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Indigenous Responses to State Expansion from 1750 to 1900 CE

Driving Question: What strategies did indigenous leaders use to resist imperialism, and how successful were they?

As a new age of imperialism rose across the globe during the long nineteenth century, colonized people adopted many strategies to survive new systems of colonial control. Some cooperated with colonial authorities, exploiting new power structures to their advantage. Others pushed back, resisting with tactics old and new, sometimes quietly, sometimes through violent rebellion. Some chose less direct methods, studying, writing, and coming up with ideas to explain how colonialism affected them.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Explain how and why internal and external factors have influenced the process of state building from 1750 to 1900.
  2. Explore the varied ways in which indigenous leaders resisted imperial powers.
  3. Use the historical thinking practice of causation to assess the 1857 Indian uprising as a response to colonialism. 
  4. Use the historical thinking skill of claim testing to evaluate claims about imperialism and colonialism.

Vocab Terms:

  • administrator
  • bureaucracy
  • customs
  • indigenous
  • racism
  • rebellion
  • resistance
STEP 1

Opener: Indigenous Responses to State Expansion

You’re about to learn about the varied responses indigenous peoples had to colonial rule. Preview examples of these responses and group them into three categories: resilience, resistance, or revolt.

STEP 2

Responses to Industrial Imperialism

The responses to imperialism were as varied as the areas it touched. Explore the unique and innovative ways people resisted imperialism around the world.

STEP 3

Experiencing Colonialism: Through a Ghanaian Lens

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. Explore how local people resisted in many different ways, reclaiming their ability to make their own decisions and shape their own lives and societies.

Experiencing Colonialism: Through a Ghanaian Lens External link

What was it like to live as a colonial subject? Of course, there many differing experiences, but we can get some answers by looking closely at Ghana as a case study.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 4

Graphic Biography: Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of Ejisu

Can a Queen lead resistance to colonialism? If that Queen is Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother of Ejisu in Asante, the answer is yes!

STEP 5

Causation: Indian Uprising

STEP 6

The 1857 Indian Uprising

In 1857, many Indians, especially soldiers technically employed by the East India Company (EIC), rose up in rebellion. Historians debate why this uprising happened at this time. Was it a result of dissatisfaction with military rules and leadership? Religion? Deindustrialization? What do you think?

STEP 7

Graphic Biography: Azizun of Lucknow

Sometimes, one has to break out of the box to break the cycle. The story of Azizun shows us how defying expectations of behavior can lead to revolutionary change.

STEP 8

Source Collection: Indigenous Responses to State Expansion

STEP 9

Closer: Indigenous Responses to State Expansion