Imperialism Vocab

Question 1

The policy or act of extending a country’s power into other territories or gaining control over another country’s politics or economics.

Answer 1

Imperialism

Question 2

A state that is controlled and protected by another.

Answer 2

Protectorate

Question 3

A country or area in which another country has power to affect developments although it has no formal authority.

Answer 3

Sphere of Influence

Question 4

The policy or practice on the part of people in positions of authority of restricting the freedom and responsibilities of those subordinate to them in the subordinates’ supposed best interest.

Answer 4

Paternalism

Question 5

A war (1899-1902) between the British and the Boers, Dutch farmers who had settled in southern Africa.

Answer 5

Boer War

Question 6

Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.

Answer 6

Racism

Question 7

Politics, especially international relations, as influenced by geographical factors.

Answer 7

Geopolitics

Question 8

The process whereby individuals or groups of differing ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society.

Answer 8

Assimilation

Question 9

The deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.

Answer 9

Genocide

Question 10

Something conceded or granted.

Answer 10

Concession

Question 11

A former practice in India whereby a widow threw herself on to her husband’s funeral pyre.

Answer 11

Sati

Question 12

An Indian soldier serving under British or other European orders.

Answer 12

Sepoy

Question 13

A ruler exercising authority in a colony on behalf of a sovereign.

Answer 13

Viceroy

Question 14

Discussion of the partitioning of Africa, establishing rules to amicably divide resources among the Western countries at the expense of the African people.

Answer 14

Berlin Conference

Question 15

The practice among women in certain Muslim and Hindu societies of living in a separate room or behind a curtain, or of dressing in all-enveloping clothes, in order to stay out of the sight of men or strangers.

Answer 15

Purdah

Question 16

The difference in value between a country’s imports and exports.

Answer 16

Balance of Trade

Question 17

The amount by which the value of a country’s exports exceeds the cost of its imports.

Answer 17

Trade Deficit

Question 18

The amount by which the cost of a country’s imports exceeds the value of its exports.

Answer 18

Trade deficit

Question 19

Two conflicts waged between China and Western powers during the mid-19th century.

Answer 19

Opium War

Question 20

A revolt against the Qing dynasty in China, fought with religious conviction over regional economic conditions, and lasting from 1850 to 1864.

Answer 20

Taiping Rebellion

Question 21

The conflict between Japan and China in 1894–95 that marked the emergence of Japan as a major world power and demonstrated the weakness of the Chinese empire.

Answer 21

Sino Japanese War

Question 22

Communication policy in which a manager, CEO, MD, president or supervisor leaves their office door “open” in order to encourage openness and transparency with the employees of that company.

Answer 22

Open Door Policy

Question 23

An anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists.

Answer 23

Boxer Uprising

Question 24

A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Answer 24

Socialism

Question 25

A German scholar of the nineteenth century; the originator of Marxism, the fundamental theory of communism.

Answer 25

Karl Max

Question 26

A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Answer 26

Communism

Question 27

Natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection.

Answer 27

Charles Darwin

Question 28

The theory that all the kinds of living things that exist today developed from earlier types.

Answer 28

Theory of Evolution

Question 29

The theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals. Now largely discredited, social Darwinism was advocated by Herbert Spencer and others in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was used to justify political conservatism, imperialism, and racism and to discourage intervention and reform.

Answer 29

Social Darwinism