Empire Building
1-8
In the late 1800’s, a few European countries decided to take over the
world. Why? Greed, pride, jealousy, competition, economic opportunity,
need for raw materials, and their deep beliefs about their own superiority.
Temporary travel to new lands. Explorers journey far from home, come to
Exploration
Conquer
Homeland
Colony
Empire
Imperialism
Nationalism
Military
Militarism
Industrialization
Scramble for
Africa
a land they have never seen before, claim it for their Homeland, and then
they move on to continue their exploration.
To defeat and take over another country. To destroy the culture of the
defeated people and replace it with the culture of the conquerors.
Countries in Europe that explore, conquer, and colonize other lands.
A distant land in permanent, total control of the Homeland.
The Homeland and all the colonies it controls. Empire comes from the
Latin word for power. The colonies belong to the Homeland.
The belief that it is good to have an empire. The belief that the Homeland
has the right to conquer and colonize other countries. The belief that the
empire should continually expand. The belief that the culture of the
Homeland should destroy and replace the culture of the conquered people.
A strong love of your own country. The belief that your country is superior
and all other countries are inferior. Homelands in Europe were right next
to one another, so nationalism easily became competition.
The military is the army (land power) and navy (sea power) of a country.
Militarism is the belief in a strong military. Militarism is the belief that
stronger military power makes your Homeland superior to other
Homelands. Large empires needed strong armies to control their colonies.
Military leaders and leaders of nations shared this belief in military power.
Industry is making things in factories. The Industrial Revolution was a
change in the culture of Europe in the 1800’s. People moved from farms to
cities to work in factories. Cities became crowded and polluted. Goods
were manufactured quickly and cheaply. Europe became industrialized.
Industries needed more raw materials, so Homelands needed more colonies.
European countries rushed to colonize the continent of Africa. Colonies in
North and South America fought wars to separate themselves from the
control of the Homelands. All colonies in South America were free of
European control by around 1830. So European powers turned their
attention to Africa. They scrambled to conquer and colonize the continent.
The main empire-building, imperialist countries in Africa were Great
Britain (England, UK) and France. Portugal, Spain, Denmark, and
Germany, continued the race to conquer part of Africa, and later Italy,
Belgium, and the Netherlands joined in. These countries believed their
power and glory would increase if they controlled more of Africa.
Empire Building
N
D
imperialism
conquer
C
exploration
empire
1-8
industrialization militarism
Scramble for
nationalism
Africa
Complete the sentences with the word bank. Each word is used several times.
1. We defeat you in battle and take over your land. We ____________ you.
2. We believe out country is the best. All other countries are inferior. This is _____________.
3. We sail to new countries in search of spices and silk. We trade with local people, then we
continue on our journey. This is _______________.
4. We believe that the more of Africa we conquer, the stronger we are. We must hurry and
conquer more than other European countries. This is the _____________________________.
5. We believe our country has the right to invade and conquer other countries.
This is ____________________.
6. We build factories in the city to manufacture goods quickly. This is __________________
7. Our country has conquered three countries on another continent.
They make up our ____________.
8. We believe that a strong army makes us a better country. This is ____________________.
9. We take raw materials and manufacture goods in factories in the Homelands’ cities. This
is_______________.
10. Our country has the bravest, smartest citizens. _________________________
11. We need to replace your inferior culture with our superior culture in your land. We want to
make you be like us. This is ___________________________
12. We are rushing to compete with other European Countries in a _____________________
because we want to increase the size of our ______________.
13.
14. When our neighboring country increased the size of its navy, we had to increase ours, too.
We believe they will respect us more. This is ____________________.
15. Our national theater produced a play called, “The Rise of the Mighty Lion.” It is about the
early history of our country. This is an example of ___________________.
16. We believe African and Asian countries are lucky to have us take over. They are better
countries now. We have the right—and the duty!—to conquer them. This is an example of
_______________________
17. Instead of adding parks to our cities, we have added soldiers to our army and battleships
to our navy. This is _____________.
18. Prince Henry, 1430, led Portugal’s so-called Golden Age of ___________________.
19. School children march and sing, “O Glorious Fatherland.” This is ___________________
20. We make the Native People learn our European language. This is __________________.