AP World Unit 6 Review: Industrialization's Impact (1750-1900)

European powers and Japan needed ideological justifications for conquering and controlling other peoples. Four main rationales appear on the exam: Social Darwinism applied evolutionary competition to nations and races; nationalism framed empire as proof of national greatness; the civilizing mission claimed Europeans had a duty to uplift supposedly inferior societies; and missionary activity sought to convert indigenous populations to Christianity. Rudyard Kipling's 'White Man's Burden' and Cecil Rhodes's writings are key primary source examples of these ideologies.

Imperial expansion took several distinct forms. Some states shifted from private to government control, such as the transfer of the Congo from King Leopold II to the Belgian government and the Dutch East India Company's territories passing to the Dutch state. European powers used the Berlin Conference to divide Africa, while Britain, France, Germany, and others expanded through both warfare and diplomacy. The United States expanded across North America, Russia pushed into Central Asia and Siberia, and Japan modernized rapidly through the Meiji Restoration to compete as an imperial power. Settler colonies, where Europeans permanently relocated, differed from extraction colonies.

Colonized peoples did not passively accept imperial rule. Resistance took three main forms: direct military resistance, the creation of new states on the peripheries of empires, and religiously inspired movements. Direct resistance examples include the 1857 rebellion in India against the British East India Company, Samory Toure's military campaigns in West Africa, and the Yaa Asantewaa War. New states formed on the edges of empires include the Sokoto Caliphate in West Africa and independent Balkan states. Religious movements such as the Ghost Dance in the United States and the Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement in southern Africa show how spiritual frameworks motivated resistance.

Industrial factories needed raw materials, and growing industrial cities needed food. This demand pushed many non-industrialized regions into export economies that specialized in extracting one or two commodities for sale to industrialized states. The profits from raw material exports were used to buy finished manufactured goods, creating a dependent economic relationship. Key examples include cotton production in Egypt, rubber extraction in the Amazon and Congo basin, palm oil from West Africa, guano from Peru and Chile, meat from Argentina and Uruguay, and diamonds from southern Africa.

Economic imperialism occurred when industrialized states controlled another region's economy without necessarily exercising full political control. Britain and France used trade agreements, loans, and military pressure to handle economies in Asia and Latin America. The Opium Wars are the clearest example: Britain forced China to accept opium imports and grant trade concessions through the Treaties of Tianjin and unequal treaties. British firms financed infrastructure like the Port of Buenos Aires, giving European businesses structural advantages. Spheres of influence in China divided economic access among multiple powers without formal colonization.

Migration increased dramatically in this period because of demographic pressure, economic opportunity, coerced labor systems, and new transportation technology. Steamships and railroads made long-distance movement faster and cheaper, enabling both voluntary and forced migration on a new scale. Many people migrated freely in search of work, such as Irish migrants to the United States after the Irish Potato Famine and Italian workers to Argentina. At the same time, the global capitalist economy relied on coerced and semicoerced labor, including Chinese and Indian indentured servitude and convict transportation to Australia. New transportation also allowed some migrants to return home periodically.

Migration reshaped both sending and receiving societies. Because most migrants were male, women in home societies took on roles previously held by men. In receiving societies, migrants formed ethnic enclaves that preserved language, religion, and cultural practices. Chinese communities formed in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and North America; Indian communities formed in East Africa, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia; Irish communities concentrated in North American cities; and Italians settled in both North and South America. Receiving societies often responded with hostility and legal restrictions, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 in the United States and the White Australia Policy.

Topic 6.8 is a synthesis and reasoning topic. It asks you to weigh the relative significance of imperialism's effects from 1750 to 1900, not just list them. The key effects to connect are: industrial capitalism raised living standards for some while exploiting others; industrialized states expanded empires and created transoceanic relationships; revolutions and rebellions challenged existing governments and produced new nation-states; and global capitalism dramatically increased migration. For the exam, you need to build cause-and-effect chains and argue which effects were most significant, using evidence from across the unit.