In this activity, you will begin to explore some of the things that define you and make you unique, specifically in terms of your identities. Understanding the idea that people no longer have singular identities, but rather multiple identities that are interconnected helps you get a sense of the cultural climates you’ll encounter as time passes.

Your teacher is going to do a quick poll activity with your class, asking you yes/no questions about your identity and how you define yourself. If your answer to a question is “yes,” raise your hand. After your teacher asks each question, if you’ve answered “yes,” try to name what that identity is for you. For example, if talking about a school identity, you might consider yourself a jock or a nerd. Or for religious identity, a person might practice a particular religion—what is it? This should really help you understand what identity can mean in different contexts.

1. Do you have a school identity?
2. Do you have a cultural identity?
3. Do you have a religious identity?
4. Do you have a gender-related identity?
5. Did you answer “yes” to more than one of these?

Do you know what a braided identity is? Do you think you have one? Discuss this with your class. Also, do you think that having multiple identities is a recent phenomenon?

Note: This lesson was adapted from a lesson by Lauren Harris and Tamara Schreiner in World History for Us All: https://whfua.history.ucla.edu/units/seven/landscape/07_landscape6.php

In this activity, you’ll explore the idea of nationalism that emerged from the Atlantic revolutions. Understanding the concept of nationalism is important because it can explain people’s love for their country. Countries that are nationalistic are often more prosperous, and nationalism can hold communities of people together. Therefore, understanding nationalism can help you understand why countries stay together and survive and why some political structures last.

Nationalism emerged out of the eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century Atlantic revolutions, and then quickly spread to many parts of the world. Before the nineteenth century, people were loyal to their local, regional, or religious communities. Throughout the nineteenth century, people began to become more nationalistic, forming attachments to their own nations that may not have existed before.

People around the world began to associate their identities with many different things. Some had religious identities, local identities, and so on, and many people began forming national identities. One of the best ways to understand nationalism is to look at some examples of it. Your teacher is going to give you examples of what might be considered nationalism. Look for the similarities in the examples. Those similarities will end up describing the idea of nationalism.

Your teacher will put you into small groups. Be sure you have copies of the Forming the Concept of Nationalism Worksheet. Look at the examples on the worksheet and generate a list of what makes the examples similar to each other. Be prepared to share your list with the class.

After you’ve discussed this as a class, try to synthesize the list of similarities to come up with a complete yet concise definition of nationalism. When you’re done, think about your own national identity. Do you think you have one? Why or why not?

The Enlightenment and the ideas of people such as John Locke unleashed revolutionary forces that most people could not foresee. During this period, people began to fight for liberty and reject governments that did not respect their individual rights. The Atlantic revolutions inspired people to define liberty for themselves and to reject oppressive rulers. This notion of liberty is still alive and well in today’s world, and people continue to fight for what they believe are their rights.

The Age of Exploration and the Columbian Exchange didn’t just change world markets and systems of exchange and trade; they also changed the ways in which people viewed their human rights. The Atlantic revolutions were the result of people’s efforts to protect those rights. Understanding the consequences of new systems in the world will help you gain a sense of how increasing complexity can influence changes in thinking, not just changes in the way the world operates.

Skimming for Gist

Revolutions in the Atlantic world began around the time of the Age of Enlightenment, when philosophers such as John Locke started to think about people’s natural rights and how those rights should be protected. This started a series of revolutions in which countries and individuals fought to earn back their rights.

Understanding Content

By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What are natural rights according to Enlightenment thinkers?
2. What did John Locke say should happen if the government fails to protect human rights?
3. What were some of the Goldilocks Conditions that led to the Atlantic revolutions?
4. What was the underlying sentiment of the cahier?
5. How did the idea of liberty evolve over time?
6. What does it mean for a revolt during this time to have a nationalistic message?
7. What was the Venezuelan military junta and what did they do?

Thinking Conceptually

Think about the following questions:

• How do you think these revolutions changed the everyday lives of people living in these areas?
• In today’s world, people are fighting for equality related to different aspects of humanity, including gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Is this just a continuation of the Atlantic revolutions or something completely different? Explain your reasoning.

During the nineteenth century, politics and economics came together through imperialism. European countries wanted more money, and one of the best ways to do this was through colonization. Colonizing often meant taking over the governments in other countries. Although most countries are now independent from their colonizers, the impacts of this colonization are still felt today.

