This quick skill-building activity is intended to help you understand what is being asked of you when you’re presented with historical prompts, particularly those you’ll encounter in assessment prompts such as document-based questions (DBQs) and long essay questions (LEQs).

In this activity, you will revisit the process of how to parse a prompt. Remember, parsing a prompt is the process of analyzing a string of words—that is, trying to figure out what something is saying and asking!

Take out the Question Parsing Tool and write down the following AP^® World History released exam question at the top of the tool:

“Analyze and compare the differing responses of China and Japan to western penetration in the nineteenth century.”

Now, follow the tool directions. Be prepared to discuss your answers with the class!

Industrial imperialism was powerful, with its modern weapons and technologies and a vast economic reach. But it didn’t completely dominate the lives of most colonial subjects. They found ways to respond using the tools that they had—by hiding, avoiding, using deception, and sometimes cooperating carefully. Examples from three regions of Southeast Asia demonstrate these strategies.

The Unit Problem for this unit asks: “What were the effects of imperialism, and how did communities try to manage or resist those effects from c. 1750 to 1900 CE?” In this article, we specifically look at how a variety of societies in Southeast Asia south to manage or resist the effects of imperialism.

Think about the following question as you read the article: Using evidence from this article, explain how environmental and cultural factors aided indigenous resistance to colonial rule 1750 to 1900. Write this question at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Read 1 – 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!

Read 2 – 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 people in Southeast Asia use corn and cassava as tools of resistance?
2. What does the author argue were some of the goals of colonial subjects?
3. How did some inhabitants of Hanoi use rats as tools of resistance?
4. How did French education in Indochina backfire in some ways, according to the author?
5. How and why did some aristocrats in the Dutch East Indies try to accommodate Dutch rule?
6. Why was stealing a curtain an act of resistance by Raden Mas Adipati?
7. What were some strategies that people in the Southeast Asian highlands used to avoid taxation and labor?

Read 3 – Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. Using evidence from this article, explain how environmental and cultural factors aided indigenous resistance to colonial rule 1750 to 1900.
2. The author of this article lists many types of actions and activities as acts of resistance. Do you agree that these were all acts of resistance? What does resistance mean to you?
3. Think about the people in this article in terms of cultural developments and interactions. What were their goals? Were they trying to build new communities? Maintain old ones? Resist imperial states? Or do something different?

Why was colonialism so violent? There are several explanations. Colonialism was a process of taking control of people who generally didn’t want to be colonized. It was driven by profit and this meant that people were forced to work, often in terrible conditions for little pay. It was also violent because violence was an expected way for people in power to “civilize” or “raise” those under their control in this period, including wives, children, and of course colonial subjects.

Looking at the violence within colonialism will help you to analyze the effects of imperialism, the topic of the first half of the Unit Problem. It will also help you to think about how violence from this era might have implications for our world today.

Think about the following question as you read the article: To what extent does this article explain how ideologies contributed to the development of imperialism from 1750 to 1900? Write this question at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Read 1 – 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!

Read 2 – 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. Henry Morton Stanley’s voyage of exploration in Africa is famous. How does the author characterize it?
2. Why, according to the author, was the initial process of taking control of territory through colonialism so violent?
3. How did economic goals (production and distribution) lead to violence in colonialism?
4. How was violence justified ideologically?
5. What, according to Franz Fanon, were some of the psychological effects of colonialism?

Read 3 – Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. To what extent does this article explain how ideologies contributed to the development of imperialism from 1750 to 1900?
2. This author rejects the idea that we can ask whether colonialism was “good” or “bad”, and argues that “it’s hard to measure what ‘good’ could have come of it, when weighed against the much heavier physical and psychological suffering it caused”. Do you think he has made his case? Why or why not?

Understanding the causes and consequences of a historical event can be complicated. Often, the history of an event can be told from multiple perspectives. In this activity, you’ll analyze the causes of the 1857 Indian Uprising to investigate how and why this rebellion took place when and where it did. By doing so, you’ll see how historical events and processes can be interpreted in different ways, not only by those involved in the actual events, but by the historians who analyze the events long after they’ve taken place. Historians not only bring their own perspectives to the analysis, they apply historical thinking practices differently as well.

