Empires, Colonialism, Imperialism, and Decolonization - AP World History: Modern

The Ottoman Empire, which lasted from 1500 until the end of World War I, grew from a small state west of modern day Turkey into a major player in global politics. At its height the Ottomans controlled the Balkans, the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of what are now Southern Russia and the Ukraine. Upon its dissolution after World War I in 1923 the Ottoman Empire was replaced by the Republic of Turkey.

Imperialism is the extension of an empire into foreign lands. It is using political and/or military power to dictate policy and governing decisions emanating from the home empire. Imperialism can be achieved through means such as colonialism or economic manipulation.

Colonialism is the practice of settling one's own people in a foreign land. The word "colony" refers to an extension of the home empire, thus implying the empire has power to govern the colonized land. By placing citizens on the ground in foreign lands, the home empire has a greater ability to manage economic and political affairs.

Economic Imperialism refers specifically to resource extraction and wealth generation in a foreign land for the benefit of the home empire. Economic Imperialism in the 19th century led to harsh mining conditions in places such as South Africa and slave-like treatment in the rubber plantations of Brazil. Many argue the practice of economic imperialism continues today with resource extraction from the Global South for the benefit the Global North.

European imperialism and colonization came at great detriment to the indigenous people of the land they conquered. The justification for this practice was that they were bringing "civilization" to these "backward," "savage" people. This led to the use of missionaries and religious conversion, the use of European legal systems, forced cultural integration, and new technologies. Unfortunately, the "civilization" brought by the Europeans had no reasonable place in it for the inhabitants of the land they conquered, indigenous groups were violently oppressed, and in many cases murdered on a large scale.

Francisco Pizarro conquered and colonized the nation now known as Peru (homeland of the Incan people). Cortez conquered the Aztecs of Mexico, and Ponce de Leon and Coronado are associated primarily with the Caribbean. While similar, Columbus was not a true conquistador and allegedly never saw the Incas.

All of these nations, except for Germany had numerous colonies in the Americas and were largely dependent on their natural and economic resources as a source of wealth. You could have answered this question either by knowing that Germany was not a colonial presence in America or by knowing that all of the other nations listed were such presences.

The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire. This phrase refers to the peak of the empire when the colonies were so vast that it was said that no matter the time of day, somewhere in the world the sun was shining on a British colony.

While the British famously went on to colonize Australia and many of the surrounding islands, they were not the first to discover its existence and relay that information back to Europe. While on a trade expedition to Indonesia Dutch sailor Willem Janszoon was blown off course. It was there he spotted Australia and made landfall. He was promptly attacked by the local aborigines and he returned to Indonesia.

The Maori are the native people of New Zealand. Unlike in most other colonized nations thought, the culture of the Maori has not been largely extinguished. The Maori culture is still to this day a celebrated part of New Zealand's history. This is evidenced by the fact that New Zealand's national rugby team (New Zealand's most popular sport) performs a traditional Maori war dance before every game.

The Gunpowder Empires got their name from their reliance of black powder weapons as the crux of their military might. They were strictly run dynastic empires focused on aggressive expansion of territories. They all three were located in the Middle East and could trace their lineage back to early Turkish tribes.

Hernan Cortes was able to conquer the Aztec empire with a small number of conquistadors.

Samurai were Japanese warriors who did not participate in the destruction of the Aztec empire.

By the time of Cortes's invasion of the Americas, no military used chariots.

The Sarissa were specialized pikemen used by Alexander the Great to conquer Persia, they were not used by Cortes.

Cortes used horses but he also used firearms, not bows and arrows.

Imperialism was the movement of Empire making, Western powers built vast colonial networks stretching around the world that offered significant political and financial advantages, while ultimately offering nothing but a weak infrastructure to many of the countries then viewed as "third world" by the colonizing powers.

The many scientific and cultural changes wrought by the Renaissance had a similarly transformative effect on the ways in which Western European nations engaged in competition. During the Medieval Ages, hostility between various countries traditionally broke out along militaristic and/or religious lines – often, these two approaches were combined. Traditional examples of pre-Renaissance era national conflict included influential monarchial visits to Rome in an attempt to leverage Papal Power or military incursions into the Middle East (such as the infamous Crusades). However, as the many developments of the Renaissance permeated national administrations and cultural institutions, many Western European countries began instead to compete on a scientific level – for example, the fastest construction of ships and weapons or the strategic gathering of scholars and artists and highly skilled craftsmen. Eventually, all of these factors coalesced into the ability of national governments to fund voyages overseas, in the hopes of snapping up land, material riches, and primacy of ownership before any other country. Columbus’s discovery of the New World dramatically heightened this trend, and before too long, Spain, Portugal, England, France, and Belgium, along with others, were all competitors in the race to control as many Western Hemisphere lands and peoples as possible.

The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed in 1492 by Spain and Portugal and in its agreement drew a line that ran north to south along the entire globe approximately 300 miles west of the Azores Islands off of the west coast of Europe. The agreement in the treaty granted Spain possession of all lands west of the line, and Portugal all lands to the east.

During the late sixteenth century, Western Europe began to experience a vast influx of wealth from the New World. This wealth was quite diverse in form – not only the traditional gold and silver but also new food and agricultural products, such as tomatoes, corn, and tobacco. However, all these new riches did not enrich every sector of society. Instead, the top social classes, mostly the monarchy and aristocracy and wealthy merchants, reaped substantial benefits, growing ever more wealthy and powerful. By contrast, very little of these profits trickled down into the lower segments of society, causing the gap between rich and power to demonstrably widen. The New World’s bounty also triggered a population boom across Western Europe, especially in England, France, and the Netherlands. This population expansion occurred so rapidly that the economy couldn’t keep up and rampant inflation soon developed, which in turn led to an increase in food prices, a scarcity of food products, and a decrease in the amount of available jobs. Western Europe was indeed prospering thanks to the New World, but only certain social classes got to enjoy these benefits.

The Dutch East India Trading Company used the strategically placed Cape Town on Africa’s southern tip as a supply point on its journeys between Europe and Asia. The Dutch East India Trading Company had an incredibly profitable business transporting spices from Asia back to Europe. The settlement established in Cape Town became a gateway into the interior of Southern Africa, leading to the establishment of European colonies. These colonies faced hostility from the local populations, leading to violence between the two sides and eventual subjugation of the native Africans by the European colonists.

The Safavid Dynasty ruled over territory in modern-day Iran for much of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Safavids are considered one of the “modern Persian Empires.”

Suleiman the Magnificent is one of the most famous and accomplished of the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman expanded Ottoman control into southeastern Europe; he improved the Ottoman legal system and modernized the military; and he was a renowned patron of the arts. The height of the Ottoman Empire’s power and prestige is thought to have occurred during his reign. He was relatively tolerant of other religions, and allowed people to practice their religions freely in the Ottoman Empire.