Imperialism and Migration Flashcards

Wars and Rebellions

• Indigenous groups would awaken their ancestral dead to expel white settlers, leading to wars with the US.
• The US military ultimately crushed these rebellions.
• Coastal cattle killing movement in South Africa (mentioned but not detailed).

Imperial Powers and the Global Economy

• Big Idea: The need for raw materials and increased food supply transformed the global economy.

Shift from Subsistence to Cash Crop Farming

• Subsistence Farming: Growing food for personal/family survival, selling any surplus locally.
• Cash Crop Farming: Growing crops primarily for export (coffee, rubber, sugar, etc.).

Examples of Cash Crop Economies

• Uruguay & Argentina: Cattle ranching boomed to meet European & American beef demand.
• Peru & Chile: Guano extraction (bird poop) for fertilizer.
  • Guano served the needs of imperial hubs.

Colonial Economies

• Transformed to serve urban centers in imperial hubs rather than local populations.
• Imperial powers organized economies around specific cash crops (cotton, rubber, palm oil).

Economic Imperialism

• Big Idea: Industrialized states and businesses practiced economic imperialism primarily in Asia and Latin America.

Definition

• Economic Imperialism: One country wields significant economic power over another.
• Differs from traditional colonialism (political and physical control).

Example: Britain and China & The Opium Wars

• Trade Imbalance: Britain had a trade deficit with China.
• Opium Smuggling: Britain smuggled opium into China to reverse the trade deficit.
  • Opium addiction in China solved Britain's trade problems.
• Chinese Reaction: Chinese leaders banned opium and destroyed shipments.
• Opium Wars: British retaliation led to the Opium Wars.
• British Victory: Britain won due to superior industrial capacity.
  • Industrialized powers had a distinct advantage.
• Results of Opium Wars:
  • Britain forced China to open trading ports.
  • Free trade agreement imposed on China.
• Economic Imperialism: Britain controlled China economically (but not politically).

Spheres of Influence

• Other industrialized nations (Japan, France, Germany, Russia, US) sought trading rights in China.
• China was divided into spheres of influence, with each power having exclusive trading rights within its sphere.

Economic Advantage

• Imperial powers organized economies to their economic advantage.

Migration

• Big Idea: Environmental and economic factors contributed to migration patterns between 1750 and 1900.

Reasons for Migration

• Driven by industrialization and globalization.

1. Work

• New Labor Systems:
  • Slavery being outlawed led to new labor systems.
  • Indentured Servitude: Workers agreed to work for a set number of years to pay for passage to a new location.
    • After the servitude was over the worker was free to remain or leave, some would remain with cultural diffusion as a result.
  • Asian Contract Laborers: Chinese and Indian workers employed post-British abolishment of the slave trade in 1806. Workers were paid extremely low wages.
  • Penal Colonies: Convicts sent for hard labor (e.g., Australia by the British).

2. Bad Conditions at Home

• India: Poverty led to mass migration.
  • British offered indentured servitude opportunities in Mauritius and other colonies.
• Ireland: Irish Potato Famine (1845) caused hunger and death, leading to mass immigration to America.
  • Irish immigrants worked in factories and helped build railroads.

Patterns of Settlement

• Immigrants settled in large cities, contributing to urbanization trend.
• Ethnic Enclaves: Areas within cities reflecting the immigrants' culture, language, and character, further spreading cultural diffusion.

Reception in New Places

• Discrimination faced by immigrants.
• Racist Legislation:
  • White Australia Policy.
  • Chinese Exclusion Act (United States).