Age of European Imperialism – Flashcards

the political, social, and/or economic domination of an area and its people for the benefit of the dominating people and at the expense of those who are being controlled; the process often involves colonization, or the creation of spheres of influence

During the 1800s-1900s:

The COnquerors: England, France, Belgium, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, United States

The conquered: Asia and Africa

the three "g"'s : Goods, Glory, and God

industrial demands

ethnocentrism/racism

1851-1868

rebellion in Northeast China

reflected increasing poverty and discontent of the Chinese peasantry

areas controlled by foreign merchants

example: China

constructed 1859-1869 in Egypt

facilitated the building and maintenance of empires by enabling rapid transportation

modern Thailand

preserved its independence largely because colonial officials regarded it as a convenient buffer state between British-dominated Burma and French Indochina

The battle fought between Britain and Sudan on the Nile River, 1898

example of the military superiority of Europe

Great Britain profited a lot

Trade was illegal, but it continued unabated for decades.

drained large quantities of silver bullion from China, and created serious social problems in southern China

linked the Yangzi and Yellow river valleys in China

1842 (during the Opium Wars), a British armada of ships advanced up the Yangzi River. Resulted in the Chinese government suing for peace.

Japanese term for "wealthy cliques"

usually organized around one family

resulted from the Meiji government selling most of its enterprises to private investors who had close ties to government officials

Colony located at the southern tip of Africa and owned by the Dutch East India Company

captured by Britain during the Napoleonic Wars

originally European migrants or former Dutch East Indian Company employees who had settled into lands beyond company control to take up farming and ranching

believed that God had predestined them to claim the people and resources of the Cape

established in 1906 with the encouragement of the British government

dedicated to achieving independence for India

worried that Hindu oppression and continued subjugation of India's substantial Muslim minority might replace British rule.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), head of the Muslim League, proposed two states, one Hindu, one Muslim.

British joint-stock company that grew to be a state within a state in India.

It possessed its own armed forces (a small British army and a large number of Indian troops known as sepoys).

Chinese Dynasty (1644-1911)

The Opium War, Unequal Treaties, The Taiping Rebellion, The Self-Strengthening Movement, Spheres of Influence, The Hundred Days Reforms, The Boxer Rebellion

Caught between aggressive foreigners and insurgent rebels, Qing authorities developed reform programs to maintain social order, strengthen the state, and preserve the Qing Dynasty. However, the reforms had limited effect.

The first of China's unequal treaties, which curtailed China's sovereignty.

1842, Treaty of Nanjing ceded Hong Kong Island in perpetuity to Britain, opened five Chinese ports to commerce and residence, compelled the Qing government to extend most-favored-nation status to Britain, and granted extraterritoriality to British subjects

Rebellion (1850-1864) in Qing China led by Hong Xiuquan, during which twenty to thirty million were killed.

The rebellion was symbolic of the decline of China during the nineteenth century.

Restoration of imperial rule in Japan under Emperor Meiji in 1868 by a coalition led by Fukuzawa Yukichi and Ito Hirobumi; the restoration enacted western reforms to strengthen Japan.

brought an end to the Tokugawa shogunate, centralized political power, disbanded the old social order, revamped the tax system, established a constitutional monarchy with a legislature (the Diet), and remodeled the economy to improve national strength

Cohong : specially licensed Chinese firms that were under strict government regulation

In 1759 the Qianlong emperor restricted the European commercial presence in China to the waterfront at Guangzhou. Foreign merchants could only deal with cohongs.

In 1857 sepoy regiments recieved new Enfield rifles that fired bullets from cartridges, which came in paper waxed with animal fat. Both Hindu and Muslim sepoys were offended by the British disregard of their religions.

led to the Sepoy rebellion

large southeast Asia colony built between 1859 and 1893.

French colonial officials introduced European-style schools, sought to establish close ties with native elites, and encouraged conversion to Christianity.

colony established in the basin of the Congo River by Henry Morton Stanley

free-trade zone accessible to all European lands

brutal working conditions, high taxes, and abuses resulted in the death of four to eight million Africans

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt (in office 1901-1909) added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine because of increasing interests in Latin America (Panama Canal).

exerted the U.S. right to intervene in the domestic affairs of nations within the hemisphere if they demonstrated an inability to maintain the security deemed necessary to protect U.S. investments.

founded in 1885, with British approval, as a forum for educated Indians to communicate their views on public affairs to colonial officials

by the end of the nineteenth century, the congress openly sought Indian self-rule within a larger imperial framework.

