The Age of Imperialism Flashcards
What is Nationalism?
a strong feeling of love and devotion to a country, and the belief that a nation’s interests are more important than other individual or group interests
What is Imperialism?
The policy of one’s country’s political, economic, or cultural domination over other lands and territories.
Colony vs. Protectorate vs. Sphere of Influence
Colony: the imperial power directly controls another country or region
Protectorate: the imperial power influences trade and foreign affairs, but the country or region has its own government
Sphere of Influence: the imperial power has exclusive trade and investment rights in the country or region
Motives for Imperialism (RIPEE):
Religious: spreading Christianity
Idealogical: spread ideas, education, and culture (The White Man’s Burden)
Political: power and influence
Economic: money and trade
Exploratory: new land and resources
What is the White Man’s Burden?
the belief that white people had a duty to manage and civilize non-white people, and to promote their economic, social, and cultural progress through colonialism.
What is Social Darwinism?
the theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest was adopted by European countries, leading them to believe they were superior to other races and that conquering their land was justified.
Imperialism in Australia:
Indigenous people: Aborigines
The British claimed Australia and the Doctrine of Tetra Nullius seized all Australian land for the British. The Aboriginal population was decimated by disease and warfare. Gold was discovered.
Imperialism in New Zealand:
Indigenous people: Maori
Europeans arrived in New Zealand to hunt whales and seals but began to settle permanently by the 1840s. The Maori population died. The Treaty of Waitangi took all Maori land. The British exported raw materials.
Who colonized India?
The British conquered India.
Imperialism in Asia:
From 1800 and 1887 the Dutch, British, and French claimed extensive colonies to guarantee access to trade with China.
- Thailand left independent
- U.S. claimed the Philippines to protect trade with China
- Japan and China fought for influence over Korea, and Japan won and obtained Taiwan (now called)
- Japan and Russia fought for Korean ports, and Japan won so Korea became a protectorate of Japan
- China was divided into spheres of influence by the major industrial powers
- The colonizers made a profit by the export of raw materials to the mother country off the backs of peasant plantation workers. The peasants were hardly paid and heavily taxed.
- Although early resistors to the colonizers failed, young people who spkoe Eureopen languages and government began to organize against foreign rule
Imperialism in Africa:
Economics, raw materials, trade routes, and nationalism drove the scramble for Africa between 1884 and 1914. Belgium conquered Congo and had to meet a quota of rubber, copper, and ivory to get paid by their king
- many hands were cut off to prove that the army was not wasting ammunition
French Indochina:
the French colonies of
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
Impacts of Imperialism:
- Benefits: economy developed, more jobs, the introduction of railroads, telegraphs, roads
- Disadvantages: broke traditional patterns of life, low wages, and exploitation
- Political change: forced to adopt European abstract “right or wrong”
- Economic change: profit off colonies wherever possible; tapped into resources, minerals, or developed cash crops; export of cash crops for manufactured goods dependent on market
- Growth of a money economy: governing colony was costly; cash taxes; sell labor; servants, shipped off, etc
- Social and cultural change: before, people produced or traded for needed goods; needed cash for the growing economy, took far away jobs, families moved to cities, converted to Christianity
- Improvements bring benefits: economy developed, more jobs, the introduction of railroads, telegraphs, roads
- and disadvantages: broke traditional patterns of life, low wages, and exploitation
What was the Berlin Conference (1884 -1885)?
To prevent war over African land, the major European countries met to declare they had to physically claim land.
- Only Liberia and Ethiopia remained independent
Hinduism:
- polytheistic
- obtain freedom from reincarnation
- caste system
- cows are protected
- never eat food prepared by muslim
