X. Key Terms and People to Memorize

Terms

• Imperialism: political, economic, military, cultural domination of weaker societies by stronger ones

• Colonialism: specific practice of settling and politically controlling foreign territory

• New Imperialism: the wave of imperial expansion from 1870 to 1914

• Sphere of influence: region in which one power has exclusive trading and investment privileges without direct rule

• Protectorate: local government required to follow imperial guidance on major matters

• Indirect rule: imperial governance through existing local rulers

• Settler colony: colony with substantial settler population from the imperial power

• Social Darwinism: misapplication of Darwinian evolution to human societies; used to justify racial and national domination

• White Man's Burden: Kipling's phrase capturing the supposed duty of Europeans to civilize non-Europeans

• Civilizing mission: the claim that imperialism brought civilization to backward peoples

• Berlin Conference (1884-85): European meeting that set rules for the partition of Africa

• Scramble for Africa: rapid European partition of Africa from 1880 to 1914

• Battle of Adwa (1896): Ethiopian victory over Italian invasion, preserving Ethiopian independence

• Boer War (1899-1902): British defeat of Dutch-descended settlers in South Africa

• Battle of Plassey (1757): East India Company victory that began British political dominance in India

• Sepoy Rebellion (1857): major Indian uprising against British rule, also called the Indian Rebellion

• British Raj: direct British government rule of India from 1858 to 1947

• Indian National Congress (1885): organization that became the principal vehicle of Indian nationalism

• Muslim League (1906): organization representing Indian Muslim political interests

• Opium Wars (1839-42, 1856-60): British (and later French) defeats of China that opened it to Western penetration

• Treaty of Nanjing (1842): first unequal treaty; ceded Hong Kong, opened treaty ports

• Unequal treaties: agreements imposed on China by foreign powers, granting them extraordinary privileges

• Extraterritoriality: exemption of foreigners in China from Chinese law

• Taiping Rebellion (1850-64): massive Chinese civil war that further weakened the Qing

• Hundred Days' Reform (1898): failed attempt to modernize Qing China on the Meiji model • Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901): anti-foreign Chinese movement crushed by international forces • Open Door Policy (1899-1900): U.S. policy advocating equal commercial access to China • Century of Humiliation: Chinese term for the era of foreign subjection roughly 1839-1949 • Suez Canal (1869): waterway connecting Mediterranean to Red Sea, dramatically shortening trip to Asia • Monroe Doctrine (1823): U.S. policy opposing European intervention in the Americas • Roosevelt Corollary (1904): U.S. assertion of right to intervene in Latin American countries • Spanish-American War (1898): brief war that transferred Spanish colonies to U.S. control

People • Cecil Rhodes: British imperialist in southern Africa, dreamed of Cape-to-Cairo railroad • King Leopold II: Belgian king who personally owned Congo Free State and presided over its brutal exploitation • Rudyard Kipling: British author of "The White Man's Burden" • Joseph Conrad: Polish-British author whose Heart of Darkness exposed Belgian brutality in Congo • Otto von Bismarck: hosted the Berlin Conference • Menelik II: Ethiopian emperor who defeated Italy at Adwa • Samori Toure: West African leader who resisted French expansion • Robert Clive: East India Company officer who won the Battle of Plassey • Queen Victoria: proclaimed Empress of India in 1877 • Bahadur Shah Zafar: last Mughal emperor, briefly figurehead of Sepoy Rebellion • Lin Zexu: Qing commissioner who destroyed British opium, triggering First Opium War • Empress Cixi: Qing dowager empress who blocked Hundred Days' Reform and briefly supported Boxers • Sun Yat-sen: Chinese revolutionary, founder of Republic of China, Three Principles of the People • Emperor Meiji: Japanese emperor under whom modernization and imperial expansion occurred • Theodore Roosevelt: U.S. president, mediated Russo-Japanese War, asserted Roosevelt Corollary • Emilio Aguinaldo: Filipino independence leader who fought first Spain then the United States • Chulalongkorn: Siamese king who modernized cautiously and preserved independence