In this unit, you’re introduced to the factors that led to the Industrial Revolution and the positive and negative impact industrialization had on different nations and communities within these nations. In this activity, you’ll use the Gapminder tool to assess how industrialization has led to increased income and longer life expectancy in most regions of the world. By examining the data from a variety of regions, you’ll be able to visually assess these changes and make connections across both time and space. In addition, you’ll compare the impact of industrialization on different nations and look at how industrialization shaped both global and local history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In the previous lesson, we learned that the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and then moved to different areas of western Europe and across the Atlantic to the United States. In this lesson, we learn about different regions such as Egypt and Japan that began to industrialize in the nineteenth century. This activity provides a visual introduction to this lesson while also incorporating data from a variety of regions of the world. This will help you see how industrialization often led to an increase in income and life expectancy in those regions that began to industrialize, but ’you'll also see that some regions industrialized much later than others.

First, your teacher will introduce you to the Gapminder tool and the different ways to visualize data using it. After this introduction, your teacher will have you work in pairs or small groups to use the Gapminder tool to compare data from the UK or the US with that of other nations. You’ll be assigned either the US or the UK to compare to one nation from each of the lists below. For each of these nations, you’ll be comparing “Income” and “Life Expectancy” between the UK or US and your other assigned nations.

Nations that industrialized later (those that did not begin industrializing until the mid-nineteenth to twentieth centuries):

1. Chile
2. China
3. Egypt
4. India
5. Japan
6. Mexico
7. South Korea
8. Uruguay

Least developed nations (defined by the United Nations as “low-income countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development”).

1. Afghanistan
2. Bangladesh
3. Cambodia
4. Ethiopia
5. Sudan
6. Uganda
7. Vanuatu
8. Yemen

Now, you’ll compare your assigned nations from the “Industrialized Later” category, using “Income” for the y-axis, and then pressing Play to see the data that unfolds from 1800 to 2018. Then, you’ll do the same thing for your assigned nation but instead use “Life Expectancy” for the y-axis. After each comparison, answer the questions on the worksheet. Next, you’ll do the same thing to compare either the UK or the US and your assigned nation from the “Least Developed Nations” category for both “Income” and “Life Expectancy,” and answer the questions on the worksheet for this comparison.

Once all groups have finished completing the worksheet, each group will share out some of their findings. After all groups have shared out, think about any patterns that emerged. Why do you think some regions of the world industrialized later than others? What historical events or processes might have contributed to some regions becoming wealthier and more industrialized than others?

By the end of this activity, you should have a better idea of how those nations that industrialized first had (and continue to have) advantages over those that either took longer to do so or have not achieved industrialization on the scale seen in other regions of the world. You’ll also assess the reasons for the lack of growth in some regions of the world and become aware of how industrialized nations used resources from many of these lesser developed regions for their own success.

The Industrial Revolution might have started in Britain, but its effects were felt all over the world. The changes of industrialization were complex and deeply intertwined. For people in Western Europe, industrialization brought benefits to the wealthy while placing many more into poor working conditions. But at a global level, the inequality was much worse. This article considers the effects of industrialization in England by looking at three cases studies on trade goods: sugar, wheat and copper. These three case studies show aspects of the impact from British industrialization all over the world.

This article provides evidence at a national and global level to respond to the Unit 5 Problem: “How did industrialization transform societies around the world?” This article will allow you to use the networks frame to think about how the changes of the Industrial Revolution depended on a global network of merchants and laborers. The article provides evidence in support of the production and distribution frame by linking industrialization in Britain with local changes all over the world.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What evidence does the author give to argue that the Industrial Revolution was dehumanizing and degrading for people in Britain?
2. What were some positive changes brought by industrialization? Who benefited?
3. Why did British manufacturers move their sugar plantations to the Indian Ocean?
4. How did the Industrial Revolution change southern Russia, Argentina, and California?
5. How was the Welsh copper industry tied to the sugar and wheat industries around the world?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Using the networks frame, how does this Global Transformations article change or complicate your opinion on the global vs. local explanations for Britain’s head start in the Industrial Revolution?
2. The other articles in this lesson emphasize the importance of coal in the Industrial Revolution. But this article really only mentions coal twice. Do you think that coal is the most important commodity of the Industrial Revolution? What is the most important commodity in your life today? How much do you think you still rely on coal? On steam power?

