Deck 2: Imperialism and the Colonial Experience

Question 1

The word "imperialism" refers to:

A) the territorial conquest, occupation, and direct control of one country by another.
B) the exploration of one country's territory by another country.
C) a historical phenomenon describing governing relations between a colonial country and its colonies.
D) a political movement within the territories that sought to oppose the occupying country.
E) the era of European expansion and the creation of empires of trade that began in the sixteenth century

Answer 1

E

Question 2

What motives were linked to the Industrial Revolution and launched "high imperialism" in the nineteenth century?

A) Great Power motives
B) Economic motives
C) Expansionist motives
D) Religious motives
E) Democratic motives

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Why is the fifteenth century "Age of Exploration" a misnomer?

A) China had already established colonial possessions in the "New World."
B) It incorrectly assumes European states were motivated by economic interests.
C) People, goods, and ideas had been traveling the Silk Road for centuries.
D) It was more correctly a period of European imperialism.
E) Europe had previously established colonies in the Spice Islands.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT a common theme in the colonial experience?

A) The importation of large numbers of settlers from the colonizing country
B) Europe's belief in its cultural superiority
C) The ambivalence of metropolitan states toward overseas imperial commitments
D) An eventual shift toward promoting economic development in colonies
E) A fundamental transformation of Indigenous colonial societies

Question 5

Indirect rule was used to promote which of the following?

A) Advantageous commercial ties
B) The legitimacy of local governments
C) Imperial recognition
D) The legitimacy of colonial powers
E) Subordination of all groups in the colony

Question 6

Which of the following statements is true of the term "neo-colonialism"?

A) It refers to the direct political control of colonies.
B) It involves the formal annexation of territory into the colonial state.
C) It refers to the existence of external influence over other countries through unequal economic ties.
D) It represents a new model of colonial interaction based on learning from the mistakes of the past.
E) It is an economic and political strategy employed only by emerging powers like China.

Question 7

Which of the following European countries was NOT a major colonial power?

A) England
B) Spain
C) Portugal
D) Sweden
E) France

Question 8

Which term refers to the late nineteenth-century European colonization of Africa?

A) "Night of the long knives"
B) "Scramble for Africa"
C) "Race for Africa"
D) "Civilizing mission"
E) "Crusades"

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT considered a motivation for colonization during the period of "high imperialism"?

A) Search for new markets to support European economic growth
B) The existence of protectionist policies within Europe that constrained the growth in trade between colonizing powers
C) The need to lower unemployment at home by exporting labour to colonized areas
D) A sense of greatness and the nationalistic desire for prestige relative to other European states
E) Competition between "Great Power" over new territories as a source of power and influence

Question 10

The classical period of "high imperialism" occurred during what time period?

A) 1600 to 1789
B) 1870 to 1914
C) 1914 to 1945
D) 1945 to 1991
E) 1991 to the present

Question 11

Which of the following was NOT a result of Spanish colonization of Central and South America?

A) A massive population collapse of Indigenous populations
B) The spread of smallpox to Indigenous populations
C) The enslavement of Indigenous peoples to work in mines
D) The strengthening of existing political systems through indirect rule
E) The extraction of large amounts of wealth in the form of gold and silver

Question 12

Which of the following statements is true of colonialism?

A) It involved the equal sharing of ideas between countries.
B) It affected all colonized people in the same ways.
C) It created new tensions, or worsened existing ones, in colonized societies by benefiting some groups over others.
D) It came to an end mostly as a result of non-violent means.
E) It was mostly a religiously-motivated phenomenon.

Question 13

What was arguably the most powerful chartered company in the British Empire?

A) English East India Company
B) English West India Company
C) Hudson's Bay Company
D) British South Africa Company
E) Royal Niger Company

Question 14

How can the outsized role of Belgium and Portugal in the "Scramble for Africa" be explained?

A) Economic motives
B) The strategy of Great Power politics
C) Religious motives
D) The desire for prestige and recognition of greatness
E) European alliances

Question 15

Britain's policy of indirect rule in Africa is evidence of which of the following?

A) The nation's desire to uphold local African cultures and seek harmonious relations
B) Born of necessity when Britain was unable to break the power of African local rulers
C) The challenges of delegating political authority
D) A humanitarian motive inherent to British culture
E) A sensitivity to local political and economic interests that generated good will

Question 16

Whose research was misapplied to human society in an effort to justify colonialism as a moral obligation to transform "inferior" societies?

A) Darwin
B) Freud
C) Marx
D) Malthus
E) Huxley

Question 17

In Africa, how did colonial powers pursue modernization?

A) Through the creation of domestic banking and currency systems
B) By applying "direct rule" with resource exploitation
C) Through investment in local industries
D) By developing surplus trade balances
E) Through promoting and increasing the production of raw materials for export

Question 18

After World War II, economic development programs were used by colonial powers to do what?

