How were European motives for imperialist colonization in the industrial age (19th-20th century), different from the motives for colonial expansion in the Early Modern Age (16th-17th centuries)?
How did Europeans’ interactions with the local populations, in the areas where they were present, change in the 19th century, from what they were like in the Early Modern Age?
Despite the potential horrors and injustices of imperialism, in what way, if at all, did the colonized nations benefit from European imperialism?
In their basic nature, in what ways were the Latin American struggles for independence similar to the American Revolution and/or the French Revolution?
Of the diverse problems that the regions of Latin America faced in their struggle for independence and nation-building, which problem do you think was the most difficult challenge, and why?
What important themes, discussed in the Chapter and in the class session, does the bizarre episode of Maximilian von Habsburg’s short reign in Mexico (1864-1867) represent?
What parallels are there between the Ottoman Empire, in the 19th century, and Russia in the 18th century?
Islamic and Chinese civilizations, both great and advanced civilizations in the Middle Ages, declined dramatically in the 19th and early 20th centuries, largely due to western presence and interventionism. Which of the two civilizations do you believe was better prepared to resist and somehow fared better in the end, by the early 20th century? This is a conceptual question which can be answered in many ways, but what are your ideas?
