Amsco Unit #6

Some thinkers adapted Darwin’s theory of biological evolution to society and  advocates used the “survival of the fittest”theory to argue that the spread of European and U.S. power proved the biological superiority of whites. Writers and politicians then used it to justify further imperialism by powerful countries.

Ruler of Belgium who oversaw the invasion and pacification of the Congo in central Africa in order to persuade the Belgian government to support colonial expansion. Unlike other European rulers,He  owned the colony personally, using colonial officials against indigenous Congolese and a ruthless system of economic exploitation that allowed him to keep the profits made by the Congo Free State, which totaled some 220 million francs 1.1 billion in today’s dollars

The Chinese objection to the importation of Opium  led to

the first Opium War. The Chinese government seized the British opium warehouse in the port of Canton Guangzhou. War broke out when British warships destroyed a Chinese blockade keeping ships from Canton, the only port China allowed to trade with foreigners.

Clusters or neighborhoods of people from the same foreign country, formed in many major cities of the world. In these areas inhabitants spoke the language of their home country, ate the foods they were familiar with from home, and pursued a way of life similar to that they had known in their home countries.

A meeting of European powers to provide for the orderly colonization of Africa. No Africans were invited to the conference. European powers peaceably agreed to colonial boundaries and to the free movement of goods on Africa’s major rivers such as the Niger River and the Congo River. 

The demand for raw materials that could be processed into manufactured goods and shipped away—often back to the providers of raw material turned colonies into export economies.

People who worked for a set number of years before becoming free were indentured servants. Many people used this as a way to pay for their transportation from a desperately poor community to one with more opportunity. Others were forced to do so to pay off a debt.

Large numbers of British citizens lived in all the colonies of the British Empire. Most who moved abroad permanently went to settler colonies such as Canada, South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand. Those who went to other colonies such as India, Malaya, or .enya, usually did so with no intention of staying permanently. Many went as officers or soldiers in the British army, asgovernment officials in the Colonial Service, or as managers for plantations or other colonial enterprises.

Japan, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States sought the same trading privileges that Britain attained after winning the Opium Wars. By the end of the century, these nations began forcing China to give them exclusive trading rights in areas

Famine that occurred in Ireland in 1845–49 when the potato crop failed in successive years. as many as  million people emigrated from Ireland. Most went to the United States, but many others went to England, Scotland, Canada, or Australia.