Deck 2: The High Tide of Imperialism: Africa and Asia

Question 1

After World War I, European colonial policy in Africa adopted some new social initiatives including all but which of the following?

A)Providing medicine
B)Improving social services
C)Developing political democracy

Answer 1

Developing political democracy

Question 2

Who directed the construction of the Suez Canal?

A)Louis Napoleon
B)Albert Beveridge
C)Ferdinand de Lesseps

Answer 2

Ferdinand de Lesseps

Question 3

Which individual used private corporations focused on mineral extraction as a way to advance British imperialism in Africa?

A)David Livingstone
B)William Gladstone
C)Cecil Rhodes

Answer 3

Cecil Rhodes

Question 4

What does the saying the "sun never sets on the British Empire" refer to?

A)A century-long streak of bad luck experienced by British governments
B)The foreign attention paid to British imperial rule
C)The vast extent of British Empire's global territorial possessions

Question 5

The most significant colonial confrontation between Great Britain and France in 1898 occurred where?

A)Fashoda
B)The Congo
C)The Transvaal

Question 6

The French policy of colonial assimilation is best described how?

A)Colonial subjects should be allowed to live their own lives as long as they obey colonial laws.
B)Colonial subjects should be expected to become good French citizens one day.
C)Colonial subjects should be required to help European settlers establish thriving economies.

Question 7

Which of the following was the first British colony in West Africa?

A)The Congo
B)Nigeria
C)The Gold Coast

Question 8

The position of Edward Morel's The Black Man's Burden toward colonialism is best summarized how?

A)Black Africans have virtually no natural wealth in their home colonies and must rely on European help.
B)Black Africans must work twice as hard to catch up to European civilization because of their past.
C)Black Africans do all the work of colonialism, while white Europeans enjoy all the benefits.

Question 9

How did "indirect rule" differ from "direct rule"?

A)Indirect rule was primarily concerned with agricultural rather than industrial development.
B)Indirect rule attempted to govern colonies through the use of local political elites to lessen cost and resistance.
C)Indirect rule aimed to change the behaviors of its subjects through intensive re-education programs instead of laws.

Question 10

Which of the following colonies did NOT belong to Britain?

A)Cape Colony
B)Nigeria
C)Southwest Africa

Question 11

What is the best description of Rudyard Kipling's concept of "the white man's burden"?

A)White men, as inherently civilized, had the onerous task of spreading that civilization to other less civilized people.
B)White men must achieve a higher civilization in order to prevent being ruled by non-European societies.
C)White men are tied down by the expense of European standards of living and the demands of democratic politics.

Question 12

"The Great Game" refers to which of the following?

A)The efforts by the Germans to gain a foothold in Africa
B)Competition between the French and British, as exemplified over their confrontation in the Sudan
C)Rivalry between Russia and Great Britain over Afghanistan and nearby regions

Question 13

So-called legitimate trade would include all of the following except which commodity?

A)Palm oil
B)Slaves
C)Timber

Question 14

Which European state ruled Egypt as an informal protectorate in the several decades before World War I?

A)Great Britain
B)Italy
C)France

Question 15

Britain's Lord Macaulay believed which of the following?

A)Queen Victoria should become empress of India.
B)Indian education should focus on only Western books and ideas.
C)Indians were too backward and primitive to ever be educated.

Question 16

Which of the following colonies was an Italian colony?

A)Libya
B)Senegal
C)Tanganyika

Question 17

Which African leader led the Zulus against the Boers in the early nineteenth century?

A)The Mahdi
B)Shaka
C)Cetshwayo

Question 18

Which work claimed that the motives for Western imperialism were virtually entirely economic?

A)Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations
B)John A. Hobson's Imperialism: A Study
C)Albert Sarraut's The Civilizing Mission

Question 19

The zamindar system is best described how?

A)It was established by Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore.
B)It was the method of recruiting soldiers for the Dutch East India Company.
C)It gave local landlords in India the power to collect taxes.

Question 20

Which of the following states became a haven for ex-slaves and was established with the assistance of the United States?

A)Nigeria
B)Liberia
C)The Sudan

Question 21

In comparison to France, British colonial policy could be best described as favoring which approach to colonial government?

A)Indirect rule where possible, coercive direct rule where necessary
B)Enlightened despotism at first, until colonial subjects had been sufficiently assimilated
C)Universal military occupation to force a total subjugation of colonial societies

Question 22

Describe "indirect rule."

Question 23

Which of the following is NOT a correct match of colony with a raw material it was exploited for?

A)Oil from India
B)Teakwood from Burma
C)Rubber and tin from Malaya

Question 24

What was the Suez Canal, and why was it important?

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT correct about South Africa?

A)Only the European populations were represented in the government.
B)Representative government included all South Africans.
C)The Union of South Africa was formed in 1910.

Question 26

Which of the following was not characteristic of French colonial policy in Africa?

A)Some Africans were permitted to hold high positions in the colonial administration.
B)The French relied on force to maintain their civil administrations in the colonies.
C)French colonial administration was the only one to govern according to perceived racial differences.

Question 27

Which British colony in Africa had a relatively large European farming population and a temperate climate in its highland region?

A)The Sudan
B)The British Congo
C)Kenya

Question 28

How did European imperial governments' attitudes toward their colonial subjects after World War I?

A)They recognized some demands for reform but attempted to reassert their authority.
B)They denied all demands for reform and executed dissidents and resistance leaders.
C)They granted major concessions in the new spirit of national self-determination.