Understanding imperialism provides a lot of perspective on where we are in the world today. Imperialism, which grew out of the Industrial Revolution, demonstrates how economics and politics can be completely intertwined. In today’s world, it is nearly impossible to separate the two, and studying imperialism helps us understand how that can happen.

Preview

In this video, John Green discusses nineteenth-century imperialism. Although Europeans started to create colonial empires starting in the sixteenth century, this really took off in the nineteenth century. Europeans began to leverage what they could from the Industrial Revolution as a way to take over and colonize other parts of the world. This colonization was usually fairly easy given European advances in technology and health care.

Key Ideas—Factual

Think about the following questions as you watch the video:

• How were the British able to move beyond trading only silver with China?
• What did Britain do when China stopped allowing them to trade?
• What were the terms of the treaty of Nanjing?
• What are some of the reasons Europeans were able to colonize almost all of Africa in the nineteenth century?
• Why does John Green hate Hiram Maxim?
• What are some of the countries that were not colonized by the Europeans?
• What does it mean that the European colonists resorted to indirect rule?
• What are some of the thoughts about why rulers allowed indirect rule?
• Although most of the colonization seemed fairly easy, what is one instance where Europeans faced some challenges in colonization occur?

Thinking Conceptually

In the video, John Green mentioned that much of what we see today is due to imperialism, such as the fact that a lot of call centers are in India or that much of our chocolate comes from Africa. Where else do you see these impacts today?

The age of imperialism was the result of a variety of factors, and was started in part by the Industrial Revolution. As countries strived to grow their economies, the need for more resources arose, so countries, especially those in Europe, began colonizing other areas. Imperialism led to societal change, and colonies were forever altered. The impact of colonialism is still seen today in former colonies around the world.

The age of imperialism was the result of a variety of factors and was started in part by the Industrial Revolution. As countries strove to grow their economies, the need for more resources arose, so countries, especially those in Europe, began colonizing other areas. Imperialism led to societal change, and colonies were forever altered. The impact of colonialism is still seen today in former colonies around the world.

Skimming for Gist

The years 1850 to 1950 were coined the age of imperialism, which was the period of time when imperial or colonial powers started to take over large portions of the world. Economic and political changes helped bring about colonization at this time. The legacy of imperialism can still be seen in many areas of the world today.

Understanding Content

By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is the age of imperialism?
2. What are the three factors that made this era different from previous ones?
3. What were some of the different cases for imperialism?
4. What percentage of land did Europeans colonize in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands?
5. In what ways was colonization accepted in some places?
6. What were the main ways that colonies resisted colonization? Were they successful?
7. What is Gandhi most famous for?
8. What was the primary economic reason for European colonization?

Thinking Conceptually

Think about the following questions:

• How did industrialization lead to imperialism?
• How are nationalism and imperialism related? Do you have to have one to have the other? Explain your reasoning.

In this activity, you’ll take major events related to human rights and resistance from this lesson and place them on a timeline. It’s useful to do this to see a chronology of events, and it also enables you to see how social and political movements progress and how unrest can arise. The fight for human rights has been long standing and continues today—it’s helpful to see how rights have evolved over time and how progress occurs.

Although one of the big themes of this lesson has obviously been about imperialism and colonization, another has been about the impacts of those things. In the age of imperialism, not only were people’s countries taken over, but their lives were drastically changed. People were forced into slavery, their cultures and religions were sometimes discriminated against, and some of their basic human rights were violated. In this activity, you’re going to examine this theme more deliberately by going back through the readings from this lesson and focusing on human rights and periods of resistance related to those rights.

Look over the two readings and find at least six instances of humans resisting colonization (or other modes of takeover) or fighting for their rights, such as in the Atlantic revolutions. For some of the events in the readings, you may have to go online to find the corresponding dates for placement on the timeline. In addition, for each event you should include the following information:

1. What were people fighting for (that is, what right was being violated)?
2. Where was this occurring?
3. Who was the aggressor and who was the victim?
4. Were the efforts to resist successful and how do you know that?

Be prepared to share your timeline with the class. As your classmates share, note the similarities and differences among the timelines. In general, were people around the world fighting for the same kinds of rights? Were they resisting in similar ways? Were they successful in the short term and long term?