Why did they do that?
This belief held that nations with shared culture or history deserved their own state and often fueled imperial expansion.
What is nationalism?
Explanation: Nationalism created intense pride and competition, motivating nations like Japan and Germany to expand.
This medical breakthrough allowed Europeans to survive malaria in Africa.
What is quinine?
Explanation: Quinine reduced malaria deaths, enabling deeper European penetration into Africa.
Crops grown for profit rather than local consumption.
What are cash crops?
Explanation: Colonies prioritized exports like cotton and sugar instead of food crops.
A Native American spiritual movement promising the removal of white settlers.
What is the Ghost Dance?
Explanation: It inspired hope but led to violent repression like Wounded Knee.
Factors like poverty or war that force people to leave their homeland.
What are push factors?
Explanation: Examples include famine, violence, or lack of opportunity.
Urban neighborhoods formed by immigrants to preserve culture and support one another.
What are ethnic enclaves?
Explanation:
These communities helped immigrants survive discrimination.
This British company acted as the main agent of imperial rule in India before direct government control.
What is the British East India Company?
Explanation:
The British East India Company controlled trade, taxation, and even military forces in India. Its abuses and mismanagement eventually led Britain to dissolve company rule after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
This idea twisted Darwin’s theories to justify European domination of other peoples.
What is Social Darwinism?
Explanation: Europeans used this false science to claim racial superiority and justify imperial rule.
This invention allowed instant communication across empires.
What is the telegraph?
Explanation: Empires could communicate orders instantly, strengthening imperial control.
This agricultural practice focused on growing only one crop, harming soil and food security.
What is monoculture?
Explanation: Monocultures increased efficiency but caused famines and soil exhaustion.
A rebellion sparked by rifle cartridges offensive to Hindu and Muslim soldiers.
What is the Indian Rebellion of 1857/Sepoy Mutiny?
Explanation: Religious disrespect helped spark Indian nationalism.
Factors like jobs or land that attract migrants to new areas.
What are pull factors?
Explanation: Jobs, land, or religious freedom attracted migrants.
Governments encouraged immigration primarily to meet this economic need.
What is cheap industrial labor?
Explanation: Factories and railroads depended on immigrant workers.
This 1884–1885 meeting divided an entire continent among European powers without African participation.
What is the Berlin Conference?
Explanation:
European nations met to divide Africa to avoid war with each other, not to protect Africans. Artificial borders ignored ethnic and cultural boundaries, leading to long-term instability.
This factor pushed European nations to seek overseas colonies for raw materials and new markets.
What is industrialization?
Explanation: Factories needed raw materials (rubber, palm oil) and markets, pushing imperial expansion.
These transport systems lowered the cost of exporting raw materials from colonies.
What are railroads?
Explanation: Railroads moved goods cheaply from inland colonies to ports, benefiting imperial economies.
This company controlled about 90% of the world’s diamond production.
What is De Beers Mining Company?
Explanation: Cecil Rhodes used De Beers to dominate the diamond market and expand British power.
A Sudanese leader who resisted British and Egyptian rule.
Who is Muhammad Ahmad (the Mahdi)?
Explanation: He created an Islamic state resisting imperial control.
Forced unpaid labor used by colonial governments.
What is corvée labor?
Explanation: Colonized people worked without pay for imperial projects.
This event transformed Irish migration from temporary labor movement into permanent resettlement abroad.
What is the Irish Potato Famine?
Explanation: Crop failure, land policies, and mass starvation forced long-term migration, especially to the U.S.
Instead of formal colonization, European powers used this system to control China’s trade and economy.
What are spheres of influence?
Explanation:
China was not fully colonized, but European nations controlled ports, trade, and resources within designated regions. This preserved China politically while stripping it economically.
This religious motive argued Europeans had a moral duty to “civilize” non-Western societies.
What is the “civilizing mission” or religious duty?
Explanation: Missionaries believed spreading Christianity justified imperial control.
This ship technology helped European navies dominate Asian waters.
What are steamships?
Explanation: Steam power made European militaries faster and more reliable than traditional navies.
These nations were economically controlled by foreign corporations rather than formal governments.
What are banana republics?
Explanation: Countries like Honduras were controlled by companies such as United Fruit.
A female leader who led the final Asante rebellion against Britain.
Who is Yaa Asantewaa?
Explanation: She became a symbol of African resistance and female leadership.
The forced relocation of Native Americans to Oklahoma.
What is the Trail of Tears?
Explanation: It caused mass death during forced relocation.
This law marked the first time the U.S. restricted immigration based explicitly on race and nationality.
What is the Chinese Exclusion Act?
Explanation: It legally barred Chinese laborers and institutionalized racial exclusion in U.S. immigration policy.
This Asian power adopted Western industrial methods and used them to justify its own imperial expansion into Korea and Taiwan.
What is Japan?
Explanation: During the late 1800s, Japan industrialized rapidly after the Meiji Restoration. Rather than being colonized, Japan copied Western imperial practices, arguing that expansion was necessary for security and strength. This led to imperial control over Korea and Taiwan, showing that imperialism was not limited to Europe or the United States.
This late-19th-century belief system argued that powerful nations had the right and responsibility to dominate weaker societies because competition proved who was “fit to rule.”
What is Social Darwinism?
Explanation: Social Darwinism applied Charles Darwin’s ideas about natural selection to human societies. Imperial powers used it to argue that European and U.S. dominance was natural and justified, not immoral. This belief became one of the strongest ideological justifications for imperialism in Africa and Asia during the late 1800s.
This canal dramatically shortened trade routes between Europe and Asia.
What is the Suez Canal?
Explanation: It reduced travel time between Europe and Asia, increasing imperial trade and control.
This system describes foreign control of a country’s economy without direct political rule.
What is economic imperialism?
Explanation: Powerful nations controlled economies through trade, debt, and corporations.
A movement promoting unity among people of African descent worldwide.
What is Pan-Africanism?
Explanation: It promoted shared identity and resistance to imperialism.
A labor system that replaced slavery but often involved harsh contracts.
What is indentured servitude?
Explanation: Workers were bound by contracts, often under brutal conditions.
European demand for this resource drove extreme violence and forced labor in Central Africa.
What is rubber?
Explanation: Rubber extraction in the Congo relied on forced labor, mutilation, and terror to meet European demand.
Compare how imperial control differed between India, Africa, and China despite similar economic motives.
India was ruled directly (first by company, then crown),
Africa was partitioned into colonies through formal conquest,
China remained independent but economically dominated.
Explanation:
All three regions were exploited for resources and markets, but methods varied based on geography, resistance, and political structure.