Essay Questions

Essay Questions

Short Answers

How did the new western technologies make it easier for European powers to colonize Africa? Give specific examples of technologies to answer.

The history of colonization by the European powers is old one, and a number of factors have been playing their part in assisting colonization of Africa. However, the most essential factor that assisted the European powers in colonization of Africa is the technological development, which was taking place at that time in the western part of the world at an incredible rate. The industrial revolution in west had produced deadly arms, including firearms, new rifles, machine guns and artillery guns, while Africa was still backward and underdeveloped, with the natives using bows, arrows, swords and old rifles, thus providing Europeans with superiority and making the process of colonization easy.

How was the United States' involvement in the Panama Canal an example of informal imperialism?

United States has the history of intervening and interfering with the matters of other states and practicing informal imperialism, and the same has been done to Panama Canal. US funded and paid money to Panama in order to get hold of Panama Canal, which offered great material benefits to the country in coming days. However, soon after the beginning of the project, Panamanians started facing the undue military intervention by the US forces, even in the areas that were out of treaty, thus forming informal imperialism.

Why do historians often refer to the late-nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire as 'The sick man of Europe'?

Historians refer to the late-nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire as 'The sick man of Europe' due to the fact that the empire, which was once all powerful, was now going through the phase of difficulties and downfall. Another reason for using the term was the fact that Ottoman Empire was experiencing and going through a period of economic problems and impoverishment, which adversely affected the growth of the empire. The Turks have history of dominating over Eastern Mediterranean for almost half of the millennium, but with the downfall of the empire in the late nineteenth century, only Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and some parts of the Arabian Peninsula remained under the control of empire while the others were lost.

Essay Question

What were the main motives for European and American imperialism, and how did these motives change from the mid-nineteenth to the period of the 'scramble' for colonies after 1870? When discussing the motives, use example of specific ...