Faced with external threats from Western imperial powers and dramatic internal changes, Japan’s government supported a modernization program that it felt suited the needs of its country. The result was an industrialization program that both mirrored earlier industry in Europe and the United States but which was uniquely Japanese.

This article is one of several in this lesson that introduces you to the experience of the Industrial Revolution in countries outside of Europe and North America, which will help you to respond to the Unit Problem. It could also help you evaluate the narrative we have given you in the production and distribution frame. As you read, think about how Japan’s path to industrialization was similar to and different from Britain’s.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What was Matthew Perry’s motivation for sailing four warships into Tokyo Bay?
2. Why was Japan’s economy having trouble in the mid-nineteenth century?
3. Why was there a reform movement (and civil war) after Perry’s arrival?
4. What disadvantages did Japan have as it started to industrialize, and how did the country overcome them?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following question:

1. You read in the last lesson many different reasons for why Britain was the first to industrialize. Among the reasons given were a large and accessible supply of domestic coal and an existing overseas empire. Japan had neither of these things, but it was the first Asian nation to industrialize. Indeed, it industrialized faster than many European countries. How do you explain this using one of the three frames?

In this activity, you will be assigned a mystery vocab word, and your job is to go around the room and ask enough questions of your classmates to try to figure out what the word is. You’ll have to use your questioning and deduction skills to figure out the word. In many ways, you are being asked to take context clues to help you figure out your word. This is a great way to determine if you really understand the words from the unit, or if you need more practice.

You are going to play the vocab game, “What’s My Word?” And, it’s exactly as it sounds—you’re going to be assigned a vocab word, but you won’t know what it is. Your job is to ask your classmates questions about your word until you correctly guess what it is.

Your teacher will explain how the game works. Once everyone is ready, your teacher will place a vocab word, written on an index card, face down on your desk. DO NOT LOOK AT THE WORD. Instead, when your teacher says “go,” hold up the card to your forehead, with the word facing out, and then go around the room asking questions until you’ve figured out your word.

Once your whole class has figured out their words, think about and discuss the following questions with your class:

1. What kinds of questions did you ask?
2. What types of questions most easily led you to figure out your word?
3. How might these types of questions help you figure out unfamiliar words that you encounter in the course?

When China lost to the British in the Opium Wars, some people in Japan saw that as a wake-up call. Japan’s economy was stagnating, and internal political divisions made the country weak in the face of European imperial powers. When the United States sent Matthew Perry and four warships to Tokyo Bay in 1853, the Shogunate was forced to open Japan’s ports to foreign influence. This event launched a civil war, as reformers seized power in the name of the Meiji emperor. Using the emperor as a national symbol, they set about modernizing Japan. Their success shocked the world.

This article provides evidence at the national level to respond to the Unit 5 Problem: How did industrialization transform societies around the world? In particular, this article outlines the political transformations in nineteenth-century Japan that set the stage for a unique and successful experiment in industrialization, one discussed further in another article.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Why was the arrival of American warships such a shock to the Japanese? What domestic problems did Matthew Perry’s arrival worsen?
2. The Tokugawa Shogunate had kept the emperor as a figurehead and religious symbol. This article is titled the “Meiji Restoration”. Did the restoration actually place the emperor back into power? Use evidence from the article to explain your reasoning.
3. After the restoration, the emperor put many samurai into government and into positions of power. But how was this different from the previous political system?
4. What steps did the reformers take to modernize Japan?
5. Why was Japan’s victory over Russia so important?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. The Meiji Restoration made possible a huge transformation in Japan and East Asian production and distribution. It made Japan an economic power on par with many European nations. What effect did this change have on Japanese communities? Use the communities frame to consider what elements of Japanese society became more like European communities and which did not. Why do you think some elements changed in this direction, and others didn’t?
2. Think back to the previous unit, in which we examined all kinds of political revolutions. The Meiji Restoration revolutionized production and distribution in Japan. But was it a political revolution?

