Column 1 Flashcards
Joint Stock Company
Joint-stock companies allowed companies to have multiple investors and shareholders to mitigate financial risk in the company. For example, the British East India Company of South Asia in the 17th century was able to use joint-stock to create a global trading network that brought in massive profit and monopolized goods and power.
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was the belief that it was God’s will to expand territory and political control westward across North America. The United States cited Manifest Destiny as the reason for violent and intrusive expansion in the 19th century. The United States took this idea and applied it to global imperialism such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico.
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin, a British scientist, traveled to parts of South America in the mid-late 19th century where he developed his theory of natural selection. This theory that species evolved based on natural conditions and not by means of Biblical creation sparked the social Darwinism movement, in which groups justified the domination of weak nations, specifically the European domination of African and Asian nations.
Natural Selection
Late 19th century, British biologist, Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection was the idea that species are more likely to pass down traits to future generations based on the survivability of that adaptation. This sparked the social Darwinism movement in which powerful nations such as the Europeans justified scientific racism and the domination of African and Asian nations by citing that they were “more evolved”. It also did spark new exploration into what we know as genetics today.
Raj
Raj is the period of rule by the British of South Asia following the Rebellion of 1857, in which the British wanted to make India into a more secure and productive colony. They modernized transportation, communication systems, and public works. This provided a model for other imperialist governments by developing the colony’s infrastructure in a way that maximized British trade without granting rights and proper treatment to the native peoples.
Meiji Restoration
During the Reign of Emperor Mutsuhito from 1868-1912, the Meiji Restoration was a time when the new Meiji government of Japan promoted a political community that stressed linguistic and ethnic homogeneity, as well as superiority, of the Japanese people. This movement rejected the idea that Japanese should adopt western practices because Westerners such as Americans, Dutch, and British were manipulating the former government in order to have access to ports, limit Japanese tariffs, and be exempt from laws. They were able to transform the economy after banning the feudal system and unifying currency.
Self-Strengthening Movement
The Self-Strengthening Movement was an attempt by Chinese bureaucrats in the late 19th century to adopt western elements of learning and technological skill, such as coal mines and schools for learning foreign ways, while attempting to keep the core of Chinese culture intact. As the Russians and Japanese were scrambling to copy European imperialism, China was much slower because they had to focus on internal revolts and threats from their northern borders. The movement was ineffective as too many critics felt that machinery would lead to unemployment, railways would provide avenues for invasion, and technological changes would disturb the balance between humans and nature.