Claim testing, contextualization
You’ll further develop your causation skills and begin to understand how context is essential to causal reasoning. To fully understand causal relationships, you must be able to place these processes or events in the appropriate historical context. As always, you should claim test the assertions you make in order to provide sound logic and solid reasoning when determining the causes and effects of a historical process or event.

In this activity, you’ll read an article about the 1857 Indian Uprising against the British East India Company. Indian soldiers (called sepoys) rose up in protest against the regulations imposed by the British company, regulations that violated their religious beliefs. Using the information in the article, you’ll then complete the Causation Tool, which is included in the Causation – Indian Uprising worksheet. Next, you’ll answer follow-up questions that ask you to evaluate this event from multiple perspectives. Finally, you’ll write a one-paragraph response for a causal prompt.

Causation can be messy! There are almost always multiple causes for a historical event. To further complicate matters, the causes may be seen in a different light depending on your perspective of the event. Imagine that you and your classmates lead an uprising against the school administration to push back the time that you start school each morning. You all decide to take over the school and chain yourselves to the front doors at 6 a.m. in protest. In the process of doing so, school property is damaged. The police are called, and you’re all arrested for trespassing and vandalism. The school administrators and you and your fellow classmates each tell your version of events to the police. Do you think the accounts of what happened would be the same, or would they all reflect different perspectives of the event in question? It’s likely there would be many versions of the event, its causes, and its consequences. Historical analysis of the uprising that occurred in India in 1857 is no different.

Then, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Causation – Indian Uprising worksheet and the “1857 Indian Uprising” article. As you read the article, take notes or highlight the causes and consequences of this event. After everyone has finished reading, share the causes and consequences you found with another student. Then, use your causes and consequences to complete the Causation Tool. Remember that you’ve already categorized by time and type. For this activity, you’ll also be categorizing by role. Role can help you determine which causes were required for the event to happen, and which causes were simply relevant or contributed to the event happening. Here are the definitions.

• Necessary – These causes were required. The historical event or process would not have occurred without these causes.
• Relevant – These causes are important but not required. The historical event or process would still happen without these causes.
• Triggering event – You should be familiar with the triggering event, which is the most immediate cause of the historical event or process.

This categorization process can be difficult, and you may not agree on the time, type, or role. However, you should be able to back up your claims with evidence. In fact, historians don’t always agree on these topics either, which is why there are often different perspectives or histories written about the same historical event or process.

Then, your teacher will lead a discussion based on the following questions:

1. What were the reasons for the uprising from an Indian perspective?
2. What were the reasons for the uprising from a British perspective?
3. How did nineteenth-century views about imperialism and “civilization” play a role in these different perspectives?

Finally, working on your own, write a one-paragraph response to this prompt: What was the most significant cause AND what was the most significant consequence of the 1857 Indian Uprising? Remember to use the acronym ADE to help determine historical significance.

Your teacher will collect your worksheet and paragraph and use them to assess how your causation skills are progressing.

The East India Company (EIC) was a British business that ruled much of India as if it were an independent imperial power. In 1857, many Indians, especially soldiers technically employed by the EIC, rose up in rebellion. Historians debate why this uprising happened at this time. Was it a result of dissatisfaction in the military? Religion? De-industrialization? After the rebellion was put down, the British government ended EIC’s rule in India and established direct colonial rule of India from London.

The second half of the Unit Problem asks you to assess “how communities tried to manage or resist the effects of colonialism.” In this article, we look at this question through a case study of South Asia in 1857. Colonized peoples often resisted colonial rule. In some cases, like the 1857 uprising, they did so violently.

Think about the following question as you read the article: How did colonialism and colonial resistance reshape communities and impact the process of state building from 1750 to 1900? Write this question at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Read 1 – 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!

Read 2 – 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. Who ruled much of India in 1857?
2. What was the doctrine of lapse?
3. Where did most of the East India Company’s soldiers come from? How did the EIC treat them?
4. What was the “spark that lit the fire” for the 1857 uprising?
5. What, according to the author, were some of the other explanations for the uprising?
6. What was the outcome of the uprising?

