Chapter 32

The Building of Global Empires

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1.Cecil Rhodes was

a. the British military leader who was responsible for a boom in naval expansion.

b. the American politician who articulated the belief in manifest destiny.

c. responsible for the philosophy that we know as social Darwinism.

d. the first leader of an independent Canada.

e. a leading British imperialist who founded a colony in Africa.

Answer: e

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2.Who said, “We are the finest race in the world and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race”?

a. Simón Bolívar

b. Theodore Roosevelt

c. Ito Hirobumi

d. Cecil Rhodes

e. Otto von Bismarck

Answer: d

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3.The author of “The White Man’s Burden” was

a. Cecil Rhodes.

b. Otto von Bismarck.

c. Joseph Arthur de Gobineau.

d. Theodore Roosevelt.

e. Rudyard Kipling.

Answer: e

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4.Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden,” was actually meant to inspire the Americans to colonize

a. Canada.

b. Mexico.

c. Brazil.

d. Vietnam.

e. the Philippines.

Answer: e

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5.The Suez Canal was essential for

a. facilitating trade between both U.S. coasts.

b. British control over India.

c. Spanish control over the Philippines.

d. French control over Vietnam.

e. the maintenance of the Ottoman empire.

Answer: b

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6.The battle of Omdurman

a. ensured British domination over New Zealand.

b. allowed France to establish a colony in Vietnam.

c. led to the collapse of the Ottoman empire.

d. opened the door for British colonial rule in Sudan.

e. doomed Russia to defeat in the Russo-Japanese war.

Answer: d

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7.Submarine cables linked all parts of the British empire throughout the world by

a. 1815.

b. 1853.

c. 1902.

d. 1945.

e. 1972.

Answer: c

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8.The most important figures in the uprising in 1857 in India were

a. Russian military officials looking for an advantage in the Great Game.

b. disgruntled sepoy troops.

c. French agents working to cause unrest in an important British colony.

d. the representatives of the Indian National Congress.

e. American soldiers looking for an excuse to pry India away from British control.

Answer: b

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9.In 1824, Thomas Stamford Raffles founded the port of

a. Sydney.

b. Rangoon.

c. Manila.

d. Singapore.

e. Hong Kong.

Answer: d

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10.Between 1859 and 1893, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos all fell under the control of

a. England.

b. France.

c. the Dutch.

d. Germany.

e. the United States.

Answer: b

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11.By 1900, the only part of southeast Asia not under European imperial rule was

a. Vietnam.

b. Cambodia.

c. Malaysia.

d. Siam.

e. Laos.

Answer: d

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12.The Congo Free State was established in the 1870s by

a. Italy.

b. Belgium.

c. England.

d. France.

e. Germany.

Answer: b

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13.The Berlin Conference

a. set up a timetable for decolonization in Africa.

b. devised the ground rules for the European colonization of Africa.

c. ended the Crimean War.

d. established the Triple Alliance.

e. legitimized the German colonization of the Marshall Islands.

Answer: b

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14.The Boers were

a. east African coastal merchants.

b. Indians who served as soldiers for the British.

c. Malaysian tribal chieftains who allied with the Dutch.

d. Australian aborigines.

e. Dutch settlers in South Africa.

Answer: e

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15.“Concessionary companies” refers to a system of colonial rule that employed

a. military forces tasked specifically with protecting trade operations.

b. temporary governments.

c. private companies that gave up substantial control over their operations to a sponsoring European government in order to participate in colonial expansion.

d. private companies granted territory and control over taxation and labor for mining, construction, or agricultural projects.

e. government-owned companies that controlled taxation and labor in the colony.

Answer: d

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16.In 1770, Captain James Cook anchored his fleet at Botany Bay, near what modern city?

a. Melbourne

b. Sydney

c. Cape Town

d. New South Wales

e. Wellington

Answer: b

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17.New South Wales was originally settled by about one thousand people, most of them convicted criminals,

a. but they gradually died out due to famine and disease.

b. but they were soon displaced by British ranchers, who needed the land for their sheep.

c. but voluntary migrants outnumbered convicts within 50 years.

d. who were pardoned and given the opportunity to purchase land.

e. and it remained a penal colony until 1905.

Answer: c

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18.Which matching of imperial power and colony is NOT correct?

a. England and New Zealand

b. Germany and the Marshall Islands

c. the Dutch and Indonesia

d. the United States and Fiji

e. France and Tahiti

Answer: d

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19.After the overthrow of Queen Lili`uokalani in 1893, the United States took over

a. the Philippines.

b. Cuba.

c. Hawai`i.

d. Guam.

e. Puerto Rico.