Question 29

Which of the following describes a result of European colonial rule in Africa?

A)African women were allowed in some cases to exercise political authority for the first time.
B)The rights and status of African women were diminished in favor of men.
C)All Africans increased their status and gained more rights than in precolonial times.

Question 30

Why were colonies important to Europeans?

Question 31

Describe "direct rule."

Question 32

What was the initial goal of the Indian National Congress when it formed in 1885?

A)To advocate for outright independence and a break with the British Empire
B)To urge the colonial government to grant Indians self-government
C)To cooperate with Britain to divide India into Hindu and Muslim states

Question 33

In comparison to colonies in Southeast Asia, colonies in Africa are best described how?

A)They were much less likely to attract many European settlers.
B)They were much more formally and systematically administered.
C)They were seen as less valuable economically and strategically.

Question 34

Which of the following African states remained free from Western imperialism in the nineteenth century?

A)Ethiopia
B)The Sudan
C)Algeria

Question 35

How did India come under British East India Company rule?

Question 36

How does social Darwinism misapply Darwinian principles?

Question 37

Which of the following describes how World War I affected European imperialism?

A)Imperialism was ended in Asia but maintained in Africa.
B)Europeans decided to turn over their colonies to the new League of Nations.
C)African colonies became more centralized under European rule in the face of anticolonial opposition.

Question 38

The so-called scramble for Africa is best described how?

A)A period of intense competition between Protestant and Catholic missionaries in Africa in the early 1800s
B)A period during which many European states made formal claims to African territories in the late 1800s
C)A period of heightened European exploration in Africa to find the source of the Nile in the mid-1800s

Question 39

Swahili is best described how?

A)It was an amalgamation of traditional East African and Arab cultures and languages.
B)It was the by-product of centuries-old Congolese connections with Portugal.
C)It was the name of the Islamic revival movement growing in the Sudan in the early 1900s.

Question 40

How did World War I affect European colonial subjects?

A)Many felt more invested in the imperial project after the way.
B)Many gave up hope that independence was possible after witnessing the fighting.
C)Many demanded greater concessions at home after contributing valuable service to European armies.

Question 41

How did South Asian subjects resist colonial rule?

Question 42

How did the Berlin Conference affect European imperialism? What were its motivations, and were they successful?

Question 43

What was the "scramble for Africa," and why was it significant?

Question 44

How did the advent of machine guns change European colonialism?

Question 45

Where are the so-called Spice Islands located?

A)In present-day Japan
B)In present-day Jamaica
C)In present-day Indonesia

Question 46

Why were the Straits Settlements and Singapore so important?

Question 47

How did the Dutch maintain their rule in the East Indies?

Question 48

Describe Belgian administration of the Congo.

Question 49

How did India come to be ruled by the British government instead of the company?

Question 50

How did the United States acquire its imperial possessions in the Pacific?

Question 51

To what extent did Britain plan on taking over and governing all of India? Explain your answer with examples that support your argument.

Question 52

Describe British relations with the Boers and with the Zulu in the nineteenth century.

Question 53

Why is Lugard's rule in Nigeria representative of "indirect rule"?

Question 54

Did Europeans more often follow principles of direct rule or indirect rule in their colonies? How did this vary by geography? What benefit did each give to European imperial governments?

Question 55

How did African subjects resist colonial rule?

Question 56

Why did Britain outlaw the slave trade in 1807?

Question 57

Where was Islam prevalent in nineteenth-century Africa? Why?

Question 58

Why did Britain occupy Egypt in 1882?

Question 59

Who were the last pre-British rulers of the Indian subcontinent?

A)Mughals
B)Guptas
C)Mauryans

Question 60

How did concepts of race affect European imperialism?

Question 61

How did British, French, and American imperialism in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific differ? What similarities existed between some or all of their colonialisms?

Question 62

Was the success of international humanitarian opposition to Belgian rule in the Congo typical of the influence humanitarianism could exert on imperialism? Why or why not?

Question 63

How did the adoption of new, modern weapons shape colonial conflicts? Was the advantage always with imperial armies? Why or why not?

Question 64

Which was the only independent state on the Southeast Asian mainland by the end of the nineteenth century?

A)Laos
B)Vietnam
C)Thailand

Question 65

To what extent did European empires in Southeast Asia depend on collaboration with local elites, and to what extent did they depend on force?

Question 66

Which of the following statements is not correct about the history of Africa before the twentieth century?

A)The desiccation of the Sahara Desert in the fourth millennium B.C.E. hampered communication between Europe and southern Africa.
B)Africa remained completely isolated from the rest of the world until the Portuguese explorations of the fifteenth century.
C)It was referred to as "darkest Africa" by many contemporary Westerners, who wrongly believed that Africa lacked both civilization and a history.

Question 67

How did the end of the slave trade affect European imperialism? Overall, did it lead to more or less European involvement in African affairs? Why?

Question 68

Why did the African slave trade decline in the early nineteenth century?

A)It was no longer economically profitable.
B)African resistance to the trade was too strong to continue it.
C)Humanitarian outrage led most European governments to outlaw it.

Question 69

Is the term "scramble" an appropriate description for European imperial expansion in Africa? Why or why not?

Question 70

To what extent was the South African War (Anglo-Boer War)of 1899-1902 the first "modern" war? Why?

Question 71

Who led the Philippine insurrection against American rule in the early twentieth century?

A)King Mongkut
B)Pancho Villa
C)Emilio Aguinaldo