Level 91
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Historical Geography and Exploration

Colonial Empires and the Remaking of Borders

How European colonial empires partitioned and administered the world from the late nineteenth century onward, and how the borders, infrastructure, and institutions they imposed continue to shape the political map today.

60-Second Review

Express review

A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

  1. The Scramble for Africa and the Berlin Conference. The 1884-85 Berlin Conference let European powers partition Africa without any African delegates present.
  2. British Imperial Geography and the Raj. Crown rule after 1858 restructured India through railways, provinces, and princely states for imperial extraction.
  3. French, Dutch, and Belgian Colonial Territories. France, the Netherlands, and Belgium built distinct colonial systems across Africa and Southeast Asia.
  4. Colonial Boundary-Making and Arbitrary Borders. European negotiators drew colonial borders from maps in distant capitals, ignoring existing local geography.
  5. Settler Colonies versus Extractive Colonies. Colonies split broadly into settler societies rebuilt on European lines and extractive regimes ruled by a small elite.
  6. Colonial Infrastructure and Resource Extraction. Colonial railways, dams, and mines were built overwhelmingly to move raw materials from interior to port.
  7. Resistance Movements and Colonial Conflict. Colonized peoples resisted through armed uprisings and wars, at times inflicting major defeats on colonial powers.
  8. Lasting Legacies of Colonial Geography. Colonial-era borders, institutions, and economies persisted well past independence, shaping conflicts and growth.

This module continues after "The Age of Exploration and Global Encounter" in the syllabus. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it may help set the context.

Key points

Visual module map

1The Scramble for Africa and the Berlin Conference
2French, Dutch, and Belgian Colonial Territories
3Settler Colonies versus Extractive Colonies
4Colonial Infrastructure and Resource Extraction
5Lasting Legacies of Colonial Geography

Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.

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Final test

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Optional mini-games

Extra practice, with no penalty, to reinforce the module's content.

Review Flashcards

Review each key point with cards that flip to reveal the summary.

Memory

Match each concept with its definition in as few attempts as possible.

Time Attack

Answer true or false statements before time runs out.

Chronological Order

Put the module's key points back in their original order.

Further reading

Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.

  • Pakenham, T. (1991). The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
  • Hochschild, A. (1998). King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  • Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., and Robinson, J.A. (2001). "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation." American Economic Review, 91(5), 1369-1401.
  • Metcalf, T.R. and Metcalf, B.D. (2012). A Concise History of Modern India (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Crowder, M. (1968). West Africa Under Colonial Rule. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
  • Herbst, J. (2000). States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton: Princeton University Press.