Culture Hearth

DEFINITION

a culture hearth is a "heartland", a source area, innovation center, a place of origin of a major culture

ANCIENT CULTURE HEARTHS

Where?

• Mesopotamia
• Nile Valley Indus Valley
• Wei-Huang Valley
• Ganges Valley
• Mesoamerica
• West Africa
• Andean America

When?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colonialism

DEFINITION

the attempt by one country to establish settlements and to impose its economic and cultural principles in another territory

WHY? / MOTIVES

1. promote religious beliefs
2. obtain a source of resources
3. obtain power and status
4. geopolitical / geostrategic reasons

WHEN?

• many early empires (Greeks, Romans, Chinese)
• Arab-Islamic Empire (beginning in the 7th century)
• Ottoman Empire (16th century to WW1)
• European Colonization (15th century to 1970s to present)
  • Europeans controlled ? % world's land surface:
    • 1500: 9%
    • 1800: 35%
    • 1878: 67%
    • 1914: 85%
  • Two Waves of European colonialism:
    1. Wave #1: 1415-1825
       • Western Hemisphere
       • independence 1776-1824
       • mainly settlement colonies/immigrants
       • 5 major colonial powers
       • Spain and Portugal: major powers
       • Max. # colonies: 147 in 1774
       • conquest, plunder, slavery, annihilation of indigenous peoples
    2. Wave #2: Since the mid 1800s
       • Asia, Africa, and the Pacific
       • colonies of occupation rather than settlement
       • 10 colonial powers
       • Great Britain and France: major powers
       • Max. # colonies: 168 in 1925
       • less destructive than first wave
       • colonies seen as sources of cheap resources

EUROPEAN COLONIZATION - WHO?

• United Kingdom (controlled 24% of land surface)
• France
• Portuguese
• Spain
• Germany
• Italy
• Denmark
• the Netherlands
• Belgium
• Others
  • United States
  • Russia
  • China
  • Japan

   

   

   

   

   

   

Effects of Colonialism

1. economic development modified for the benefit of the colonizer
2. inappropriate technologies introduced
3. coastal states gain
4. decline in political stability
5. borders ignore cultural geography
6. migration routes closed
7. colonial cities arise
8. foreign model of government introduced
9. decrease in death rates / increase in population growth
10. colonial transportation networks
11. change of trade patterns
12. dual economies introduced
13. foreign system of education
14. new religions and languages introduced
15. others