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Period: Mar 15, 1450 to
Old Imperialism
This was the old idea of imperialism, where the Europeans would come in, guns, blazing, and kill some natives to set up a foreign empire for the glory of king and country. Eventually, of course, this stops working and/or being practical. -
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Robert Clive
Robert Clive was the British offier who secured much of India for the British Crown and the British East India company. He was the first military leader to really crush the native rajahs and princes to lead British forces to victory. -
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David Livingstone
He was a missionary-explorer-geographer-doctor who traveled through the interior of Africa and discovered things (general, I know). He spent a lot of time searching for the source of the Nile, but he ended up getting really sick and dying instead. -
Algeria
The French began their occuptation of Algeria in 1830 and continued for quite a while. They then used Algeria as their main Africa territory and used it to springboard to the rest of Northwest Africa. -
Opium Wars
The Chinese were sick of the British opium trade in their country, which was coincidentally ruining the entire population. So they banned opium and threatened the foreign merchants with expulsion. Pulling some strings, the merchants led Britain to war for the right to traffic drugs. They won, too. -
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H. M. Stanley
He was another British explorer, but he is best known for searching for Livingstone after he disappeared in the jungles of Africa. The famous quote when he found him was, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" -
Treaty of Nanking
This was a very unfavorable treaty to end the First Opium War. The British got Hong Kong, expanded trading rights, and some ridiculous indemnities. The Chinese got to keep their lives. Fair treaty, right? -
British East India Company
By 1848, all of the native Indian states were under the control of the company. It was under the protection of the British government, and had access to troops and military technology, leading to the defeat of the Sepoy Rebellion. -
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General Horatio H. Kitchener
He led the second British force through the Sudan, securing victory at Omdurman and capturing the Sudan from the Mahdists. He also prevailed in the Fashoda incident and led to British occupation of much of northeastern Africa. -
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Cecil Rhodes
Leader of the British in the Cape Colony, and advocated war against the Boers. He set up the world's largest diamond mining company (De Beers) and named an African country after himself (Rhodesia). He was a strong proponent of British imperialism in Africa, and had hopes of connecting Egypt and Sudan with the Cape Colony, but that dream never really came to fruitition. -
Sepoy Mutiny
The Sepoy Mutiny was a revolt of the native troops of the British East India Company, compounded by a variety of issues, including violation of religious taboos and segregation within the units. The mutiny was eventually shut down with loyal troops from the south of India, but the fiasco resulted in the direct control of the colony by the British Crown. -
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J.A. Hobson
Hobson was an author from Britain who was very critical of imperialism, because he saw through the thin guise of pretend morality and realized that it was really all for economic benefit of the few. He wrote several very important texts: "Psychology of Jingoism" and "Imperialism" in which he explains his rationale. -
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Spheres of Influence
After China lost the 2nd Opium War, all hope of national strength was lost. The dynastic cycle which had lasted for millenia had crumbled, and now each of the competing European powers had their own zone of China, not to colonize, but to administer and trade with. -
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Rudyard Kipling
A British writer who had a huge influence on Imperialism through his portrayal of British-ruled India. He also wrote The White Man's Burden, in reference to British occupation and the imperialism of other nations as well. -
Das Kapital
Written by Karl Marx, this work shows the issues revolving around capitolism and government, and especially the link between imperialism -- a great evil -- and capitolism. He especially emphasized the exploitation of the people by the wealthy uppercrust and the related political correlation. -
Social Darwinism
This was a philosophy which reconciled Darwin's findings in the natural world with the racism common to European ideology already. -
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New Imperialism
This was the resurgence of colonial activity with the opening of Africa and Eastern Asia. This relied more on spheres of influence and a twisted sense of humanitarianism (White Man's Burden). The economic incentive was still definitely there, but this was a new phase with new technologies and ideologies driving it, so the end result was much different that that of Old Imperialism. -
Belgian Congo
