Download CHY 4U Essay Topics

Sem1, 2013-14
CHY 4U Essay Topics
This 7-10 page essay is neither a biography nor a report. It must pose and answer a significant
historical question related to interaction between the West and non-west. It is an analysis
rather than a repetition of facts. The basis of the essay is an arguable thesis supported by
specific examples. Topics are not to deal with the 20 th century in any significant way. For the
purposes of this course “The West” refers to Europe and North America. All other areas fall
under the “Non-west”.
How to Narrow Down a Topic:
How did the Industrial Revolution change the relationship between Britain and India in the mid19th century? [huge topic]
If you approach this as your topic and focus question, you will find literally millions of sources.
Where will you begin? Narrow down the topic by doing some background research which means
reading relevant textbook sections – use the index – and some encyclopedia articles. You should
pose some inquiry questions to yourself after you have conducted background research. Inquiry
questions can follow the PERSIAT format, or the 5 Ws. Their job is to establish the historical
context of your topic, meaning the conditions that were present before and at the time of your
topic.
Sample Inquiry Questions:
 What was the relationship between Britain and India like before industrialization?
 How did British industrialization change Indians’ lives in relation to type of work,
pay, conditions of work, hours of work, place they lived, type of crops grown?
 How did the selling of British-made cloth affect the Indian home-spun sector of the
economy?
 What did Britain do to militarily and politically ‘secure’ India as a supplier of
cotton?
 What role did British imperialism play in using India as a supplier of raw materials,
especially after the 1858 revolt/mutiny?
Do not ask simple factual questions such as “what kind of machines were invented during the
Industrial Revolution?”, or “how long did the Industrial Revolution last?”.
Themes:
Please note on the essay rubric that your application mark revolves around making a successful
argument about one or more of these themes:
-
West - non-west intersection/relations/interaction (how one affected the other)
Social Darwinism = the belief that white Christians were superior to the people in their
imperial colonies
Imperialism
Role of women in society
Therefore, you may have to research more than one topic and combine the material in
your essay (e.g., West + non-west).
Sem1, 2013-14
TOPICS:
Art
1. Art historians study the east-west artistic exchange, or cross-pollination of artistic techniques, materials, styles,
etc. Pick one artistic form from a particular time period (e.g., African-inspired painting and sculpture in the early
20th century, Chinese blue and white export porcelain in the 1600s, chinoiserie in the 1800s) and learn the
historical context for the artistic exchange. How did the art of east and west come into contact? How does the
artistic result reflect the contact? Make sure the focus is equally divided between art and history.
2.
Choose an art movement in a particular non-western country up to 1900 and how it reflected the time. For
example, western dress in Japan or China during modernization/westernization in the late 1800s.
Renaissance/Scientific Revolution
3. Research the non-western (e.g., Islamic, Asian, Ottoman, possibly Chinese) sources of inspiration for advances
during the Renaissance (art, science, medicine, philosophy, civic matters, humanism, map-making, etc.). Don’t
just list contributions from non-western sources. Don’t focus on Greek and Roman sources. Argue the role of
foreign influences in the Renaissance.
4.
How were Scientific Revolution figures influenced by non-western sources? Don’t just list contributions from nonwestern sources. Don’t focus on Greek and Roman sources. Argue the role of non-western influences in the
Scientific Revolution.
Spanish Empire
5. How did indigenous peoples of the New World (Mexico, South America) incorporate Christianity and European
practices into their cultures? Devise a suitable thesis about adaptation as a method of survival in West-non-west
relations.
6.
Pick one country that was heavily influenced by the Spanish Conquistadors, especially during the early stages of
encomienda. How was the social history of this country affected by the legacy of Indian slavery up until the early
1900s? (relations between racial groups, use of Native labour, rights of Natives, privileges for those of European
descent, etc.)
7.
Trace the beginning and end of Spain’s imperial involvement, from the 1520s to 1890s, in the Philippines. Make an
argument relating to Spain’s decline as an imperial power.
Caribbean and Latin America
8. Trace the origin of British, French and/or Dutch imperialism in the West Indies and explain how it was closely tied
into the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
9.
Why was St. Domingue (the future Haiti) such a big prize and such a big loss for the French?
10. Research 19th century Latin American liberation movements against Spain (e.g., Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Costa Rica; by Simon Bolivar in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia; by Jose de San Martin in
Argentina, Chile, Peru) and analyze to what extent they reflected European themes of nationalism and
enlightenment.
