NSSCAS History 8234 key terms

The study of how history has been written, including the changing methods, assumptions and biases of historians, and how interpretations of past events differ across schools of thought and generations.

Material produced at the time of the events studied, such as letters, official records, photographs, speeches or oral testimony, used as direct evidence rather than later commentary.

A later account or interpretation that draws on primary evidence, such as a textbook, biography or journal article, and which reflects the author's own selection and argument.

The origin and history of ownership of a source, including who created it, when, where and for what audience, which helps assess its reliability and purpose.

A slant or partiality in a source or interpretation, arising from the author's interests, beliefs or audience, which may distort evidence even when the author is sincere.

Evidence gathered through recorded interviews with people recalling past experiences, valuable for voices absent from written records but shaped by memory and later reflection.

The re-examination of accepted historical interpretations in the light of new evidence or new questions, often challenging earlier national or imperial narratives of events.

Historical writing that interprets the past to support a nation's identity, unity or claim to legitimacy, common in accounts of independence struggles and anti-colonial resistance.

The analysis of why events happened, distinguishing long-term underlying factors from short-term triggers and weighing the relative importance of different causes.

A historical skill that identifies what persisted across time and what altered, avoiding the assumption that a single event such as a law or war transformed everything at once.

The division of the past into named periods, such as 'colonial era' or 'Cold War', a choice made by historians that shapes how change and turning points are understood.

The 1884–85 meeting of European powers in Berlin that set rules for claiming African territory, requiring effective occupation and helping to formalise the partition of the continent.

The rapid late nineteenth-century competition among European states to annex and colonise African territories, driven by economic ambitions, strategic rivalry and nationalist prestige.

The principle, endorsed at the Berlin Conference, that a European power's claim to African territory required actual administration and presence rather than mere exploration or treaty.

A colonial system, associated with British administration, that governed through existing local rulers and institutions under European supervision, preserving hierarchies while serving colonial interests.

A French colonial policy aiming to transform colonised people into culturally French citizens, in theory granting rights to a small educated elite while erasing local institutions.

The extension of a state's sovereignty over another territory and its people, involving economic extraction, political control and cultural domination, justified by ideologies such as the civilising mission.

The policy or practice of extending power and influence over other peoples and territories, whether through formal empire, economic dominance or informal political pressure.

The ideological claim that European rule brought progress, Christianity and education to colonised peoples, used to justify conquest while ignoring exploitation and the destruction of local cultures.

Political movements and ideas asserting African self-determination and unity against colonial rule, expressed through parties, strikes, petitions and later armed struggle.

A movement promoting solidarity among African peoples and the diaspora, advocating cooperation and unity, and influential at conferences that pressed for independence and later shaped the Organisation of African Unity.

The process by which colonies gained political independence from European rule, achieved through negotiation, protest, armed struggle or a combination, and followed by challenges of nation-building.

A cultural and literary movement of the 1930s led by francophone African and Caribbean writers, asserting the value of black identity and culture against colonial denigration.

The continuation of economic and political influence over formally independent states by former colonial powers or other strong states, exercised through trade, debt, aid and multinational companies.

A Cold War policy of states refusing to join either the Western or Soviet bloc, seeking independence in foreign policy; formalised in the 1961 Belgrade summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.

The principle that peoples have the right to choose their own political status and government, central to anti-colonial arguments and to the language of the United Nations after 1945.

The South West Africa People's Organisation, founded in 1960, which led the Namibian struggle for independence from South African rule and became Namibia's governing party after 1990.

The armed and political struggle, intensifying from 1966, waged by SWAPO and others against South African administration of Namibia, ending with independence in 1990 after United Nations–supervised elections.

The name of Namibia under German colonial rule from 1884 and later under South African administration, a mandate then disputed as an illegal occupation after the Second World War.

The 1904–08 campaign of extermination and concentration camps waged by German colonial forces in South West Africa after uprisings, killing most Herero and many Nama people.

A body created in 1967 after the UN revoked South Africa's mandate, intended to administer Namibia until independence and to uphold Namibian rights in international law.

The post-1919 arrangement under the League of Nations whereby victorious powers administered former German and Ottoman territories under international supervision, later replaced by UN trusteeship.

The system of institutionalised racial segregation and white minority rule in South Africa, extended to Namibia, which shaped land ownership, education, labour and resistance politics.

The upheaval beginning in 1789 that overthrew the French monarchy, proclaimed liberty and equality, and reshaped European politics through radical reform, war and the rise of Napoleon.

The 1814–15 settlement of European powers after Napoleon, restoring monarchies and redrawing borders to create a balance of power that shaped diplomacy for decades.

An ideology holding that a people sharing language, culture or history should form a sovereign state, a powerful force in nineteenth-century European unification and in anti-colonial movements.

The transition from agrarian to industrial economies through mechanised production, beginning in Britain in the eighteenth century and driving urbanisation, social change and imperial expansion.

Warfare mobilising entire societies and economies, targeting civilian populations and industry, as in the two World Wars, blurring distinctions between combatants and non-combatants.

Deliberately selected or distorted information spread to influence opinion and behaviour, used by states in wartime and by colonial regimes to justify policy.

The prolonged geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies after 1945, fought through nuclear deterrence, alliances, proxy wars and ideological competition.

The American Cold War strategy of limiting the spread of Soviet influence through alliances, economic aid and military intervention, articulated in the late 1940s.

A conflict in which rival great powers support opposing local forces rather than fighting directly, as in Cold War interventions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.