U.S. Interests in Central America and the Caribbean
The nations of Central America and the Caribbean, both dependent on foreign loans, often were
threatened by foreign intervention when they could not repay their loans. The United States intervened
in Cuba three times during the early twentieth century. During the same period, U.S. troops occupied
the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Haiti. U.S. support for Panamanian independence
led to the construction and opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.
Rapid Review
European nations colonized India and Africa, providing benefits such as improved medical care and
more advanced infrastructures including better roads and railways. Most improvements were intended
more for the benefit of imperialist nations than for native peoples. African village organization was
disrupted as European nations divided the continent without regard to ethnic patterns, a practice that
proved devastating to Africa’s future. Southeast Asia, except for Siam, came under the control of a
number of European powers. Economic imperialism supported the interests of U.S. and European
businesses and created continued dependence of nonindustrialized nations on the industrialized world.
Review Questions
1 . Imperialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a result of all the following
EXCEPT
(A) militarism
(B) industrialization
(C) Social Darwinism
(D) socialism
2 . Economic imperialism
(A) did not lead to direct political control over new territories
(B) led to colonial dependence upon industrialized nations
(C) was the most common imperialist model in Africa
(D) led to industrialization of Latin America
3 . Which of the following pairs of nations and their imperialist interests is NOT correct?
(A) United States–Cuba
(B) Great Britain–India
(C) Japan–Hawaii
(D) Germany–Africa
4 . The new imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
(A) brought technology created for the benefit of subject peoples
(B) created an egalitarian society in India
(C) resulted in some effects similar to those of the Columbian Exchange
(D) strengthened African village traditions