Read 3 – Evaluating and Corroborating

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

1. How did colonialism and colonial resistance reshape communities and impact the process of state building from 1750 to 1900?
2. Why does it matter whether historians call the 1857 uprising a “mutiny,” a “revolt,” or a “war of independence”? Why do titles matter?
3. Compare the 1857 uprising to strategies you read about in earlier articles. Consider: what conditions led to South Asians’ military resistance in 1857? Why was this not always a strategy for colonized people to manage or resist colonialism? Why was it the strategy they chose in this time and place?

This is a biography of Azizun, a nineteenth-century courtesan (Tawa’if) turned anti-colonial fighter in northern India. The British saw the status of Tawa’if as backward, but she found it empowering. The British annexation of her home, the Kingdom of Awadh, and the expulsion of the king in 1856, threatened her status and livelihood. By becoming a leader of the resistance to British rule, Azizun showed how some women fought colonial rule.

One of the important questions we ask in this unit is how colonized people—so-called “colonial subjects”—reacted to empire. Azizun’s story helps us to understand resistance to colonialism through an individual’s eyes. In particular, it is evidence for you to consider when evaluating the idea of a “civilizing mission” as a justification for colonial rule.

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. Where did Azizun live, and what was its status in 1856?
2. What was a Tawa’if? What did the British believe they were?
3. How did Azizun react to the occupation of Awadh in 1856 and the rebellion that broke out in 1857?
4. How does the artist use the image in the last panel to demonstrate that Azizun was breaking the rules, both of Awadh and British ideas, about how women should act?

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. To what extent does this article explain how and why internal and external factors have influenced the process of state building from 1750 to 1900?
2. How does this biography of Azizun support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about the “civilizing mission” and about resistance to colonial rule in this period?

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!

Colonialism is a big topic, and it can only be understood by looking at human experiences. Formal colonialism first came to the region we today call Ghana in 1874, and British rule spread through the region into the early twentieth century. The British called the territory the “Gold Coast Colony”. The British colonizers tried to control everything from trade and transportation to religion and social structures. But local people resisted in many different ways, reclaiming their ability to make their own decisions and shape their own lives and societies.

This video introduces evidence at the scale of a single colony (and really a single city) for understanding the impact of empire and colonialism. This evidence will help you to respond to the part of the Unit Problem that focuses on how people reacted to empire. It also opens colonial Ghana to study through several themes—economic systems (taxes and trade), social interactions and organization (movement and connections), and cultural developments and interactions (religion).

Think about the following question as you watch the video: Using evidence from this video, explain how various social and cultural factors impacted the development of the global economy from 1750 to 1900. You will be asked to respond to this question again at the end of the video.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video.

1. When was the region that is today Ghana conquered by the British?
2. According to Ato Quayson, what was the purpose of the Customs House, and how did it help the British to make money?
3. How did some Ghanaians employed at the Customs House fight back?
4. According to Jennifer Hart, what type of transportation did the British want to put in Ghana to control the export of cocoa, and how did Ghanaian farmers seek to control trade themselves?
5. According to Jennifer Hart, how did the informal system of trotros (mini-bus taxis carrying people around Accra) come into being? What did the British call these trotros, and why?
6. What do the plaques on the walls of Holy Trinity Church tell us, according to Ato Quayson?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Using evidence from this video, explain how various social and cultural factors impacted the development of the global economy from 1750 to 1900.
2. In this unit, you are encountering all kinds of evidence about how imperialism was powerful, controlling, and invasive. Does this video support or challenge that narrative?
3. How do the ways that Ghanaians resisted colonialism compare to the resistance you read about in the article about the 1857 revolt in India?

This is the biography of Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother of Ejisu in the Asante Confederation in West Africa. She was an important figure in the resistance to British conquest. In 1900, with her King and grand-nephew in exile, Yaa Asantewaa led the armed resistance to the last stages of the British conquest of Asante. Her actions were unusual, but demonstrate the high stakes for women in the process of colonization.

One of the important questions we ask in this unit is how colonized people—so-called “colonial subjects”—reacted to empire. Yaa Asantewaa’s story is an example of one kind of resistance that occurred. Her strategies were rooted in tradition while also being something new and creative.

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 kind of a state was Asante, and who was Yaa Asantewaa?
2. What was the role of the Queen mother, or Ohemaa?
3. What happened in 1895 and how did it affect Yaa Asantewaa?
4. What happened in 1900, and how did Yaa Asantewaa respond?
5. How does the artist represent Yaa Asantewaa’s leadership through 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. To what extent does this article explain how cultural and social factors influenced state building and resistance from 1750 to 1900?
2. How does this biography of Yaa Asantewaa support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about reactions and resistance to colonial rule in this period?