Leopold II of Belgium wanted foreign territory for himself, and as such he sent a Welsh journalist, H. M. Stanley (hey, where have we seen him before?) and established a proxy government. Eventually this territory was annexed by the Belgian state (instead of being Leo's personal property) but the important thing is that this started the Scramble for Africa. Also, the Belgians were notoriously cruel to the native peoples of Congo and forced them to work on awful rubber plantations. -
Indochina
The French, under Ferry, their preeminant leader, copnquered Indochina, a region below China consisting of modern Vietnam. This was important in that it showed French New Imperialism in Asia and the opening of the markets. -
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Boer Wars
The two Boer Wars were fought between the Dutch settlers in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State and the British of the Cape Colony. The conflict ended up being won by the British, but the Boers put up a hard fight and the guerilla warfare and grueling conflict brought a lack of popular support from the British people. -
Scramble for Africa
This was started by King Leopold II of Belgiumas a way to increase the territorial possessions of Belgium. Unfortunately, as he sought personal gain in Africa, the other European leaders decided to follow suit and soon every coutnry was after African territory. -
Egypt, protectorate
Egypt had been ruled by the Muhammad Ali dynasty for a while but the British interests of the Suez canal were in trouble and so they sent an army to occupy the country. This quickly turned into an annexation with the setting up of a puppet government under a vassal ruler. Egypt was now a protectorate. -
Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference was a meeting of the European leaders regarding the terms and rules of African conquest. Germany, a power on the rise, was venturing into imperialism and wanted African territory, and as the other nations expanded as well, it was hard for them to all get along nicely. So they met in Germany and established the way things were going to go. -
Sudan
As the British moved to expand their African territories, they moved south from Egypt and into the Sudan, where they met fierce resistance. The Sudanese exterminated a British fort at Khartoum, but were later destroyed themsleves at Omdurman. -
Indian National Congress
This was an organization of Indian nationalists who formed the party for the advancement of the Indian people under British dominion. It later gained notoriety in the move for Indian independence, and has since served as the nation's major political party. -
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony was Britain's possession in South Africa. Although blocked by expanding by the Boer settlers of the Transvaal, the unstoppable British, led my Rhodes, went around the Dutch and settled north of them, surrounding them. This led to the Boer War, wherein the Boers lost to the British and were forced to cede their territory. -
Sino-Japanese War
Japan had rapidly industrialized and updated it's feudal government to the newer European models, in an attempt to match their European imperial rivals. So Japan expanded too, attacking the Chinese lands of Korea and parts of Manchuria. Also, they managed to capture Formosa (Taiwan) and soundly defeated the Chinese. -
Kruger Telegram
This was a telegram sent from Kaiser Wilhelm II to the leader of the Boer resistance congratulating him on his resistance to the British. This pissed off the British and led to a deterioration of diplomatic relations between the two countries. -
Boxer Rebellion
A revolt of Chinese nationalists against foreign intrusion. The rebels focused on killing and destroying the property of Chinese christian converts, but they also killed Europeans in China. The response from the western powers was swift and brutal, crushing the rebellion in 1901. -
Fashoda Incident
As Kitchener moved through Sudanese territory with his large army and corp of engineers, he encoutnered a French force occupying. After some tense negotiations, the French withdrew, avoiding possible war in Europe over African territory. -
Battle of Omdurman
This was the major defeat of the Mahdists in Sudan, where British military technology proved overwhelming against surperior numbers and bravery. The Muslims lost over 11,000 men, to a paltry 28 by the British. Thus the British took Sudan. -
White Man's Burden
This was a poem written by Rudyard Kipling advocating the ideals of social darwinism and new colonialism. Although he wrote it with serious intentions, I can't help but think it was actually a jibe at Europeans for being dumb racist pigs. -
Ethiopia
By 1900, Ethiopia was one of two nations in the African continent not subject to European domination. The Italians had invaded, but ina surprise move the Ethiopians successfully defended their country against the European foreigners. Of course, later Italy would attack again during WWII, but that time Ethiopia would not be so lucky. -
Russo-Japanese War
Japan and Russia went to war over some Korean outposts and footholds in China. The huge surprise for the world was when Japan actually won and destroyed the Russian fleet, being the first non-European country to defeat a major Western power.