11. How did the United States incorporate Latin America into its sphere of influence in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries using economic imperialism? What was the effect on the people of the countries? Not to be done if you
took American history in grade 11.
12. Research the history of African slavery in Brazil from the time of the slave trade to its abolition. How did abolition
come about? What role did western (e.g., British abolition) influences play?
Russia
13. Identify areas in which Russia was “behind” the west yet wanted to catch up. You could focus on the
enlightenment in the 18th century, serfdom, absolute monarchy, and industrialization in the 19th century.
General Imperialism/Social Darwinism/Industrialization
14. Demonstrate the close bond between imperialism and industrialization in the 19 th century by researching the
relationship between an imperial power and its colonies with emphasis on supplying raw materials for industrial
grandeur (e.g., Britain and India through cotton, Belgium and Belgian Congo through rubber).
15. Research the technological advances that made New Imperialism (late 19th century) possible and enabled
Europeans to subdue and administer some non-Western areas. Don’t just describe the technology. Identify
examples of the technologies USED in real-life instances of imperialism, such as naval improvements, weaponry,
transportation methods, etc. Choose one or more areas (e.g., Asia, Africa).
16. Choose an imperial power – colony relationship in the late 19th century and research the extent to which Social
Darwinism was used to rule/suppress the colony.
Sem1, 2013-14
China/Japan
17. Research early European Christian missionary activity in China and Japan (1500s and 1600s). How did Asians and
Europeans perceive each other?
18. How did the Chinese Confucian worldview (Sino-centered) affect their relations with westerners from the 1500s to
1750s? Refer to trade policies, toleration of Christianity, technology, military power and other areas.
19. What role did western imperialism (beginning with the US in 1853) play in leading Japan toward its own
imperialistic and Social Darwinistic policies in Asia?
20. How did China’s diplomatic relations with foreign countries reflect its internal weakness during the late Qing
empire?
21. Which Western countries served as inspirations for Japan’s modernization during the Meiji Restoration (18681912)? How were their influences carved into reforms of government, military, economy, etc.?
22. Why did so many European countries want access to trade in China in the late 1800s? How did they compete with
each other? How did China handle their demands?
Africa
23. What was the role of African merchants in the slave trade? Did European slave traders take advantage of them, or
did African merchants manipulate the situation for their own gain?
24. Contrast the economic gains made by European slave traders (particularly English) with the extreme familial,
social, religious and cultural losses experienced by slaves. This essay should not be a description of slavery or the
trans-Atlantic slave trade.
25. Describe forms of African resistance to imperialism in the late 1800s? What were the most successful methods and
in which countries were they used, against whom? Consider Ethiopia under Menelik II against Italy.
India
26. How did the British attempt to westernize India and Indians from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century?
What role did westernization play in imperialism? Look at areas such as education, technology,
government/bureaucracy. Do not go past WWI.
27. Research the range of Indian reactions against British imperialism from the more moderate formation of the Indian
National Congress to radical ideas like Bal Ganghadar Tilak’s boycotts of British textiles. Do not go past WWI.
Other Parts of Asia
28. Research the French drive for colonies in Indochina (including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia). To what extent were
they motivated by imperialism, Social Darwinism, and/or other factors, and what was the role of missionaries?
29. Why was Thailand able to escape becoming a colony of the western powers unlike its neighbours? Assess the roles
of modernization, Thai responses to westernization and imperialism, and the strategies of imperial powers Britain
and France themselves.
30. Research Portuguese and Dutch interest in the Spice Islands (the Moluccas, present-day Indonesia) since the 1500s.
Devise a suitable thesis about West-non-west relations in the attempt to control this important trading
destination.
31. Using the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a focal point, research the economic inter-relations (e.g., trade)
between the east and west in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Was this an early form of global capitalism?
Middle East/Ottoman Empire
32. Research how Sultan Suleiman “the Magnificent”, or “the Lawgiver” managed to create a golden age during his
rule over the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1556, particularly in such a multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire.
33. Trace Egypt’s foreign relationships from the 1800s (after Napoleon) to WWI. Devise a suitable thesis about its
nationalistic reactions and about its role in other nations’ imperial plans (e.g., France’s and Britain’s).
Women
34. What role did women play in the abolitionist (ending of slavery) movement in 19th century Britain?
35. What happened to women’s status during the modernization of Japan during the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912)?
36. Research women’s rights in a non-western country or region in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.