| armed forces | the military (army, air force, navy) | Streitkräfte |
| backward | not developed | rückständig |
| cargo | transpoarted goods, freight | Ladung, Waren~ |
| chief, chiefdom | Häuptling, Stammesgebiet | |
| civil service | Beamtentum, öffentlicher Dienst | |
| claim a right | demand a right | |
| clipper | fastest type of 19th century sailing ship | |
| colonial | (n) inhabitant of a colony; (adj) describing a policy which is believed to exploit weaker peoples | |
| colonist | settler in colony | |
| colony | area controlled by another country | |
| commercial colonies | Handelskolonien | |
| concession | right given to another person | Konzession, Handels~ |
| contract | agreement between two or more parties (esp. in business) | Vertrag |
| convert s.o. to Christianity | turn s.o. into a Christian | bekehren |
| convict | person found guilty of a crime | Sträfling |
| decolonization | process of changing a country from a colony to a free state | Entkolonisierung |
| dependent on | abhängig sein von | |
| deport | send a person to another country as a punishment | deportieren |
| divide and rule | "teile und herrsche" | |
| divide between | split, seperate | aufteilen unter |
| dominion | country in the British Empire with an independent government | |
| East India Company | former large British trading company | |
| educative mission | intention to teach a native population your own moral standards | |
| emigrate | leave your country in order to live somewhere else | auswandern |
| empire | group of states under a single supreme authority | Weltreich, Imperium |
| expansion | process of becoming larger | Expansion, Ausweitung |
| exploit, exploitation | ausbeuten, Ausbeutung | |
| foundation, to found | establishment of a colony or settlement | Gründung, gründen |
| governor | person who governs a colony for another country | Gouverneur |
| gunboat diplomacy | Kanonenboot-Diplomatie | |
| heathen | non-Christian | Heide, Nicht-Christ |
| immigrate | move to a new country to settle there | einwandern |
| independent of | unabhängig von | |
| inferior to | worse, weaker than | unterlegen |
| interfere | sich einmischen | |
| interior | Hinterland, Landesinnere | |
| iron ore | Eisenerz | |
| local customs | örtliche Gebräuche, Sitten | |
| mandate | right to act, run a country | Mandat, gesetzlicher Auftrag |
| manufactured goods | Fertigwaren | |
| mutiny | sailors' revolt against the ship's officers | Meuterei |
| nationalism | love of your nation which often leads to the belief that your nation is better than others | Nationalismus |
| native | person born in a country | Eingeborener |
| occupy, the occupation | take and keep possession of a place | besetzen, die Besetzung |
| partition | division of territory into parts | Aufteilung |
| prejudice | Vorurteil | |
| protectorate | country under the protection of a greater power | Protektorat, Schutzgebiet |
| racial struggle | racial conflict | Rassenauseinandersetzung |
| racism | treating people as inferior because of their race | Rassismus |
| religious persecution | treating s.o. badly because of his religious belief | religiöse Verfolgung |
| royal charter | a monarch's permission to do something | |
| "Scramble for Africa" | "Wettlauf" um Afrika | |
| self-sufficient | needing no help from others | |
| sense of mission | attitude of being culturally dominant | Sendungsbewußtsein |
| settlement colonies | Siedlungskolonien | |
| sovereignty | political independence | Souveränität, pol. Unabhängigkeit |
| superior to | better, stronger than | überlegen |
| survival of the fittest | Recht des Stärkeren | |
| treaty | formal agreement between nations | Vertrag (zw. Nationen) |
| tribal rivalry | Stammesrivalitäten | |
| tribe | Stamm | |
| uprising | Aufstand | |
| viceroy | Vizekönig |