The Sepoy Uprising, which took place in India, was a revolt by native Indians serving in the English army—known as sepoys—against British rule.

The Boxer Rebellion was a revolt in China as a protest against foreign influence.

The Whiskey Rebellion was a revolt in the United States against taxation without representation.

Leopold II was King of Belgium from 1865-1909. He is primarily remembered for his establishment and subsequent gross exploitation of the Free Congo State. Leopold II believed that in order for Belgium to be a strong nation, it had to own colonies of its own, so he occupied and controlled the African Congo region. Millions of Congolese perished under the brutal and apathetic rule of the Belgians. The Congolese were enslaved to collect ivory and rubber, mutilated and murdered when they did not meet the quotas set by the Belgian authorities, and denied access to education and health care.

The Berlin Conference occurred in 1885 and was primarily concerned with dividing up the African territory amongst the European powers. It occurred at the height of the last era of European Imperialism. It also, notably, coincided with the rise of Germany and the growing aspirations of Leopold II of Belgium.

The United States defeated the waning Spanish empire in the Spanish-American War in 1898. As a result of the war, the United States briefly gained control over Cuba and the Philippines and somewhat permanently gained control of Puerto Rico and Guam. Many historians consider the Spanish-American War to be the moment where America emerged as the dominant imperial and global power of the twentieth century. Hawaii was annexed by the United States around the same time, in 1897, but would remain a territory until 1959, when a national referendum voted to join the United States as the fiftieth state in the Union.

The Suez Canal was built in Egypt by the British and the French in the nineteenth century. The motivation behind building the Suez Canal becomes immediately apparent when viewing a map. Before the canal was built, a ship sailing from India to Europe had to go around the whole continent of Africa, but the Suez Canal allows ships to sail directly from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, cutting down the journey's distance by more than half.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was a rapid occupation of the African continent by the European powers. Of the five countries mentioned in the answer choices, South Africa was occupied first by the Dutch, then the British; Algeria by the French; Ghana by the British; and the Congo by the Belgians. Only Ethiopia, under the skilled leadership of Haile Selassie, remained free of European control.