Iwasaki Yatarōgrew up poor in a society in upheaval. Japan was trying to adapt to a changing world and to ensure it remained independent in a competitive and imperial world. A man with a great reputation for ruthlessness, Iwasaki Yatarō joined the samurai and business leaders clamoring to industrialize the countryside. He ended up creating the Mitsubishi company, building ships, and later, cars. His life represents the opportunities, but also the costs, of rapid industrialization.

Japan features prominently in this unit’s discussion of industrialization. A number of societies in this period industrialized, but often in distinct ways. Japan’s industrialization followed European and American patterns but also took its own distinct direction. This graphic biography provides evidence to help you assess the impact of the Industrial Revolution and how it was experienced differently by distinct groups and classes in different countries. It will also contribute to your analysis of global history through the production and distribution frame.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What were Iwasaki Yatar­­ō’s origins?
2. Why did many in Japan want to industrialize in the late nineteenth century?
3. What did Iwasaki Yatar­­ō himself do, and how was he regarded by people in Nagasaki?
4. What do you think is the meaning of the quote from Isawaki’s biographer?
5. How does the artist represent changes in both Japan and Isawaki using art in this biography?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. How does this biography of Iwasaki Yatar­­ō support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about industrialization in Japan? About the impact of industrialization on people and societies more generally?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

The industrialization of Europe undermined the Ottoman economy, flooding it with cheaper foreign manufacturing and making the Ottoman Empire less important in global trade. But as the Ottoman Empire deindustrialized, Muhammad Ali, who ruled Egypt, decided to try to industrialize Egypt’s economy and modernize its military. But by the end of the century, Egypt was deeply in debt to Britain, which started to dictate policies. What went wrong? This article considers three explanations.

This article provides evidence at the national level to respond to the Unit 5 Problem: How did industrialization transform societies around the world? In particular, this article will allow you to investigate how the coming of industrialization (in the form of Western imperial powers) affected Middle Eastern and African communities and production and distribution. As you read, pay close attention to the reasons that Egyptian industrialization failed.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What steps did Muhammad Ali take to modernize Egypt?
2. European banks loaned lots of money to help Muhammad Ali modernize Egypt. Why was this a bad thing for Egypt?
3. What are the three explanations for this failure?
4. How did some Islamic scholars react to Egypt’s failures?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Which of the three explanations given for the failure of Egypt’s industrialization is most convincing to you? Why?
2. Consider the three explanations the author gives for Egypt’s failure to industrialize. Do any of these apply to the situation in Japan during the Meiji Restoration? If so, why do you think Japan was able to overcome these disadvantages and still industrialize effectively?

In this comparison activity, you’ll compare how two different nations attempted to industrialize in the nineteenth century. This activity helps you practice and refine your comparison skills. This will help you differentiate between historical events and processes, and enable you to analyze those similarities and differences to generate a more meaningful understanding of history.

Reading, writing
In this activity, you’ll use your close-reading skills to pull out information from each of the articles to complete the Comparison Tool. In addition to practicing your reading skills, you’ll work on your writing by crafting two thesis statements for a comparison prompt.

Industrialization began in Great Britain in the eighteenth century but soon spread to regions all over the world. By the nineteenth century, nations were attempting to industrialize quickly. Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn’t. In this activity, you’ll look at two different nations that began industrializing in this era: Japan and Egypt. Then, you’ll evaluate the similarities and differences to craft two thesis statements.

First, can you think of any reasons why attempts at industrialization might have worked well in some nations and not as well in others? Be prepared to share your answers with the class.

Your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Comparison – Egypt and Japan worksheet, and divide the class into small groups. Then, one half of the group will read the article “Japan’s Industrial Revolution” while the other half reads the article “Egypt’s Industrial Revolution.” You’ll work individually to read your article and answer the questions in Part 1: Identifying and Describing of the Comparison Tool, which is included in the worksheet. After you’ve answered the questions for your article, come back together with your group to complete the similarities and differences column of Part 1.

