Political Processes and History

Colonialism and Imperialism

• Colonialism: Establishment of settlements (colonies) in other territories.
  • Involves imposing political, economic, and cultural principles on controlled territories.
• Imperialism: Exerting force over nations to gain economic and political power.
  • Does not involve establishing colonies.
• Differences: Colonialism involves settling in territories; imperialism is the ideology behind expansion without settling.

Impact on the World

• Led to global diffusion of religions, languages, cultures, resources, people, and ideas.
• Created new countries and reshaped political boundaries.
• Resulted in forced migration (e.g., Atlantic slave trade) and an imbalance of power.
• Core countries benefited disproportionately from the exploitation of developing regions.
• Former colonies often remain dependent on former rulers, leading to trade imbalances.

Historical Examples

• Berlin Conference: European powers colonized Africa, created borders based on longitude and latitude.
  • Goals: Benefit Europeans, extract natural resources from Africa.
• Post-Independence in Africa:
  • Newly formed states had diverse nations, leading to conflicts and sometimes ethnic cleansing/genocide.
  • George Murdoch's Ethnic Map: Shows distribution of ethnic groups; highlights misalignment with political boundaries.

Conflicts and Resources

• Conflicts often occur within states' borders, not between different states.
• Many conflicts align with ethnic, not state boundaries.
• Natural resources (e.g., rivers, water) can be conflict points.

Independence Movements

• Desire for separation from foreign rule driven by decolonization.
  • Decolonization: Process of former colonies gaining independence.
  • Some non-self-governing territories still exist.

Devolution and Balkanization

• Devolution: Power shifts from central to regional governments.
  • Example: United Kingdom - Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales have devolved powers.
• Balkanization: State separates into multiple states.
  • Origin: Breakup of former Yugoslavia.
  • Involves separation after central power weakens, such as post-Tito Yugoslavia.

Conclusion

• Encouragement to practice with questions and answers provided.
• Additional resources for AP Human Geography available.
• Call to action for subscribing and using educational resources.