European Claims in Asia and the Middle

Lesson Title: Date: 4/29/13

East

Unit Central Historical 1. To what extent is imperialism justified?

Question(s): 2. Does Imperialism lead to progress?

Subject / Course: World History

Grade: 10th
Lesson Duration: 90 minutes

Lesson Objective, Historical Thinking Skill, California Content & Common Core
Standards
Lesson Objective: Students will understand the nature of imperialism inSouth East Asia,
China, or the Middle Eastby producing a country/region profile.
World History Sourcebook
Historical Thinking Skill:
1. Evidence & Interpretation
Common Core Standard:
1. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.

2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide

an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
California Content Standard:
(10.4.2) Discuss the locations of the colonial rule of such nations as England, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Portugal, and the United States.
(10.4.3) Explain imperialism from the perspective of the colonizers and the colonized and the
varied immediate and long-term responses by the people under colonial rule.
Narrative Summary of Tasks / Actions

1. Warm-up (10-15 minutes):

Students will answer the following questions in their journals:
In what continents did the following products originate? (Americas, Africa, Europe, or Asia)
Tea, pepper, wheat, sugar, spinach, lettuce, and almonds
2.Teacher Input:
Briefly discuss the topic of todays lesson.
3. Student Activity: Secondary Sources (30 minutes):
Students will choose to focus on imperialism in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, or China.
Then, they will individually read a few pages and take notes from the textbook on their focus
regions. After reading the textbook, students will move into groups of four or five others with
the same focus region and read the primary source document and complete the APPARTS
handout.
4. Formative Assessment: Writing Assignment (25 minutes):
Students will create a country/region profile based on the information they have gathered from
reading textbook and primary source.
5. Closure (5 minutes):
Pair-Share: In your opinion, are any of the motivations for imperialism justified? Why or why
not?
Students share answers as a class and give a thumbs up or thumbs down to show whether
they agree with their classmates.
6. Metacognition (10 minutes):
Students will reflect on their understanding of the topic, write down any questions they have,
and put the questions in a hat. I will collect the questions and answer/have a group
discussion about them.

Materials / Equipment
1. Douwes Dekker, MaxHavelaar,1860

2. The Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt, 2 Vols., (New York: Macmillan, 1908), Vol. I.xvii-xviii.
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton

3. Chinese Repository, Vol. 8 (February 1840), pp. 497-503; reprinted in William H. McNeil
and MitsukoIriye, eds. Modern Asia and Africa, Readings in World History Vol. 9, (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 111-118.

4. Holt, Social Studies World History, 2006

 Inquiry-Based Lesson Plan for History-Social Science

1. Anticipatory Set Time:10-15 minutes

Prompt:In which continent (the Americas, Europe, Africa, or Asia) did the following crops
originate?
1. Tea
2. Pepper
3. Wheat
4. Sugar
5. Garlic
6. Oats
7. Spinach
8. Lettuce
9. Almonds
10. Onions
We will share answers as a class and then I will disclose that each of these crops actually
originated in different parts of Asia. The warm-up is intended to produce a level of cognitive
dissonance and help students to see that many of our commonly eaten foods were transferred
to the U.S. through long distance trade and imperialism.

2. Central Historical Question (Lesson

Time:2 minutes
Question)
To what extent was the colonization of Asia economically driven?

3. Teacher Input (delivery of historical

Time: 2 minutes
context)
As we discussed before, Asia was one of the primary destinations for European imperialism
during the 19th century. Europeans desired control of the land, which was rich in natural
resources, and wanted to establish markets in these regions. During the 19 th century,
Europeans sought control throughout Asia, including Far East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia,
and the Middle East. Today we will explore the patterns of European imperialism in Asia, but
you can choose one region from China, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia to focus on.

4. Student Activity and Investigation (w/

Time:35 minutes
differentiation)

I will allow students to choose Southeast Asia, the Middle East, or China to focus on during this
lesson. Once students have selected their regions, they will individually read a few pages from
their textbooks and take Cornell notes to gain background knowledge about the topic. Then,
they will move into groups of four other students with the same focus region to read the
associated primary source and complete the APPARTS handout.

1. Southeast Asia
 Read selected textbook pages individually and take notes.
In groups of four, read excerpt from DouwesDekkers Max Havelaarabout the
presence of the Dutch in Java and complete APPARTS handout.
2. Middle East
Read textbook individually and take notes.
In groups of four, read excerpt from Earl of Cromers, Why Britain Acquired
Egypt in 1882 and complete APPARTS handout.
3. China
Read selected textbook pages individually and take notes.
In groups of four, read excerpt from Commissioner Lins Letter to Queen
Victoria, 1839 and complete APPARTS handout.

Differentiation
To support this, I will give students a condensed version of the primary sources written
in simpler language. I will also predefine any challenging words. For further support, I
will give students a summary of the primary sources.

