Chapter 24: Global Links and Imperialism, 1750-1900 Flashcards
Great Game
The Russian-British rivalry for power in Central Asia.
imperialism
Under economic and political motives, Western European countries targeted lands in Africa and Asia to add to their empires. The US targeted Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Russia expanded east- and- southward. The Russian-British rivalry for Central Asia was known as the Great Game. Japan targeted East Asia.
Scramble for Africa
In Western Europe, building an empire was one way for a country to compete for power and assert its national identity in the global arena. Europe’s “Scramble for Africa” epitomized competition for colonies out of economic desires and wishes to outdo each other. These countries included GB, Germany, FR, Belgium, IT, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
sepoys
Sepoys were Indian soldiers under employ in the British colonial army.
sepoy mutiny
The Sepoy Mutiny broke out amongst Hindu and Muslim soldiers who believed that their rifle cartridges had been greased with the fat of cows and pigs. They were convinced that the British were trying to convert them to Christianity, and violently lashed out against British settlers and officials.
Raj
The British Raj was the colonial government which was in charge of India until its independence in 1947. The Raj took its orders directly from the British gov’t in London.
King Leopold II
King Leopold II of Belgium oversaw the invasion and pacification of Congo in central Africa. He owned the colony personally and kept the $1 billion profits made by the Congo Free State. The conditions were brutal for the laborers who were forced to harvest rubber. Congolese workers received no payment and if they refused to work, Leopold’s agents would sever their hands to terrorize others into submission. Workers who couldn’t meet their quotas were beaten or killed. Their spouses were held captive so that workers wouldn’t run away. After Belgium took control of the Congo as a regular colony, though, conditions improved.
Congo Free State
King Leopold II of Belgium oversaw the invasion and pacification of Congo in central Africa. He owned the colony personally and kept the $1 billion profits made by the Congo Free State. The conditions were brutal for the laborers who were forced to harvest rubber. Congolese workers received no payment and if they refused to work, Leopold’s agents would sever their hands to terrorize others into submission. Workers who couldn’t meet their quotas were beaten or killed. Their spouses were held captive so that workers wouldn’t run away. After Belgium took control of the Congo as a regular colony, though, conditions improved.
Berlin Conference
Fierce competition among European nations led to this conference on the future of Africa. Its purpose was not to divide Africa among the major Western powers, but to set rules for establishing colonies there. However, it was clear that European powers were preparing to seize more land in Africa for colonies. No African representatives were invited to the conference.
Though the borders drawn in the conference initially were artificial and did not impact the people who lived within them, the borders eventually became significant. The borders tore apart unified societies or placed rival groups under the same colonial gov’t. This would lead to increased division and 20th century civil wars.
Abyssinia
By 1900, there were only two African countries unclaimed by Europeans. Of these two was Abyssinia in modern-day Ethiopia. Italy attempted to conquer Abyssinia, but the native forces were too strong for the Italians.
Liberia
By 1900, there were only two African countries unclaimed by Europeans. Of these two was Liberia, a country founded by formerly enslaved people from the US. Because Liberia had a dependent relationship with the US, it was not fully independent.
Zulu Kingdom
The British fought this kingdom located on the South African coast of the Indian Ocean in the Anglo-Zulu War. While this war initially favored the Zulus, the British eventually defeated them and added the Zulu Kingdom to the British colonial empire.
Anglo-Zulu War
The British fought the Zulu Kingdom located on the South African coast of the Indian Ocean in the Anglo-Zulu War. While this war initially favored the Zulus, the British eventually defeated them and added the Zulu Kingdom to the British colonial empire.
Boer Wars
These conflicts between the British and Afrikaners for land were bloody and brutal. In the end, the British army drove the Afrikaners and the Africans from their lands, forcing many into refugee camps, or concentration camps, that were segregated by race. Medical care and sanitation were very poor and food rations were so meager that many of the interned died of starvation.
Roosevelt Corollary
The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine stated that if Latin American countries demonstrated “instability,” the US would feel free to intervene. Indeed, Roosevelt sent US troops to occupy the Dominican Republic in 1904 until it repaid its foreign debts.
Indian National Congress
Elite groups of Asians and Africans were educated in European schools where they learned about Enlightenment ideals like natural rights, sovereignty, and nationalism. They eventually used the education that imperialism provided them to drive out their conquerors. In South Asia, such intellectuals established the Indian National Congress in 1885. Though it began as a form for airing grievances to the colonial gov’t, the Congress eventually fought for self-rule.
Pan-Africanism
By the end of WWI, Western-educated Africans had developed a sense of shared identity and nationalism known as Pan-Africanism.
export economics
Instead of serving their own economic interests, colonies were turned into export economies, meaning that the goods they produced were sent to colonial powers to sell for profit, rather than used domestically. The thirst for natural resources led to the development of cash crops in the colonies.
cash crops
Due to the thirst for natural resources from export economics, cash crops developed within the colonies. They included tea, cotton, sugar, palm oil, rubber, and coffee. If a crop was particularly profitable, the colonized nation was forced to produce that crop in mass quantities at the expense of other agricultural products. This led to monocultures, or a lack of agricultural diversity, particularly in African nations.
tea
The Dutch East India Company brought tea from China to Europe, making it a profitable crop for the British, who introduced tea plantations to South Asia later on. Tea became a cash crop in southern India and in Ceylon.
Cecil Rhodes
British-born Cecil Rhodes, founder of De Beers Diamonds, was enthusiastic about investing in a railroad project that was to stretch from Cape Town to Cairo. It was supposed to connect all of the British-held colonies and act as a transportation network which could extract as many resources as possible from subject lands while paying colonial laborers as little as possible. The project was never completed because the British never gained control over all the land on which the railroad was to be built.
Goa
Portugal controlled a coastal trading post in the southwestern state of Goa.
Pondicherry
France controlled a city named Pondicherry in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu.
corvee laborers
The Suez Canal connected the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, shortening the route to Asia from Europe. This canal was ordered by a French company who used Egyptian corvee laborers, who were forced, unpaid workers. As many as 1.5 million of them were forced to work on the canal; thousands died over the course of ten years.