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!

3x5 note cards or cut up paper

This sourcing collection, along with the Quick-Sourcing Tool, gives you an opportunity to practice a quicker kind of sourcing than you do in the sourcing practice progression. The tool and the process for using it—specifically designed for unpacking document collections—will help you be successful on both the SAQ and DBQ portions of the AP^® World History: Modern exam.

If you are unfamiliar with the Quick-Sourcing Tool or the process for using it, we recommend reviewing the Quick-Sourcing Introduction activity in Lesson 1.4.

The Quick-Sourcing Tool can be used any time you encounter a set of sources and are trying to respond to a prompt or question, as opposed to the deeper analysis you do when using the HAPPY tool that is part of the sourcing progression.

First, take out or download the sourcing collection and review the guiding question that appears on the first page. Then, take out or download the Quick-Sourcing Tool and review the directions. For Part 1, you’ll write a quick summary of each source in terms of how it relates to the guiding question (we recommend using one note card or scrap of paper for each source).

For Part 2, which uses the first four letters of the acronym from the HAPPY tool, you only have to respond to one of these four questions. This will get you a partial point on the AP^® World History: Modern exam. You should always include the historical significance or “why” (the “Y” in “HAPPY”) for any of the four questions you choose to respond to.

In Part 3, you’ll gather the evidence you found in each document and add it to your note cards so you can include it in a response later. Once each document is analyzed, look at your note cards and try to categorize the cards. There might be a group of documents that support the claim you want to make in your response, and another group that will help you consider counterclaims, for example.

To wrap up, try to respond to the guiding question.

This collection explores how different societies responded to increased European state expansion during the period from 1750 to 1900 CE.

The AP^® World History: Modern CED suggests students develop their sourcing skills in line with certain topics. For Unit 6, one of these topics is “Indigenous Responses to State Expansion from 1750 to 1900”; therefore, we’ve compiled a number of primary source excerpts to help you develop these skills in relation to this content. This should help prepare you to be successful on the AP exam.

We recommend using the accompanying Quick Sourcing activity (above) to help you analyze these sources.

In this activity, you’ll continue to build on your claim-testing skills by crafting supporting and refuting statements for a set of claims. As you evaluate the claims, you’ll also analyze the quality of the statements put forth by your classmates. This will help you gain experience in using evidence to support your own claims as well as devising ways to refute statements that might argue against your claims. In addition, these skills will help you develop your writing and critical thinking skills.

In this claim-testing activity, you are given four claims about imperialism. You are asked to work with these claims in three different ways:

1. Find supporting statements for the claims.
2. Evaluate the strength of the supporting statements provided for the claims.
3. Provide statements that refute (argue against) the claims.

Get into small table groups. Each group should have a complete set of Claim Cards in the middle of their table. Listen for your teacher’s directions for when to start.

Round 1

1. Grab one Claim Card from the center of the table.
2. On the card, write down a statement that supports the claim. You can use prior knowledge or course materials for this.
3. Pass your Claim Card to the person to your right.
4. Write down a statement that supports the claim on the card that you now have. It can’t be the same as any of the supports already written on the card.
5. Repeat the process until each group member has written a supporting statement on each card.
6. Put the Claim Cards back in the center of the table.

Round 2

1. Grab one Claim Card from the pile and stand up.
2. Find at least three other students who have the same claim as you and get into a group with them (if there are more than six people in your group, let your teacher know).
3. Look at all the supporting statements that were written for your claim. Decide which supporting statements are strongest (that is, they best support the claim).
4. Write the strongest supporting statements on the whiteboard so everyone can see them.

Round 3

1. With the same group you were in for Round 2, consider any historical exceptions to your claim. What can you offer to refute the claim?
2. Add at least one refuting statement, what we often refer to as a counterclaim, on the board so everyone can see it.
3. Write both your strongest supporting statements and the exception to the claim as an exit ticket—be sure to explain your reasoning for choosing your supporting statements and refutations. Your teacher may also have you share your statements and counterclaim with the class.