Answer: c

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20.The Monroe Doctrine

a. ensured that neither the Europeans nor the Americans would ever interfere in western hemispheric affairs.

b. opened Japan to U.S. trade.

c. gave the British an inroad into New Zealand.

d. worked as a justification for U.S. intervention in western hemispheric affairs.

e. handed the Philippines over to the United States.

Answer: d

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21.The United States occupied Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines after its victory in

a. World War I.

b. the Opium War.

c. the War of 1812.

d. the Filipino Civil War.

e. the Spanish-Cuban-American War.

Answer: e

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22.Emilio Aguinaldo led an uprising in

a. Mexico against the Spanish.

b. Fiji against the British.

c. Indonesia against the Dutch.

d. the Philippines against the United States.

e. Brazil against the Portuguese.

Answer: d

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23.The Roosevelt Corollary strengthened U.S. military and economic claims in which area of the world?

a. China

b. Africa

c. those territories lying in the western hemisphere to the south of the United States

d. lands in the Pacific not including Australia and New Zealand

e. Indochina

Answer: c

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24.The Sino-Japanese War began with a dispute over

a. Burma.

b. Korea.

c. Mongolia.

d. Vietnam.

e. Siberia.

Answer: b

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25.Japan became a major imperial power after its victory in the

a. Sino-Japanese War.

b. Crimean War.

c. Korean War.

d. Russo-Japanese War.

e. Opium War.

Answer: d

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26.Under British control, Ceylon became a major producer of

a. cotton.

b. pineapple.

c. tea.

d. rubber.

e. indigo.

Answer: c

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27.Between 1800 and 1914, how many Europeans migrated overseas?

a. five million

b. ten million

c. seven million

d. fifteen million

e. fifty million

Answer: e

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28.In the nineteenth century, the majority of indentured laborers came from

a. Russia.

b. India.

c. China.

d. Ireland.

e. Africa.

Answer: b

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29.The Maji Maji rebellion occurred in

a. Hawai`i against the Americans.

b. Vietnam against the French.

c. Fiji against the British.

d. Indonesia against the Dutch.

e. Tanganyika against the Germans.

Answer: e

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30.The author of the Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races was

a. Josiah Clark Nott.

b. Count Joseph Arthur de Gobineau.

c. Charles Darwin.

d. Herbert Spencer.

e. Ram Mohan Roy.

Answer: b

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31.Count Joseph Arthur de Gobineau viewed Europeans as

a. smart but docile.

b. somewhat intelligent but remarkably energetic.

c. intelligent and morally superior to all other peoples in the world.

d. dull and arrogant.

e. unintelligent and lazy.

Answer: c

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32.The social Darwinists believed that

a. a sharp distinction had to be made between the biological and social worlds.

b. only a socialist political and social structure would keep humans from destroying themselves.

c. more powerful nations had to protect weaker nations.

d. powerful nations were meant to dominate weaker societies.

e. human beings had reached the point at which competition among nations was no longer necessary.

Answer: d

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33.The term “social Darwinism” is associated with

a. Cecil Rhodes.

b. Josiah Clark Nott.

c. Herbert Spencer.

d. Count Joseph Arthur de Gobineau.

e. Otto von Bismarck.

Answer: c

Page: 752

34.In regard to imperialism, the Japanese and Americans

a. were much more tolerant and respectful of their colonies than were the Europeans.

b. expanded for very different reasons than did the Europeans.

c. never saw the need to expand.

d. proved to be just as racist as the Europeans.

e. drew a sharp distinction between their enlightened sense of rule and that of the Europeans.

Answer: d

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35.Ram Mohan Roy was a

a. prominent Bengali intellectual sometimes referred to as the “father of modern India.”

b. member of the Indian elite and a newspaper publisher.

c. Hindu reformer who tried to bring spirituality to bear on the problems of his time.

d. member of the Indian elite who worked with Christian social reformers.

e. All these answers are correct.

Answer: e

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36.In 1916 the Indian National Congress

a. was granted financial support by the British colonial government.

b. joined forces with the All-India Muslim League.

c. demanded the establishment of “concessionary companies.”

d. represented about 25 percent of the Indian population.

e. All these answers are correct.

Answer: b

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TRUE/FALSE

37.During the second half of the nineteenth century, many Europeans believed that imperial expansion and colonial domination were crucial for the survival of their states.

Answer: True

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38.English writer Rudyard Kipling defined the “white man’s burden” as the duty of European and Euro-American peoples to bring order and enlightenment to distant lands.

