- Explain how ideologies contributed to the development of imperialism from 1750 to 1900.
- Compare processes by which state power shifted in various parts of the world from 1750 to 1900.
- Explain how and why internal and external factors have influenced the process of state building from 1750 to 1900.
- Explain the causes and effects of economic strategies of different states and empires.
- Explain how various environmental and economic factors contributed to the development of the global economy from 1750 to 1900.
- Explain how various environmental and economic factors contributed to the development of varied patterns of migration from 1750 to 1900.
- Explain how and why new patterns of migration affected society from 1750 to 1900.
The British Empire was the global hegemonic power during Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901).
How colonial powers presented people in 'human zoos'
John Bull (Great Britain) and Uncle Sam (U.S.) bear "The White Man's Burden (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling)", by lifting non-Western peoples upward towards civilization. (Victor Gillam, Judge magazine, 1 April 1899)
- 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.
- European states as well as the United States and Japan acquired territories throughout Asia and the Pacific, while Spanish and Portuguese influence declined.
- Many European states used both warfare and diplomacy to expand their empires in Africa.
- 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.
- 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.
- Increasing questions about political authority and growing nationalism contributed to anti-colonial movements.
- Anti-imperial resistance took various forms, including direct
resistance within empires and the creation of new states on the peripheries.
- Increasing discontent with imperial rule led to rebellions, some of which were influenced by religious ideas.
Edward Linley Sambourne depicted British imperialist Cecil Rhodes as ‘The Rhodes Colossus’ in a Punch cartoon of 1892. |
New Imperialism in Africa |
Canadian and American Expansion |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, c. 1900
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1910
European immigrants to the United States at Ellis Island, c. 1900
Australian mounted police fighting Aborigines, 1838 Chinatown neighborhood of San Francisco, California, c. 1907-1914 1886 advertisement depicting the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act. The text reads "THE CHINESE MUST GO. We have no use for them since we got this WONDERFUL WASHER." Many Chinese immigrants ran laundries. Indian coolies in the Caribbean, c. 1890 Māori King Tāwhiao, c. 1894 |
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- As new methods of industrial production became more common in parts of northwestern Europe, they spread to other parts of Europe and the United States, Russia, and Japan.
- The expansion of U.S. and European influence in Asia led to internal reform in Japan that supported industrialization and led to the growing regional power of Japan in the Meiji Era.
- In response to the expansion of industrializing states, some governments in Asia and Africa, including the Ottoman Empire and Qing China, sought to reform and modernize their economies and militaries. Reform efforts were often resisted by some members of government or established elite groups.
Modernization in the Late Ottoman Empire |
In 1909-1912, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii took color
photographs of the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's diverse population.
Modernization in Late Romanov Russia |
illustration of the Boxer Rebellion
Modernization in Late Qing China |
street scene in Meiji era Japan
Iwakura Mission to America and Europe by Yamaguchi Hōshun. The SS America in the background is the steamship that transported the group. |
Modernization in Meiji Japan |
1750-1900 CE: Global Empires