After all sections in Part 1 of the tool have been answered, work with your group to use the similarities and differences identified and described in Part 1 to complete Part 2 of the tool. In Part 2, you’ll write two thesis statements in response to the following prompts:

• What was the most significant similarity between Japan and Egypt’s industrial revolutions?
• What was the most significant difference between Japan and Egypt’s industrial revolution?

Remember that you can use the acronym ADE (amount, depth, and endurance) to help determine historical significance. Consider if these similarities and differences affected most people in Japan and Egypt (amount); if people in Japan and Egypt were deeply affected by these similarities and differences (depth); or these similarities and differences were long lasting (endurance).

Your teacher will collect your worksheets to evaluate how your comparison skills are progressing.

India led the world in cotton production for centuries before the Industrial Revolution. But this shifted really quickly after 1750, when textile manufacturing shifted to Britain. But that shift didn’t just happen. It was a purposeful British policy to de-industrialize the Indian economy to protect British manufacturers. And it required people in India who were willing to work with the British.

This article provides evidence at the national level to respond to the Unit 5 Problem: How did industrialization transform societies around the world? In particular, this article will help you investigate how the arrival of the Industrial Revolution (in the form of Western imperial powers) affected Indian communities and production and distribution. This article will also help you evaluate the emphasis on economic growth in the production and distribution frame narrative.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What effects did the industrialization of cotton cloth production have on the Indian economy?
2. Why was de-industrialization a bad thing for India?
3. What political explanations does the author give for this economic failure?
4. Why did India suffer so many famines in the nineteenth century?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. You’ve now read four articles about four very different sorts of experience with Western imperialism and industrialization. Why do you think that Japan escaped the sort of colonialism and de-industrialization that China, Egypt, and India all experienced?
2. How does an event like the de-industrialization of India support, extend, or challenge the production and distribution frame narrative?

Lots of people moved to lots of new places during the long nineteenth century. Many of them were enslaved people, forced to cross oceans and work under horrible conditions for no pay. Many Europeans, Chinese, and Indians also chose to migrate to the Americas from Southeast Asia as populations in their home countries increased and economic opportunities decreased. These, and other migrations, add up to perhaps the greatest migration event in history. It effectively increased urbanization all over the world as people moved to cities. This article explores the larger patterns of these migrations.

This article provides evidence to respond to the Unit 5 Problem: How did industrialization transform societies around the world? by considering the experiences of people who moved during this era. In addition, this article invites you to explore data that may support, extend, or contest the networks and communities frame narratives of increased populations and interconnectedness. As you read, think about how industrialization changed global demographics.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How did industrialization influence migration?
2. How did industrialization drive urbanization?
3. What are some major factors that the author gives to explain international migration?
4. Why does the author say that more Chinese and Indian migrants didn’t move to the Americas?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. This article gives a lot of economic reasons for why people migrated. In this lesson, you’ve learned a great deal about economic changes in the long nineteenth century. But in the last lesson, you learned about a bunch of political changes that were happening at the same time. What are some political “push” and “pull” factors from the political revolutions that resulted in migration?
2. Is this history of migration in the nineteenth century “usable” in evaluating and thinking about migration today (meaning can you see similarities between migration then and now)? How, or why not?

This activity asks you to practice your claim- and counterclaim-making skills. This will help you evaluate your ability to make strong, evidence-backed claims, and give you an idea of how well you understand industrialization.

In this activity, you’ll write two claims and one counterclaim about industrialization.

Take out the Making Claims – Industrialization worksheet. Working individually or in pairs, make two claims and one counterclaim about the global success of industrialization.

For each claim, use course materials—and, if your teacher asks you to, the Internet—to find two pieces of supporting evidence. Once you’ve written your two claims and provided supporting evidence, write one counterclaim that relates to one of them. You should also provide two pieces of evidence to back up your counterclaim.

Be prepared to share your claims at the end of the class.