Imperialism
Imperialism is a policy or practice through which a state extends power over other territories or peoples, by formal rule or indirect control.
Informal empire: Control over another territory through economic, diplomatic, or military pressure without formal annexation. It shows how imperial influence could persist without direct colonial government.
Age of Discovery: The period of sustained European overseas exploration and expansion beginning in the fifteenth century. Its voyages opened routes for European conquest and overseas empire.
Cecil Rhodes: A British imperialist, mining magnate, and politician who helped extend British rule in southern Africa. His career joined private wealth, colonial administration, and expansionist ideology.
Anti-imperialism: Political opposition to the expansion or maintenance of one state's power over other peoples or territories. It organizes resistance to the power relations imperialism creates.
Partition of Africa: The division of African territories among European powers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Imperial borders often disregarded existing societies and political boundaries.
Economic imperialism: The extension of power over another society through trade, investment, debt, or control of resources. Economic leverage could secure influence where formal political rule was absent.
Spanish Empire: A global empire built by Spain from the late fifteenth century, spanning territories in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Spanish conquest established an early modern model of overseas imperial rule.
Jules Ferry: A French statesman who advocated colonial expansion and served as prime minister in the 1880s. His arguments gave republican France a prominent political case for empire.
Decolonization: The process by which colonized territories gain independence or otherwise end colonial rule. It marks the dismantling of formal empires, though not necessarily every form of influence.
Resource curse: The tendency for countries rich in natural resources to experience weaker economic or institutional outcomes than expected. Extraction-oriented imperial economies influenced patterns of resource dependence.