Writing Assessment
World Geography, Cultures, and Social Studies Skills
Imperialism Theme
Identify or define (Pick five, five points each)
In your answer, explain what, who, when, where, how, and why significant.
7. Indirect control
1. Imperialism
8. Sphere of Influence
2. Nationalism
9. Economic
3. Militarism
4. Colony/Colonization
imperialism
5. Protectorate
10. Social Darwinism
6. Direct control
11. World War I
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
World War II
Cold War
War on Terrorism
Hegemony
World Bank
Short Answer (Pick five, five points each)
1. What were the five European motives for imperialism practiced in the late 19 th and early 20th
centuries? Explain them.
2.
What advantages did Europeans have in the late 19 th and early 20th centuries that allowed them to
control other territories? How did Europeans explain their ability to conquer large areas of the
world?
3.
What were the motives for imperialism practiced in the late 20 th and early 21st centuries? Explain
them.
4.
What advantages did the United States have in the late 20 th and early 21st centuries that allowed
them to control other territories? How did Americans explain their ability to control large areas of
the world?
5.
Explain the two basic methods of control that imperialist governments used to manage their
colonies (in your answer, explain colony, protectorate, sphere of influence, and economic
imperialism).
6.
Why was Africa a prime target for imperialism after 1884? Explain what happened in the
scramble for Africa. What generally happened when Africans tried to resist imperialism? Which
nations remained independent?
7.
Compare and contrast how the British and French ruled their colonies during the 18 th and 19th
centuries with the economic imperialism practiced by the IMF and World Bank today.
8.
What does it mean that India was the “jewel of the crown” of the British Empire? Why did the
British consider India in this way?
9.
Describe the path and major events leading to the Open Door Policy in China.
Essay (Pick one, fifty points)
1. Which economic, political, and social forces were most responsible for the new imperialism that
began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
2. Evaluate the new imperialism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Africa. What were the
positive and negative effects of imperialism for the colonizer and the colony?
3. What were the positive and negative effects of imperialism for the British, the mother country, and
for India, the colony?
4. Explain the political, economic, and social consequences of imperialism after the colonization of
Africa or Asia.
5. Compare colonization around the world by the British, French, and/or Belgians (choose two).
6. Compare the reactions to foreign domination in two colonized countries/locations.
Imperialism Map/Visual Assignments
1. Create a color coded map of Asia showing regions imperialized and the country that imperialized
them.
2. Create a color coded map of Africa showing regions imperialized and the country that
imperialized them.
3. Create a color coded map of the Americas showing regions imperialized and the country that
imperialized them.
4. Create a color coded world map illustrating European countries and the regions that they
controlled in 1750.
5. Create a color coded world map illustrating European countries and the regions that they
controlled in 1850.
6. Create a color coded world map illustrating European/American/Japanese countries and the
regions that they controlled in 1914.
7. Create a color coded world map illustrating European/American/Japanese countries and the
regions that they controlled in 1939.
8. Create a color coded world map illustrating European/American/Japanese countries and the
regions that they controlled in 1975.
9. Create a color coded world map illustrating gross domestic product of countries/regions of the
world today.
10. Create a picture collage of imperialism.
Imperialism Essential Questions
• How did our industrial age economic systems (capitalism, socialism, stocks, etc.) create such high
demand for consumption of natural resources and lead to imperialism, conflict, war, and
genocide?
• What is my role within these systems? Am I dependent on these systems? How do these systems
affect my behavior?
• What new systems could I help create that would function more in alignment with natural, holistic,
and sustainable laws?
Debate Topics
1.
Consider the following information about the multi-national food corporation Monsanto:
In 1996, when Monsanto began selling Roundup Ready soybeans, only 2% of soybeans
in the US contained their patented gene. By 2008, over 90% of soybeans in the US
contained Monsanto’s gene.
Do you think it should be legal to create a patent on food? Who does this benefit? What are
the consequences?
2.
Consider the following information about the multi-national food corporation Monsanto:
Percy Schmeiser is a Canadian farmer whose canola fields were contaminated with
Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready Canola by pollen from a nearby GMO farm. Monsanto
successfully argued in a lawsuit that Schmeiser violated their patent rights, and forced
Schmeiser to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.
This type of activity happens frequently throughout North America and all over the world.
Do you think natural resources such as food, oil, lumber, minerals, etc. should be privately
controlled for individual profit or publicly controlled for the welfare of all?
Emotional Response Journal
1. Imagine you live in a “3rd World Country” and were in an industrial accident and lost an arm while
working in a factory owned by someone in a “1st World Country.” Write a letter to the factory
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
owner, explaining your condition. Should the factory owner provide assistance to you and your
family? Explain what you think the factory owner should do.
What do you think it is like to be a laborer in the third world today?
Imagine you work in a factory in Juarez today. Write a letter to a cousin that lives in the Mexican
countryside. Describe your daily life and how you feel looking across the border at the United
States.
After our snowman factory simulation, describe the life of a factory worker. How did it feel to do
this work?
After our snowman factory simulation, describe the life of the vanishing middle class. How did it
feel to do this work?
After our snowman factory simulation, describe the life of a factory owner. How did it feel to do
this work?
After our snowman factory simulation, describe the life of the shop owner. How did it feel to do
this work?
After our snowman factory simulation, describe the life of the banker. How did it feel to do this
work?
After our snowman factory simulation, describe the life of the resource controller. How did it feel
to do this work?