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The East India Company was an English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India. Incorporated by royal charter in the 1600's, it was started as a monopolistic trading body so that England could participate in the East Indian spice trade.
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Monroe Doctrine, cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy enunciated by Pres. James Monroe in his annual message to Congress. Declaring that the Old World and New World had different systems and must remain distinct spheres, Monroe made four basic points.
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The Great Trek was a movement of Dutch-speaking colonists up into the interior of southern Africa in search of land where they could establish their own homeland, independent of British rule. In 1854 that was when the Boer Republic were fully established, respectfully.
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The first Opium War (1839–42) was fought between China and Britain, and the second Opium War (1856–60) was fought by Britain and France against China. In each case the foreign powers were victorious and gained commercial privileges and legal and territorial concessions in China.
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Treaty of Nanjing treaty that ended the first Opium War, the first of the unequal treaties between China and foreign imperialist powers. China paid the British an indemnity, ceded the territory of Hong Kong, and agreed to establish a “fair and reasonable” tariff. British merchants, who had previously been allowed to trade only at Guangzhou (Canton), were now permitted to trade at five “treaty ports” and with whomever they pleased
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Livingstone wanted to share his christianity. He left for Africa on a mission to share the word of God and free the slaves.
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Matthew C. Perry, in full Matthew Calbraith Perry, a U.S. naval officer who headed an expedition that forced Japan in 1853–54 to enter into trade and diplomatic relations with the West after more than two centuries of isolation.
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Treaty of Kanagawa, Japan’s first treaty with a Western nation. Concluded by representatives of the United States and Japan at Kanagawa, it marked the end of Japan’s period of seclusion. The treaty was signed as a result of pressure from U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who sailed into Tokyo Bay with a fleet of warships in July 1853 and demanded that the Japanese open their ports to U.S. ships for supplies.
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Sepoy Rebellion, widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in India. Begun in Meerut by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the British East India Company, it spread to Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, and Lucknow.
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British raj, period of direct British rule over the Indian subcontinent. The raj succeeded management of the subcontinent by the British East India Company, after general distrust and dissatisfaction with company leadership resulted in a widespread mutiny of sepoy troops in 1857, causing the British to reconsider the structure of governance in India. The British raj formally came to an end on August 15, 1947.
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The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean and the Red seas. At first digging was done by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced laborers. Later, European workers with dredgers and steam shovels arrived. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed construction. The canal soon grew into the one of the world’s most heavily traveled shipping lanes.
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In 1877, Conservative Prime Minister had Queen Victoria proclaimed as Empress of India. India was already under crown control after 1858, but this title was a gesture to link the monarchy with the empire further and bind India more closely to Britain.
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The Indian National Congress dominated the Indian movement for independence from Great Britain. It subsequently formed most of India’s governments from the time of independence and often had a strong presence in many state governments.
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Afrikaners and Britain had some tension between them because Britain took possession of Dutch Cape Colony. The conflict between the two increased when gold and diamonds were discovered in the surrounding regions. Full war began in October of 1899.
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The Open Door policy was a statement of principles initiated by the United States. It called for protection of equal privileges for all countries trading with China and for the support of Chinese territorial and administrative integrity.
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Boxer Rebellion, officially supported peasant uprising of 1900 that attempted to drive all foreigners from China. “Boxers” was a name that foreigners gave to a Chinese secret society known as the Yihequan. The group practiced certain boxing and calisthenic rituals in the belief that this made them invulnerable. Their original aim was the destruction of the dynasty and also of the Westerners who had a privileged position in China.
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Panama Canal, lock-type canal, that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the narrow Isthmus of Panama.
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Roosevelt Corollary, foreign policy declaration by U.S. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 stating that, in cases of flagrant and chronic wrongdoing by a Latin American country, the United States could intervene in that country’s internal affairs.
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Also known as the Chinese Revolution, nationalist democratic revolt that overthrew the Qing (or Manchu) dynasty and created a republic.
