Unit 1: Imperialism in India

Overview:

In this unit students will learn some background about the population living in India prior to the arrival of the British through a research project that will be conducted in groups. Then by studying Kipling's infamous poem, "The White Man's Burden" and responses to such claims of British nobles oblige, students will build a historiographic lens through which they will study the history British Imperialism in India. Through readings of primary and secondary sources, students will begin to develop an understanding of how the British came to rule the Indian subcontinent, and about the mechanisms the British utilized to maintain and expand their control, like using census data to divide the region of Bengal. Students will ultimately complete a DBQ on one of three options explained below. 

Essential Questions: 

1. How did the British come to control India?

2. What did India have to offer Britain? What did Britain assume it was offering India?

3. What was life like for Indians under British rule?

4. What strategies were used to sustain control of the region? Were they violent?

Final Assessment: 

Option I.

Was British Colonization ultimately good or bad for India?

The first DBQ is a compilation of documents including a solid chunk from a DBQ put together in 1999 and other sources I thought would supplant the initial core texts. This is a very approachable and a manageable DBQ with a fairly straight forward question (although warn students not to oversimplify) and fairly concise and clear documents. 

Option II.

Were the Sepoys who rebelled against the British heroes, traitors or something else altogether?

The second compilation of documents focuses on the Sepoy Mutiny. Many of my students were interested in the topic and I created this DBQ as a result. Its a bit more challenging than the first since the texts are longer and a bit more complex. Choices put out a new curriculum that has more information and sources, but they updated their curriculum after I created this DBQ. Stanford History Education Group also recently put out some lessons and sources on the Sepoy mutiny. 

Option III.

Was it justified for the British to ban Sati?

The third set of documents is from George Mason University's website "Women in World History" They have such fantastic resources but they are fairly long and challenging. For this DBQ I worked to cut down texts and create more guiding questions to help students power through the different sources. Its a fascinating topic, but make sure the students who take on this essay are prepared.