Over the last five centuries, many countries have conquered other lands, and subsequently controlled those lands for years. Some conquests occurred starting in the 16th century, with the first wave of conquest, known as Colonialism; others did not occur until the 19th century, with the later wave of conquest, known as Imperialism. Nearly all of the conquered lands eventually won their independence, in a process sometimes called “decolonization,” and became the self-governing countries that exist today.
Your task is to research the experience of conquest and independence (aka “decolonization”) of one of these conquered lands – see the list below.
Middle East / Asia:
· Lebanon
· Syria
· Iraq
· Palestine
· Afghanistan
· Pakistan
· India
· Burma
· Vietnam
· The Philippines
· Indonesia
· Korea
Africa:
· Egypt
· South Africa
· Ethiopia
· Ghana
· The Democratic Republic of Congo
· Nigeria
· Tanzania
· Rwanda
· Algeria
· Kenya
· Zimbabwe
Latin America:
· Haiti
· Argentina
· Chile
· Colombia
· Venezuela
· Bolivia
· Guatemala
· Mexico
· The Dominican Republic
· Brazil
· Cuba
· Jamaica
Rather than write a formal research paper on this topic, you will create a blog about your research, via www.blogger.com. Then, you will link to other students’ blogs, making connections between your discoveries and commenting on what others have found. All your blogs will be centrally linked through my blog, so that you can easily surf each other’s blogs: http://colonizationanddecolonization.blogspot.com/
You must answer the following questions as you do your research. If some don’t apply to your specific situation, that’s okay, but consider and investigate each of them:
§ Initial conquest:
o What country first conquered your land? When?
o How? Was there a particular war? Trade exploitation? Missionaries? Cultural change? Etc.
o Geography: what did your country look like when it was a colony? (Find a map!)
§ The Colonial Experience:
o What was it like to be under the control of this country? How were people treated? What opportunities did they get and not get?
o How did it influence your country in the long run? (consider political, economic, cultural, linguistic, religious, educational, technological factors)
§ Independence:
o How did your country win its independence?
§ Was it easy? Difficult?
§ Did it involve an uprising? A revolution? A war? Violence? Non-violence?
§ How long did it take?
§ Why were you successful in the end?
§ Did you have support from other nations during your struggle for independence?
§ How did your colonizing nation try to prevent your independence?
§ Were there key leaders of your independence movement? Who were they and why were they significant?
o When did your independence become official?
o Were you re-colonized by another nation after?
o Did your country become part of a group or a coalition of other nations?
o Geography: what does your country look like today? (Find a map!)
Project schedule and due dates: B BLOCK
Class | Homework due | In class |
1. Fri 2/24 | Find 1 print source and ½ page of notes | Begin research (Library) |
2. Mon 3/5 | 3 print sources, and at least 3 full pages of notes with in-text citations and bibliography | Continue research (Library) |
3. Wed 3/7 | Completed notes (at least 5 full pages) – labeled correctly by the letter of source being used at any given point | Learn to make blog, work on creating blog |
4. Fri 3/9 | Finish rough draft of blog | Complete final blog |
5. Wed 3/14 | Comment/Link to blogs of other students | TBD |
Project schedule and due dates: D BLOCK
Class | Homework due | In class |
1. Thu 3/1 | Find 1 print source and ½ page of notes | Begin research (Library) |
2. Mon 3/5 | 3 print sources, and at least 3 full pages of notes with in-text citations and bibliography | Continue research (Library) |
3. Thu 3/8 | Completed notes (at least 5 full pages) – labeled correctly by the letter of source being used at any given point | Learn to make blog, work on creating blog |
4. Mon 3/12 | Finish rough draft of blog | Complete final blog |
5. Wed 3/14 | Comment/Link to blogs of other students | TBD |
Honors Component (this will count as HPP #7)!
Students pursuing the honors option in history should complete an extra component to this project in order to get credit for HPP #7.
Once all the final blogs have been posted (by Friday, March 2nd), read through as many blogs as you can, about a variety of countries, from different regions. Identify some commonalities and trends that you see, both in the process of conquest and of independence. Write an analytical reflection that you post on your blog in which you explain what “big picture” insights you have about how conquest and independence played out around the world. Draw a number of conclusions, and whenever you do, be sure to refer to specific countries’ experiences to back up your point (hyperlink to the corresponding blog). This HPP is fairly open-ended, intentionally, to give you the latitude to develop your own understanding of these historical phenomena, and to express that understanding.
You will not submit a hard copy of this, but if you were to do so, this reflection should be at least 2-3 pages long, double-spaced. Make sure to write it first in Word, so that you can easily edit it, and then copy and paste the text into your blog.
DUE DATE: 10 pm on Sunday, March 18, for all blocks.