A) Reconcile past injustices
B) Improve the overall economic well-being of colonies
C) Curb nationalist sentiments
D) Improve communication and transportation networks in the colonies
E) Learn about Indigenous cultures

Question 19

Why was World War II a decisive moment in colonial history?

A) Colonial subjects had fought for the principle of self-determination
B) Colonial empires collapsed
C) European states were unable to support colonial enterprises
D) Ethical norms in European society had evolved
E) Power shifted from Europe to the US and USSR

Question 20

In Latin America in the nineteenth century, the British financed a vast expansion of which of the following, which allowed for the increased exploitation of local resources?

A) Roads and highways
B) Rail lines
C) Water purification systems
D) Court systems
E) Schools

Question 21

Portugal is often described as following what type of approach to ruling its colonies?

A) Indirect
B) Hands-on and violent
C) Assimilatory
D) Economy-focused
E) Humanitarian

Question 22

How did the Cold War help unravel the colonial order?

A) It provoked higher Economic costs of maintaining colonies
B) by accelerating the declining importance of colonial resources
C) The fear of motivating anti-colonial movements financed by the United States and the Soviet Union
D) Political opposition at home
E) The nuclear arms race

Question 23

Why were chartered companies initially more common than direct colonization in Africa?

A) It was easier to infiltrate the continent commercially than militarily
B) Direct colonization had been unsuccessful elsewhere
C) Direct colonization was thought to be inhumane
D) Europe was generally ambivalent towards creating an African empire
E) African societies welcomed commercial ties

Question 24

Which of the following was NOT an action of the English East India Company in South Asia?

A) It created an extensive rail network in the region
B) It put into place the infrastructure for an economy based on the export of high-bulk, low-value goods
C) It re-invested the vast majority of its profits locally
D) It implemented a law-based governance system to replace systems of personal rule
E) It refused any role for South Asian representation in government

Question 25

What was the aim of the Bandung Conference?

A) It aimed to forge Afro-Asian mutual assistance
B) It was an unqualified success that served as a model for other colonial powers
C) It was designed to institutionalize the term Third World
D) It resulted in the forced resettlement of several African countries
E) It was based on existing social values and economic realities in Asia

Question 26

Before Vasco da Gama's sea voyage to Asia in 1497-9, Europeans had long been trading with Asia through land-based trading routes informally called:

A) The Belt and Road Initiative
B) The Cape to Cairo Road
C) The Silk Road
D) The Orient Express
E) The Pineapple Express

Question 27

European countries like Spain and Portugal began exploring Africa and Asia in the late fifteenth century in order to:

A) have access to trade for goods like gold, spices, and textiles
B) prove that the world was round
C) explore new cultures and religions
D) find new lands where Europeans could live because Europe was becoming overpopulated after the Black Death
E) to conquer Indigenous peoples for slavery

Question 28

Colonialism as it existed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was often attributed to the idea of a "zero-sum game." This meant that:

A) there was a limited amount of exploitable resources, and countries wanted to get those resources first
B) there was a desire to exert political influence over the colonies
C) there was a desire to exert religious influence over the colonies
D) both B and C
E) none of the above

Question 29

Colonialism and imperialism are similar terms and often used interchangeably. However, they are different in the following ways:

A) Imperialism ceased to exist as a policy by the nineteenth century and was replaced by colonialism
B) Colonialism refers to the process of a country taking physical control of another, and imperialism refers to political and monetary dominance, either formally or informally
C) Imperialism only referred to European countries interacting with African and Asian populations
D) Colonialism only existed in Africa
E) Imperialism only existed in Asia

Question 30

European colonial conquest in the Americas were not as successful as in Asia because:

A) There were not as many valuable resources in the Americas
B) Ocean currents made it very difficult to access the Americas and so the financial returns were not as good
C) Indigenous populations in the Americas succumbed quickly to European disease and brutal treatment making it difficult for Europeans to trade or find valuable resources
D) The Europeans were unable to communicate with the Indigenous peoples because of language barriers
E) None of the above

Question 31

After the English East India Company gained control of Bengal in 1765, they were able to employ "military fiscalism," which allowed the company to: Military fiscalism was:

A) be financially responsible
B) coerce colonies to pay taxes, otherwise they would be under threat from colonial militaries
C) fund its military actions through locally raised tax revenues
D) combine its military and economic policies
E) use tax revenues from England to continue its military actions in South Asia

Question 32

Which of the following was NOT a private company involved in the European colonialism?

A) Dutch West India Company
B) Royal Niger Company
C) Imperial British West Africa Company
D) German East Africa Company
E) English East India Company

Question 33

The term "Scramble for Africa" came as a result of:

A) The Belgian King Leopold wanting to turn Belgium into a world power through African colonization
B) England wanting to divest itself of African colonies, so it could focus on Asia
C) The German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's convening Europe's major powers to a conference to agree on the rules for a land grab
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 34

Colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century exploited "cleavages" within African societies. By cleavages we refer to:

A) New transport technologies like flat bottomed boats that were able to probe deeper into the African hinterland
B) New methods in missionary work that helped convert Africans from their traditional beliefs to Christianity
C) Already existing tensions within and between African societies especially in the areas of religion, language, ethnicity, race, and class
D) None of the above
E) All of the above

Question 35

Which of the following was not considered a primary candidate for resource extraction in Africa during the late nineteenth century?