5. Lesson Assessment (w/

Time:20 minutes
differentiation)
Students will synthesize apply the information they have obtained from the textbook and the
primary sources to complete a country/region profile. In the profile, students must include a
visual representation and identify the region, its empire, a rough time frame, its valuable
commodities, political, social, or economic problems, and impacts of colonialism.
Differentiation
To support this, I will give students one example response for each question.

To extend this, I will have students look at real country/region profile of their focus
region through a quick Google search.

6. Closure Time:5 minutes

Pair-share: In your opinion, what was Europes primary motivation for colonizing your focus
country?
Students share answers as a class and engage in a discussion about how different driving
forces shaped imperialism in different countries (i.e. Europes interest in China was purely
economic rather than social or humanitarian)

7. Student Reflection (metacognition) Time:10 minutes

Students will reflect on their understanding of the topic by writing a few sentences about what
they have learned and any questions they still have. I will collect these questions and try to
answer as many as I can in the remaining time.
Douwes Dekker was a Dutch colonial official who served in the East Indies for nearly
twenty years. In 1860, he published a critique of the Dutch colonial system that had
an impact in the Netherlands similar to that of Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms
Cabin in the United States. In the following excerpt from his book, Max Havelaar, or
Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company, Dekker described the system as it
was applied on the island of Java, in the Indonesian archipelago.

The Javanese is by nature a husbandman, the ground whereon he is

born, which gives must for little labor, allures him to it, and above all things,
he devotes his whole heart and soul to the cultivating of his rice fields, in
which he is very clever. He grows up in the midst of his sawahs [rice fields];
when still very young, he accompanies his father to the field, where he helps
him in his labor with plow and spade, in construction dams and drains to
irrigate his fields, he counts his years by harvests, he estimates time by the
color of the blades in his field, he is at home amongst the girls of the dessah
[village], who every evening tread the rice with joyous songs. The possession
of a few buffaloes for plowing is the idea of his dreams. The cultivation of rice
is in Java what the vintage is in the Rhine provinces and the south of France.
But there came foreigners from the West, who made themselves masters of
the country. They wished to profit by the fertility of the soil, and ordered the
native to devote a part of his time and labor to the cultivation of other
things which should produce higher profits in the markets of Europe. To
persuade the lower orders to do so, they had only to follow a very simple
policy. The Javanese obeys his chiefs; to win the chiefs, it was only necessary
to give them a part of the gainand success was complete.
To be convinced of the success of that policy we need only consider the
immense quality of Javanese products sold in Holland; and we shall also be
convinced of its injustice, for if anybody should ask if the husbandman
himself gets a reward in proportion to that quantity, then I must give a
negative answer. The government compels his to cultivate certain products
on his ground; it punishes him if he sells what he has produced to and
produced but itself; and it fixes the price actually paid. The expense of
transport to Europe through a privileged trading company are high; the
money paid to the chiefs for encouragement increases the prime cost; and
because the entire trade must product profit, that profit cannot be got in any
other way that by paying the Javanese just enough to keep him from
starving, which would lessen the producing power of the nation.

Vocabulary:

1. Husbandman: farmer
2. Allure: to attract
3. Cultivation: the working of land

APPARTS

AUTHOR

Who created the source? What do you know about the author? What is the
authors point of view?

PLACE AND TIME

Where and when was the source produced? How might this affect the
meaning of the source?
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Beyond information about the author and the context of its creation, what do
you know that would help you further understand the primary source? For
example, do you recognize any symbols and recall what they represent?

AUDIENCE

For whom was the source created and how might this affect the reliability of
the source?

REASON

Why was this source created at the time it was produced?

THE MAIN IDEA

What point is the source trying to convey?

SIGNIFICANCE

Why is this source important? What inferences can you draw from this
document? Ask yourself, So what? in relation to the question asked.

APPARTS WORKSHEET

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Reason:
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Significance:
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The Earl of Cromer:
Why Britain Acquired Egypt in 1882, (1908)

