The causes and effects of colonisation

Social sciences

History

Grade 8

Colonisation

Module 15

The cause and effect of colonisation

COLONISATION

You have already covered the content prescribed by the National Curriculum for Grade 8 History in the previous three modules. To prepare for the end exam, in this module you should practise the key skills.

Activity 1:

Cause and effect of colonisation

[lo 2.1, 2.2, 3.3, 3.7]

Definition:

Colonisation takes place when groups of people move from their mother country to a colony in order to settle there.

Cause:

a) This process means that the groups settling in another country normally maintain the religion, culture and language of their mother country, so that the colony becomes an expansion of the original country.

b) The opposite can be true as well. Colonists may flee their country because they disagree with the traditions or politics in their own country. The French Huguenots fled to the Cape to be free of religious persecution.

Effect/Result:

a) Positive: Colonists can free themselves of previous oppression. The British government recognised the independence of the American colonists living in the United States of America, in 1782.

b) Negative: The native people in a colony can be exploited , even destroyed. The Red Indians in America suffered under the colonialists.

Time Span:

One of the first colonies was the island of Madeira, discovered and colonised by the Portuguese in 1418. Colonisation is an ongoing process. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1998.

Exercise:

Imagine that your parentsdecide to take care of an orphane. Think first and then write down which priviledges that you now enjoy, you are willing to share .

Which privileges would you not be willing to share.

Activity 2:

[lo 1.2, 1.4, 1.5]

• You will not find the answers to the questions that follow in the text. You must use your own knowledge or research to answer them. Name your source with each answer. Your source can be your own name, e.g. if you do not need the dictionary for the answer to question 5.

READING 1

THE THIRTEEN COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA

Thousands of people settled on the east coast of North America between 1607 and 1732. French Huguenots, German colonists and groups from Britain were dissatisfied with the conditions in their respective homelands. In the beginning they enjoyed freedom from political oppression, religious persecution and class distinctions.

Timber and fishing operations were started. Loggers invented their own way of felling trees during winter, high up in the mountains. Big logs were dragged into the frozen streambeds. During summer they used the melting snow to carry the logs down towards the harbours. It was the land of opportunity, where a hard worker who could use his imagination to devise his own machinery and tools could become rich. Crops like tobacco, rice, cotton and indigo were cultivated.

Hunting for pelts was a profitable job.

Questions:

1. Do you think that the freedom that the colonists enjoyed at the beginning lasted for ever? Give a reason for your answer. (2)

2. Give any example of class distinction. (2)