6.1 Rationales for Imperialism from1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (CDI): Cultural Developments and Interactions — The development of ideas, beliefs, and religions illustrates how groups in society view themselves, and the interactions of societies and their beliefs often have political, social, and cultural implications.

Learning Objective Unit 6.A: Explain how ideologies contributed to the development of imperialism from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.2.III A range of cultural, religious, and racial ideologies were used to justify imperialism, including Social Darwinism, nationalism, the concept of the civilizing mission, and the desire to religiously convert indigenous populations.

6.2 State Expansion from 1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (GOV): Governance — A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

Learning Objective Unit 6.B: Compare processes by which state power shifted in various parts of the world from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.2.I.A Some states with existing colonies strengthened their control over those colonies and in some cases assumed direct control over colonies previously held by non-state entities.
• KC-5.2.I.B European states as well as the United States and Japan acquired territories throughout Asia and the Pacific, while Spanish and Portuguese influence declined.
• KC-5.2.I.C Many European states used both warfare and diplomacy to expand their empires in Africa.
• KC-5.2.I.D Europeans established settler colonies in some parts of their empires.
• KC-5.2.II.B The United States, Russia, and Japan expanded their land holdings by conquering and settling neighboring territories.

Illustrative examples:

• Non-state to state colonial control:
  • Shift from the private ownership of the Congo by King Leopold II to the Belgium government
  • Shift from the Dutch East India Company to Dutch government control in Indonesia and Southeast Asia
• European states that expanded empires in Africa:
  • Britain in West Africa
  • Belgium in the Congo
  • French in West Africa
• Settler colonies established in empires:
  • New Zealand

6.3 Indigenous Responses to State Expansion from 1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (GOV): Governance — A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

Learning Objective Unit 6.C: Explain how and why internal and external factors have influenced the process of state building from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.3.III.D Increasing questions about political authority and growing nationalism contributed to anticolonial movements.
• KC-5.2.II.C Anti-imperial resistance took various forms, including direct resistance within empires and the creation of new states on the peripheries.
• KC-5.3.III.E Increasing discontent with imperial rule led to rebellions, some of which were influenced by religious ideas.

Illustrative examples:

• Direct resistance:
  • Túpac Amaru II’s rebellion in Peru
  • Samory Touré’s military battles in West Africa
  • Yaa Asantewaa War in West Africa
  • 1857 rebellion in India
• New states:
  • Establishment of independent states in the Balkans
  • Sokoto Caliphate in modern-day Nigeria
  • Cherokee Nation
  • Zulu Kingdom
• Rebellions:
  • Ghost Dance in the U.S.
  • Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement in Southern Africa
  • Mahdist wars in Sudan

6.4 Global Economic Development from1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (ENV): Humans and the Environments — The environment shapes human societies, and as populations grow and change, these populations in turn shape their environments.

Learning Objective Unit 6.D: Explain how various environmental factors contributed to the development of the global economy from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.1.II.A The need for raw materials for factories and increased food supplies for the growing population in urban centers led to the growth of export economies around the world that specialized in commercial extraction of natural resources and the production of food and industrial crops. The profits from these raw materials were used to purchase finished goods.

Illustrative examples:

• Resource export economies:
  • Cotton production in Egypt
  • Rubber extraction in the Amazon and the Congo basin
  • The palm oil trade in West Africa
  • The guano industries in Peru and Chile
  • Meat from Argentina and Uruguay
  • Diamonds from Africa

6.5 Economic Imperialism from 1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (ECN): Economics Systems — As societies develop, they affect and are affected by the ways that they produce, exchange, and consume goods and services.

Learning Objective Unit 6.E: Explain how various economic factors contributed to the development of the global economy from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.2.I.E Industrialized states and businesses within those states practiced economic imperialism primarily in Asia and Latin America.
• KC-5.1.II.C Trade in some commodities was organized in a way that gave merchants and companies based in Europe and the U.S. a distinct economic advantage.

Illustrative examples:

• Industrialized states practicing economic imperialism:
  • Britain and France expanding their influence in China through the Opium Wars
  • The construction of the Port of Buenos Aires with the support of British firms
• Commodities that contributed to European and American economic advantage:
  • Opium produced in the Middle East or South Asia and exported to China
  • Cotton grown in South Asia and Egypt and exported to Great Britain and other European countries
  • Palm oil produced in sub-Saharan Africa and exported to European countries
  • Copper extracted in Chile

6.7 Effects of Migration

Thematic Focus (SIO): Social Interactions and Organization — The process by which societies group their members and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organization.

Learning Objective Unit 6.H: Explain how and why new patterns of migration affected society from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.4.III.A Migrants tended to be male, leaving women to take on new roles in the home society that had been formerly occupied by men.
• KC-5.4.III.B Migrants often created ethnic enclaves in different parts of the world that helped transplant their culture into new environments.
• KC-5.4.III.C Receiving societies did not always embrace immigrants, as seen in the various degrees of ethnic and racial prejudice and the ways states attempted to regulate the increased flow of people across their borders.

Illustrative examples:

• Migrant ethnic enclaves:
  • Chinese in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, South America, and North America
  • Indians in East and Southern Africa, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia
  • Irish in North America
  • Italians in North and South America
• Regulation of immigrants:
  • Chinese Exclusion Act
  • White Australia policy

6.8 Causation in the Imperial Age

Learning Objective Unit 6.I: Explain the relative significance of the effects of imperialism from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.1 The development of industrial capitalism led to increased standards of living for some, and to continued improvement in manufacturing methods that increased the availability, affordability, and variety of consumer goods.
• KC-5.2 As states industrialized, they also expanded existing overseas empires and established new colonies and transoceanic relationships.
• KC-5.3 The 18th century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion against existing governments, leading to the establishment of new nation-states around the world.
• KC-5.4 As a result of the emergence of transoceanic empires and a global capitalist economy, migration patterns changed dramatically, and the numbers of migrants increased significantly.