This is the Earl of Cromer's (first British Viceroy of Egypt) account of

why the British took over Egypt. It is also a good example of Political
Imperialism - i.e., we don't really want the damned place, but if we don't
someone else will grab it and the whole balance of power will be mucked
up....Egypt may now almost be said to form part of Europe. It is on the high
road to the Far East. It can never cease to be an object of interest to all the
powers of Europe, and especially to England. European capital to a large
extent has been placed in the country. The population is heterogeneous and
cosmopolitan to a degree almost unknown elsewhere. Although the
prevailing faith is that of Islam, in no country in the world is a greater variety
of religious creeds to be found amongst important sections of the
community.In addition too these peculiarities, it has to be borne in mind that
in 1882 the [Egyptian] army was in a state of mutiny; the treasury was
bankrupt; every branch of the administration had been dislocated; the
ancient and arbitrary method, under which the country had for centuries
been governed, had received a severe blow, and at the same time, no more
orderly and lawful form of government had been elected to take its place.
Is it probable that a government composed of the rude elements
described above, and led by men of such poor ability as Arabi and his
coadjutors, would have been able to control a complicated machine of this
nature? Were the sheikhs of the El-Azhar mosque likely to succeed where
Tewfik Pasha and his ministers, who were men of comparative education and
enlightenment, acting under the guidance and inspiration of a first-class
European power, only achieved modified success after years of patient
labor? There can be but one answer to these questions. It may be doubted
whether any instance can be quoted of a sudden transfer of power in any
civilized or semi-civilized community to a class so ignorant as the pure
Egyptians, such as they were in the year 1882. These latter have, for
centuries past, been a subject race. Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs from
Arabia and Baghdad, Circassians, and finally, Ottoman Turks, have
successively ruled over Egypt. Neither, for the present, do they appear to
possess the qualities which would render it desirable, either in their own
interests, or in those of the civilized world in general, to raise them at a
bound to the category of autonomous rulers with full rights of internal
sovereignty.
If, however, a foreign occupation was inevitable or nearly inevitable, it
remains to be considered whether a British occupation was preferable to any
other. From the purely Egyptian point of view, the answer to this question
cannot be doubtful. The special aptitude shown by Englishmen in the
government of Oriental races pointed to England as the most effective and
beneficent instrument for the gradual introduction of European civilization
into Egypt. By the process of exhausting all other expedients, we arrive at
the conclusion that armed British intervention was, under the special
circumstances of the case, the only possible solution of the difficulties that
existed in 1882. Probably also it was the best solution. English history affords
other examples of the government and people of England drifting by
accident into doing what was not only right, but was also most in accordance
with British interests.
Commissioner Lin:
Letter to Queen Victoria, 1839

Lin, high imperial commissioner, a president of the Board of War, viceroy of the two
Keng provinces, and Tang, a president of the Board of War, viceroy of the two
Kwang provinces, and vice-president of the Board of War, lieut.-governor of
Kwangtung, hereby conjointly address this public dispatch to the queen of England
for the purpose of giving her clear and distinct information on the state of affairs.

We find that your country is distant from us about sixty or seventy thousand
miles, that your foreign ships come fighting with the other for our trade, and
for the simple reason of their strong desire to reap a profit. By what principle
of reason then, should these foreigners send in return a poisonous drug,
which involves in destruction those very natives of China? Without meaning
to say that the foreigners harbor such destructive intentions in their hearts,
we yet positively assert that from their hunger for economic gain, they are
perfectly careless about the injuries they inflict upon us!

We have heard that in your own country opium is prohibited with the utmost
strictness and severity---this is a strong proof that you know full well how
hurtful it is to mankind. Since then you do not permit it to injure your own
country, you ought not to have the injurious drug transferred to another
country, and above all others, how much less to the Inner Land! Of the
products that China exports to your foreign countries, there is not one that is
not beneficial to mankind in some shape or other. There are those that serve
for food, those that are useful, and those that are calculated for re-sale; but
all are beneficial. Has China ever yet sent forth a poisonous article from its
soil? Not to speak of our tea and rhubarb, things which your foreign countries
could not exist a single day without. If China were to grudge you those things
that yield a profit, how could you foreigners scheme after any profit at all?
Our other articles of food, such as sugar, ginger, cinnamon, silk piece goods,
and chinaware are necessities of life for you! On the other hand, the things
that come from your foreign countries are only to make presents of, or serve
for mere amusement. It is quite the same to us if we have them or not. If
then these are of no material consequence to us, what difficulty would there
be in prohibiting and shutting our market against them? It is only that our
heavenly dynasty most freely permits you to take off her tea, silk, and other
commodities, and convey them for consumption everywhere, without the
slightest stint or grudge, for no other reason, but that where a profit exists,
we wish that it be diffused abroad for the benefit of all the earth!

Our celestial empire rules over ten thousand kingdoms! Most surely do we
possess a measure of godlike majesty that ye cannot fathom! Still we cannot
bear to slay or exterminate without previous warning, and it is for this reason
that we now clearly make known to you the fixed laws of our land. If the
foreign merchants of your said honorable nation desire to continue their
commercial intercourse, they then must tremblingly obey our recorded
statutes, they must cut off for ever the source from which the opium flows!
Let then your highness punish those of your subjects who may be criminal,
do not endeavor to screen or conceal them, and thus will you more than ever
display a proper sense of respect and obedience, and thus may we unitedly
enjoy the common blessings of peace and happiness. What greater joy! What

Region:
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Empire(s):
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Religion(s):
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Year(s):
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more complete felicity than this!

Valuable Commodities:

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Political, Social, or Economic Problems:

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Colonial Impact:

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