A) Copper
B) Gold
C) Tin
D) Diamonds
E) Aluminum

Question 36

Most scholars accept that there is a single explanation for imperial expansion.

Question 37

Many experts argue that economic motives during the Industrial Revolution initiated the period of "high imperialism."

Question 38

Colonization implies the rule of some people over others.

Question 39

Imperialism is a political system by which colonies are ruled from a central seat of power in pursuit of largely, if not entirely, economic goals.

Question 40

Self-determination was a motivating principle for struggles against colonial rule.

Question 41

The existence of massive wealth and the collapse of Indigenous populations led to greater European immigration to the Americas than to other imperial colonies.

Question 42

From the late 1600s, the export of enslaved people from Africa to the Americas was driven mostly by a demand for household servants.

Question 43

European colonization in Africa occurred over a much shorter period of time than the colonization of Asia and Latin America.

Question 44

Europe's colonization of Africa was a slow process.

Question 45

Regardless of the type, colonial rule was backed by violence or the threat of violence.

Question 46

Indirect rule followed closely to the early model the British had established in South Asia.

Question 47

Colonial rule created or worsened inequalities of power and wealth in colonized countries by privileging some individuals and groups over others.

Question 48

In order to "modernize," the African economy was oriented by colonizers towards manufacturing.

Question 49

Colonial rule caused minor, but not fundamental, changes in Indigenous societies.

Question 50

Formal independence did not result in equal status between colonizers and former colonies.

Question 51

Development as a professional field stems from early-twentieth century efforts by colonizers to implement economic policies that would benefit Indigenous societies.

Question 52

The strategy of "indirect rule" is associated with British colonization.

Question 53

The British passed the Colonial Development and Welfare Act in 1946.

Question 54

Neo-colonialism occurs when the economies of formally independent countries remain subject to the control of others.

Question 55

Nationalism played a key role in the competition between European states over territory and resources in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Question 56

The terms "Global North" and "Global South" accurately reflect the division of states according to wealth.

Question 57

Early Portuguese and Spanish expansion into North Africa was driven by both economic and religious motivations.

Question 58

The English East India Company possessed such economic and coercive force as to make it the most powerful actor in European imperial history.

Question 59

The 1884 Berlin Conference negotiated the rules for colonization with prominent African leaders.

Question 60

European colonizers did NOT try to replicate in Africa the indirect-rule model used in South Asia.

Question 61

It was common for European and Asian traders to individually travel the entire length of the Silk Road.

Question 62

Ethiopia is the only African country to have never been colonized by a European country.

Question 63

Colonizers instituted policies in the first half of the twentieth century that brought moderate investment intended to benefit Indigenous populations.

Question 64

Post-World War II, colonial development activities were expanded, partly by increasing the flow of funds from Europe, primarily through loans. This had a drastic impact on colonized areas in South and Southeast Asia, but minimally affected colonies in Africa.

Question 65

In the final two decades of "traditional" colonialism, the emphasis shifted from trying to provide "development" to Indigenous societies in accordance with European norms, to the "civilization" of those societies.

Question 66

The end of colonialism in the twentieth century was in part started as a result of World War II when European colonizing powers, especially France and Britain, faced enormous challenges to rebuild at home and so could not provide any significant resources abroad.

Question 67

India was the first colony to gain independence from a European power in 1947.

Question 68

Mohandas Gandhi, a leader in the Indian independence movement, began his anti-colonial work in Nigeria.

Question 69

The African and Asian leaders who met in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955 had hopes for a "Third World," meaning they hoped the European powers would continue to support their colonies rather than having independence thrust upon them.

Question 70

The Cold War that emerged after World War II was really a hot war with proxy conflicts fought primarily in the Global South, including: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Angola, Mozambique, the Horn of Africa, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.

Question 71

What are chartered companies? What was their role in imperial expansion?

Question 72

How did the use of indirect rule serve British colonial interests in Africa?

Question 73

What were the motivations for Europe's initial phase of colonial territorial expansion?

Question 74

What is the "Great Power" rivalry? What was its impact on the expansion of empire?

Question 75

What was the role of nationalism in the expansion of colonial empires?

Question 76

In what ways were economic motives in the Industrial Revolution responsible for launching the era of "high imperialism"?

Question 77

How was the English East India Company able to gain so much power in India?

Question 78

What is meant by the term "neo-colonialism"?

Question 79

What was the "Scramble for Africa"?

Question 80

How did European faith in essential cultural differences influence colonialism?