The Grade 10 I&S class is beginning a summative task on an Empires unit that has explored a wide range of case studies including colonial Latin America, European imperialism in Africa, and the growth of the United States as an imperial power during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Our conceptual focus for this unit is on the impact of empires across space and time. We have examined this from a variety of perspectives and explored the ideas of impact and legacy for both the colonized and colonizing countries. We have studied the destruction of indigenous populations in the Americas through disease and conquest and the trafficking of millions of human beings as slaves from Africa. Ultimately, students have inquired into the resiliency of colonized societies and the myriad cultural expressions and creations that have endured in spite of a traumatic shared history. The summative project will allow students to compare and contrast two specific case studies from different regions or time periods in order to draw out important similarities and differences related to our key concepts.
