Imperialism

Chapter 12 Vocabulary

Building Overseas Empires

Imperialism occurs when a stronger nation conquers or takes over a weaker region or nation and dominates its cultural, economic, or political life. The area that is taken over is called a COLONY. During the 1800s (19th century) and the early 1900s many European nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy took over lands in Africa and in Asia.

Why did nations do this? There were quite a few reasons why a nation would want to be imperialist.

• European nations wanted raw materials or natural resources like coal, iron, and tin in order to make goods in their factories.
• European nations were NATIONALISTIC and wanted to demonstrate their power and prestige to the rest of the world.
• They wanted BALANCE OF POWER. They needed to compete with the other nations acquiring colonies.
• Europeans had a sense of superiority. They felt obligated to "civilize the heathen savages" they encountered.
• Supported by the idea of SOCIAL DARWINISM. The idea that it was natural for strong countries (European nations) to take over weaker countries (Africa and Asia).

As you can see in the map below, many European nations as well as the United States possessed colonies and were considered imperialist nations in 1908.

The Partition in Africa

Known as the "Scramble for Africa", over 90% of Africa was taken over by European countries that raced to take over the continent. It began in the 1870s by King Leopold of Belgium. He wanted trade agreements with the leaders in the Congo Basin. The Belgian presence in the Congo set off a scramble among other European powers to establish their presence on the continent. In 1884, to avoid conflict among themselves, European leaders met in Berlin, Germany to set up rules for colonizing Africa. It was known as the Berlin Conference. European powers divided Europe with little regard for the people who lived there. By 1870, most of Africa was under European rule. To learn more about African Imperialism, please watch this video from Discovery Education on African Imperialism and check out this Google Presentation below.

This map below really allows you to see how heavily Europe dominated the activities on the entire continent of Africa. It also has inset two other maps that are important. The top inset map shows you the traditional ethnic boundaries in Africa. Notice how Europe completely ignored them. That will cause major issues with groups being forced to associate that do not share the same culture and language. The inset map at the bottom shows a comparison of colonialism prior to the Berlin Conference. Most European colonies in Africa were on the cost and were small geographically.

African Resistance

In the map below, you are able to see the numerous resistance movements that occurred in Africa. European domination was not accepted. However, the superior military weapons prevented the Africans from maintaining control of their land. It goes with the saying "you cannot bring a knife to a gun fight." African spears did not beat European rifles.

The British take over India

India was taken over by Great Britain or England for nearly 200 years. While under British control, India was left to grow cash crops such as cotton and jute. This led to deforestation or the cutting down of trees. In addition, Indians were forced to buy English made goods such as mass produced textiles. This destroyed hand made woven items that was a large industry in India up to this point.

China and the New Imperialism

The British wanted to be able to have a FAVORABLE BALANCE OF TRADE with China. This meant that they needed to have China buy a large amount of product from the British. The Chinese had no interest in trading. So the British had to create a market. They did it by importing Indian OPIUM to China. After the British began smuggling in OPIUM, an addictive drug, into China, the Chinese fought back in the Opium Wars. To learn more about Chinese Imperialism, view these Google Slides.

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Boxer Rebellion in China

In the Boxer Rebellion, China tried but failed to gain independence from the various Western nations that controlled them.

Chapter 13 Vocabulary

Japan Modernizes

The Meiji Reformers were determined to strengthen Japan against the West. Members of the government traveled abroad learn about Western government, economics, technology, and customs. In addition, foreign experts were invited to Japan as well. To learn more about the transformation of Japan from feudalism to being modern, view the google presentation below.

Imperialism in South East Asia and the Pacific

Regents Review for Imperialism