World Civilizations

Spring 2009

The Building of Global Empires: Foundations of Empire

Directions: Read pages 909-17 in Traditions and Encounters.

You should know and understand the significance of the following terms:

hegemony	imperialism
colonialism	Cecil Rhodes
political motives	“civilization”
Rudyard Kipling	“White Man’s Burden”
Maxim gun

1. What is imperialism? How did European nations imperialize?

2. Compare and contrast the definitions of modern imperialism and colonialism. Why did European nations feel compelled to expand their borders beyond Europe?

3. How was imperialism justified economically? Give a specific example as evidence.

4. What is the political argument for imperialism? How does this connect with the ideas of nationalism prominent at the end of the 19^th century?

5. What were the two main cultural justifications for imperialism? How did this motive also connect with the economic justifications?

6. Read Rudyard Kipling’s The White Man’s Burden on page 913. What, according to Kipling, is the white man’s burden? What does he use as examples to support his opinion?

7. Why were European nations able to expand their empires so dramatically at the end of the 19^th century? What advantages did the Europeans have over other non-industrialized nations? (Think transportation, military and communications technologies…) Give specific examples of each.