Tsar of Russia, reigned 1855-1881

led an era of reform: emancipated the serfs, experimented with representative government (zemstvos), and revised the judiciary system

American commander who led a U.S. naval squadron into Tokyo Bay in 1853

demanded that the shogun open Japan to diplomatic and commercial relations and sign a treaty of friendship (Treaty of Kanagawa)

1864-1936, English writer and poet

defined the "white man's burden" as the duty of European and Euro-American peoples to bring order and enlightenment to distant lands

1841-1909, Meiji-era traveler

most important journey: 1882-1883, traveled to Europe to study foreign constitutions and administrative systems in preparation for the fashioning of a new Japanese government.

English philosopher and social Darwinist(1820-1903)

attempted to apply Darwinian "survival of the fittest" to the social and political realm

saw the elimination of weaker nations as part of a natural process and used the philosophy to justify war

Late-nineteenth-century Russian minister of finance who pushed for industrialization

1835-1908, effective ruler of China during the last fifty years of the Qing Dynasty

negatively affected the Self-Strengthening Movement by corruptly using funds for personal means

supported an antiforeign uprising known as the Boxer rebellion, which failed horribly

shogun's chief advisor

between 1841 and 1843, initiated measures to stem growing social and economic decline and to shore up the Tokugawa government

most of his reforms were ineffective, and they provoked strong opposition

British colonial administrator (1858-1945) who was the driving force behind the doctrine of indirect rule.

In his book,The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (1922), he stressed the moral and financial advantages of exercising control over subject populations through indigenous institutions.

French nobleman and scientific racist(1816-1882) who took race as the most important index of human potential

Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-1855)

attempted to justify racism by scientific means

considered the European race as the superior race

known as the incorruptible

In 1839, charged by the Chinese government with the task of destroying some 20,000 chests of opium

his uncompromising policy led to the Opium War

Japanese government headed by a military shogun

faced both foreign pressures and internal revolts during the mid-eighteenth century

after a brief civil war, the shogun resigned his office

English biologist (1809-1882)

The Origin of Species (1859)

became the inspiration for scientific racists known as social Darwinists

1853-1856, war between Russia and a coalition including Britain, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman empire

reason for war: Russia's attempt to establish a protectorate over the Ottoman empire threatened to upset the balance of power

clearly revealed the weakness of the Russian empire

Chinese reforms of 1898 led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao in their desire to turn China into a modern industrial power

Outraged by the Enfield rifles' greased cartridges, sepoys mutinied against British rule in India. They were soon joined by peasants and disgruntled elites.

War between Britian and Afrikaners (1899-1902)

Afrikaners ceded defeat in 1902, and by 1910 the British government reconstitued the four former colonies as provinces in the British-controlled Union of South Africa

In Tanganyika, a local prophet organized a large-scale rebellion (1905-1906) to expel German colonial authorities from east Africa.

example of the many rebellions that drew strength from traditional religious beliefs.

1839-1842, war between Britain and China over the legality of the opium trade

The Treaty of Nanjing

violent antiforeign movement spearheaded by militia units calling themselves the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists

Chinese attempt (1860-1895) to blend Chinese cultural traditions with European industrial technology.

brought only superficial change

War broke out as anticolonial tensions mounted in Cuba and Puerto Rico - the last remnants of Spain's American empire - where U.S. business interests had made large investments. The U.S. claimed sabotage on Spain after the sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine and declared war on Spain (1898-1899).

The U.S. easily defeated Spain and took possession of all of Spain's remaining colonies.

In 1894, Meiji Japan declared war against Qing China over the status of Korea. The Japanese army easily defeated the Chinese.

1895, Qing authorities were forced to accept an unequal treaty with Japan, recognizing Korea's independence and ceding territory to Japan.

"civilizing mission" : to bring subject peoples "civilization" in the form of political order and social stability

justification for French imperialist expansion into Africa and Asia