or members of minority groups are confined, typically under harsh conditions
penal colony
a colony to which convicts are sent as an alternative to prison
Boer War (1899-1902)
fought between the British and Afrikaners; British victory and post-war policies left Africans under Afrikaner control.
Seven Years War
(1756-1763 CE) Known also as the French and Indian war. It was the war between the French and their Indian allies and the English that proved the English to be the more dominant force of what was to be the United States both commercially and in terms of controlled regions.
Spanish-American War
In 1898, a conflict between the United States and Spain, in which the U.S. supported the Cubans' fight for independence
corvee labor
type of annual tax that is payable by labor. Used to complete state projects and to maintain roads and public facilities. Originally used in feudal societies.
Settler Colonies
Colonies in which the colonizing people settled in large numbers, rather than simply spending relatively small numbers to exploit the region; particularly noteworthy in the case of the British colonies in North America, New Zealand, Algeria, Kenya, and Hawaii
Afrikaners
South Africans descended from Dutch and French settlers of the seventeenth century. Their Great Trek founded new settler colonies in the nineteenth century. Though a minority among South Africans, they held political power after 1910.
Maori
New Zealand indigenous culture established around 800 CE
Colonization Society
Founded in 1816, encouraged owners to free their African slaves and pay to send them back to Africa
Indian Territory
an area covering most of present-day Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Nebraska to which most Native Americans in the Southeast were forced to move in the 1830s
Trail of Tears
The Cherokee Indians were forced to leave their lands. They traveled from North Carolina and Georgia through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas-more than 800 miles (1,287 km)-to the Indian Territory. More than 4, 00 Cherokees died of cold, disease, and lack of food during the 116-day journey.
Quinine
a drug used for fighting malaria and other fevers
Suez Canal
Ship canal dug across the isthmus of Suez in Egypt, designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps. It opened to shipping in 1869 and shortened the sea voyage between Europe and Asia. Its strategic importance led to the British conquest of Egypt in 1882.
Tupac Amaru II
(1738-1781) Mestizo leader of Indian revolt in Peru; supported by many among lower social classes; revolt eventually failed because of Creole fears of real social revolution
Jose Rizal
Filipino revolutionary leader who fought for sovereignty from the Spanish
Usman dan Fodio
scholar who inspired resistance against corruption and European control; began an Islamic revival/revolt in northern Nigeria
Samory Toure
leader of Malinke peoples in West Africa who formed an army that fought against French for 15 years and proclaimed himself king of Guinea
Muhammad Ahmad
Muslim cleric, Mahdi, led a revolt in 1881 that gave him control over much of Sudan, British sent an army to overthrow but they were overthrown
Yaa Asantewaa
queen of the Asantes that led the fight against the British in the last Asante war, took power after the king was exiled
Balkan Peninsula
A large peninsula in southern Europe bounded by the Black, Aegean, and Adriatic seas, nick-named the "Powder Keg of Europe"
Vietnam
Former French colony, part of French Indochina
Philippines
Spanish colony in the Pacific whom the US helped free from the Spanish, but soon after took as their own colony
Sokoto Caliphate
Founded in 1809 by Uthman dan Fodio, this African state was based on Islamic history and law.
Sudan
Formerly a British colony in northern Africa
Asante Empire
Established in Gold Coast among Akan people settled around Kumasi; dominated by Oyoko clan; many clans linked under Osei Tutu after 1650.
Philippine Revolution
The Philippine Revolution, also called the Tagalog War by the Spanish, was a revolution and subsequent conflict fought between the people and insurgents of the Philippines and the Kingdom of Spain
Philippine-American War
armed conflict between the Philippines and the United States from 1899-1902. It was a continuation of the Philippine struggle for independence. The Philippines declared war on the US and it became a savage conflict with guerrilla warfare. Villages were destroyed, civilians were murdered, and prisoners were tortured. The war ended when Aguinaldo surrendered in 1902.
Maori Wars
A series of wars that took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand government and the native Maori people
Anglo-Zulu War (1879)
War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. From complex beginnings, the war is notable for several particularly bloody battles, as well as for being a landmark in the timeline of colonialism in the region. The war ended the Zulu nation's independence.(1879)
Treaty of Paris 1898
The treaty that concluded the Spanish American War, Commissioners from the U.S. were sent to Paris on October 1, 1898 to produce a treaty that would bring an end to the war with Spain after six months of hostility. From the treaty America got Guam, Puerto Rico and they paid 20 million dollars for the Philippines. Cuba was freed from Spain.
Proclamation of 1763
A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.
Indian National Congress
group formed by Hindu nationalist leaders of India in the late 1800s to gain greater democracy and eventual self-rule
Cherokee Nation
Native American tribe that was forced to leave their land because of the Indian Removal Act
Aborigines
Native people of Australia
Xhosa
a member of a South African people traditionally living in the Eastern Cape Province. They form the second largest ethnic group in South Africa after the Zulus.
Mahdi
a Muslim savior of the faith
Pan-Africanism
the principle or advocacy of the political union of all the indigenous inhabitants of Africa.
Sepoy
An Indian soldier serving under British command.
Raj
British rule after India came under the British crown during the reign of Queen Victoria
Guano
Bird droppings used as fertilizer; a major trade item of Peru in the late nineteenth century
Cotton
The plant that produces fibers from which many textiles are woven. Native to India, it spread throughout Asia and then to the New World. It has been a major cash crop in various places, including early Islamic Iran, Korea, Egypt, and the US
Rubber
a tough elastic polymeric substance made from the latex of a tropical plant or synthetically.
Palm Oil
A West African tropical product often used to make soap; the British encouraged its cultivation as an alternative to the slave trade.
Ivory
hard white material made from elephant tusks
De Beers Mining Company
Owned by British Cecil Rhodes, this company controlled up to 90% of the world's rough diamonds.
Cash crop
a crop produced for its commercial value rather than for use by the grower.
export economy
A type of economy in which goods are produced mainly for export rather than for domestic use
Monoculture
farming strategy in which large fields are planted with a single crop, year after year
railroad
a track or set of tracks made of steel rails along which passenger and freight trains run.
Steamship
The 19th century had new forms of transportation. This new type of water transportation used steam instead of sails.
telegraph
A device for rapid, long-distance transmission of information over an electric wire. It was introduced in England and North America in the 1830s and 1840s.
apartheid
Laws (no longer in effect) in South Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.
Spice Islands
Europeans' name for the Moluccas, islands rich in cloves and nutmeg