Answer: True

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39.Both the Suez Canal and Panama Canal facilitated the building and maintenance of empires by enabling naval vessels to travel rapidly between the world’s oceans.

Answer: True

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40.The Dutch East India Company took advantage of Mughal weakness to strengthen and expand its trading posts in the eighteenth century.

Answer: False

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41.The Berlin West Africa Conference, which included delegates from fourteen European states and the United States, devised the ground rules for the colonization of Africa.

Answer: True

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42.The underlying principle of indirect rule was the desire to keep African populations in check and permit European administrators to engage in a “civilizing mission.”

Answer: False

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43.Because the nomadic peoples of Australia did not occupy lands permanently, British settlers considered the continent terra nullius, “land belonging to no one,” and one that they could seize and put to their own uses.

Answer: True

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44.The United States emerged as a major imperial and colonial power after the brief Spanish-Cuban-American War.

Answer: True

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45.In some cases, colonial rule led to the introduction of new crops that transformed the landscape and social order of subject lands, for example the introduction of tea bushes from India to China.

Answer: False

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46.Between 1800 and 1914, some fifty million Europeans left their poor agricultural societies and sought opportunities overseas, a majority heading to the United States.

Answer: True

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ESSAY

47.What were the legacies of nineteenth-century imperialism? What was anticolonialism? In what ways is the world shaped today by the actions of nineteenth-century imperialists?

48.When Rudyard Kipling suggested that Americans “Take up the White Man’s burden,” what did he mean? How does this phrase express the goals of imperialism? Did the Americans have to be encouraged to become imperialistic?

49.Compare and contrast European imperialism in central and southeast Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Where there any fundamental differences that would influence later history?

50.Examine the racist beliefs that played such a central role in European imperialism. How did racism justify imperialism and also inspire it?

51.What, if anything, did anticolonial uprisings such as the sepoy rebellion of 1857, the Maji Maji rebellion, and the Filipino rebellion have in common? Why were they not more successful?

52.What role did technology play in the expanding European hegemony? Why weren’t other nations able to gain equal technological footing?

53.Examine the British control over India. How did it set the stage for later British expansion? In what ways did British control of India represent the best and worst of British colonial rule?

54.Examine imperialism in central and southeast Asia. What nations were involved? What were the most economically valuable areas? How different were the varieties of colonial rule? How were central and southeast Asia transformed by European conquest?

55.Examine imperialism in Africa. What were the major goals of the Europeans? Why was Africa treated differently than other colonies? How did the carving up of Africa lead to tension among the European nations?

56.Examine the rise of the United States and Japan as imperialist powers. What were the main U.S. and Japanese goals? Were they different than the goals of the western Europeans? What areas did these two countries conquer?

57.Examine Map 32.2, Imperialism in Africa, ca. 1914. How was the political face of Africa changed between 1875 and 1900? What European nations were most active in carving up Africa? Were there differences in colonial rule?

58.Look at the picture of the British naval attack of Rangoon on page 739. What advantages did the western Europeans possess as they expanded their control?

59.Examine the illustration from the book Indigenous Races of the Earthon page 752. What role did racism play in European imperialism? Discuss the ideas of Gobineau and Spencer.

60.Read the Rudyard Kipling poem, “The White Man’s Burden” (see Textbook: Sources from the Past: Rudyard Kipling on the White Man’s Burden). In what ways does Kipling express the foundations of European imperialism?

61.Summarize the economic, political, and cultural motives of nineteenth-century imperialists. To what extent did those motives overlap and to what extent did they conflict with one another?

62.What were the principal “tools of empire”—the various technologies that gave the Europeans such an advantage?

63.How did the British establish control over India in the early nineteenth century? How did the sepoy rebellion contribute to this process?

64.Which Asian states managed to maintain their sovereignty in the nineteenth century? Why these states?

65.Who were the major players in the “scramble for Africa”? What was the principal objective of this land-grab?

66.Compare the British conquest of south Africa with that of Egypt and Sudan.

67.Why were the great powers less interested in the Pacific islands? What did they want from these islands?

68.What did the United States gain from the Spanish-American War? Note the political status of each of these acquisitions.

69.Where did the Japanese direct their ambitions as a new imperial power? How successful were they?

70.How did the imperial powers transform the economies of their colonies? Consider especially India and Ceylon.

71.Summarize some of the significant migrations of the late nineteenth century. What were the typical destinations?

72.How did subject peoples resist colonial rule? How did imperialism foster conflicts within colonial societies?