Imperialism+Jigsaw+Projects+4B



**JN: Hello everyone, your job is to introduce you and your country's history** JJ: I came from Europe and I am currently the representative of France. S: I am the representative of Southeast Asia. **JN: Hello, I am the representative of China.** JJ: Europe, you see, wanted the lands of Southeast Asia for many purposes: first, southeast asia was a source of tropical agriculture, minerals, and oil; second, they have a strategic location along the sea route to China. **JN: So, what happened? Were you able to get the Southeast Asia for your own? How?** JJ: Well, the French took over Indochina and the Germans took over New Guinea and the Marshall and Solomon Islands...but that's just the start of it. S: You know, you should really listen to our perspective... JJ: O.k... Anyways, the lands of Southeast Asia were PERFECT for plantation as well and so this raised competition. This really boosted and helped the Europeans to become more essential in the world trade markets. S: I agree the lands were just perfect for plantation. sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, rubber, coconuts, bananas, and pineapple **JN: Which country would you say was the most dominant and controlled many Southeast Asian islands?** JJ: I would say ... the Dutch. They took Southeast Asians' land from Portuguese and British. They also ruled indonesia and literally thought of it as their own country. This caused a population boom in the Southeast Asian Islands of Dutch. S: Many southeast asians were on the bottom of the social class systems because ... of Dutch and Europeans like you... JJ: Oh yeah! Dutch were on the top of the social class system, then the wealthy and educated Indonesians, then the plantation workers. **JN: What about the other countries in Europe?** JJ: British was also very powerful because it was very competitive with the Dutch. Because of this competition, the British made a trading base that traveled the India - China sea routes. British also controlled Malaysia and Burma. S: Why did the British control Malaysia and Burma instead of other places? JN: Well obviously Malaysia had large deposits of tine and world's leading rubber exporter and Burma provided teak, and was the central exported oil JJ: Yes and continuing to what I was saying, the French helped Nguyen dynasty rise to power in Vietnam and added Laos, Cambodia, and northern Vietnam to their territory. Enough of me, what about you, representative from Southeast Asia? What were your overall consequences? S: Advantages: Economies grew based on cash crops or goods (tin/rubber) - Roads, harbor, and rail systems linked areas and improved communication and transportation - Education, health improved - Unlike other colonial areas, a lot of people from other areas of Asia migrated to work on plantations in Southeast Asia. - Migration changed cultural and racial makeup - Disadvantage...Consequences: Racial and religious clashes nowadays Thailand was surprisingly independent throughout the colonial period. JN: Excuse me but may I speak about China’s consequences through Western nation’s approach? S: Yes, go ahead JN: Well China first started with a very stable and secured empires on our own called the Qing dynasty.. until the English ambassadors were eagering to export things to our nation. They first started to bring in clocks, globes, musical instruments………. JJ: Weren’t they amazing? I bet Europe was the first one to invent them. JN: Not quite. We had already had same version of all of them. Except better. S: I agree. JN: Yes, thank you. Europe then started to smuggle a terrible plant called opium which are addicting medicine made from the poppy plant. They sold opium to Chinese for non-medical use and many Chinese were soon addicted. China couldn’t stop trading with Europe because of opium. And that is why the Opium War happened. Afterwards, since 1861, the Dowager Empress Cixi ruled China, and she improved China’s educational system, diplomatic service, and military. Therefore we started to manufacture weapons although we weren’t that advanced. S: How does that relate to our topic? JN: And that’s when other countries attacked us when they found out our weakness in military technology and economic and political problems. JJ: And I believe that is when many of Europe’s main political powers and Japan gained a strong foothold in China. What happened to United States who were your trading partners? JN: US. Performed Open Door Policy to make the country still be open to merchants to all nations. S: Isn’t China a very conservative nation? I heard there were many reforms. By the way what does the Open Door Policy actually mean? JJ: Yes, open door policy, as mentioned briefly before, means he policy of granting equal trade opportunities to all countries. JN: Yes thank you for clearing that up and China is a conservative nation. There was an argument between the Dowager Empress Cixi and her nephew, Guangwu who was China’s young emperor. The Empress placed Guangxu under arrest when he tired to modernize China. And Chinese people were frustrated of their situation staying the same, which were starvation and lack of job. This led to the Boxer Rebellion. The armies surrounded the European section of the city and Chinese army had to fight against Britain, France, Germany and more. But the Chinese armies were quickly defeated. S: What happened afterwards? JN: That was the time when the Qing court realized that China needed to make changes to survive. We restructured its government, the empress Cixi started to accept recommendations. JJ: So, China struggled to remain isolated from the outside world but Europe’s approach to colonization changed things. S: Wow, therefore I believe that imperialism shaped the political geography of the world modern world and quickened the distribution of western culture and techonology around the globe. JN: Yes. JJ: Yes, indeed.