I include some excellent excerpts of Asian women challenging European imperialism

This first post includes lots of maps and two 10th-century primary source excerpts describing Swahili Coast trade. One is by Coast. Buzurg ibn Shahriyar.

For example, Punjabi artist Pran Nath Margo’s painted Farewell in 1945. It shows Indian soldiers leaving for war on a train (something captured in photos and paintings all over the world) but also includes a distinctly Indian practice.

The British, Dutch, French, & Spanish all depended on revenue from opium to finance their colonies in Southeast Asia in the late 19th century

Opium production and exports expanded dramatically in Qatar Persia and Ottoman Anatolia in the second half of the 19th century. Persians even supported free trade!

And here's a little preview of why we want to use Afroeurasia

Or we can focus on how Europeans developed infrastructure to economically exploit Africa by extracting resources.

When teaching European colonization of Africa, the maps we use can tell different stories. Too often, the story is about which European states conquered which parts of Africa. But what if we focus on how often and where Africans revolted against Europeans? The map below shows LOTS of uprisings. 🗺️🗃️

For the next month, I’ll focus on teaching global migration in world history. Here’s a good map to get you thinking

One easy way to teach the impact of the Haitian Revolution on the Atlantic world is w/ this map showing just some of uprisings by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean from 1791 (start of the HR) to 1848. 🗺️🗃️ #haitianrevolution

And you can use this fun illustration by Mákina de Cuzcuz!

When teaching decolonization, I have students read excerpts from Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth. It helps them understand why many colonized people turned to violence to win their freedom. 🗺️🗃️

When teaching imperialism, I always prefer to have the people being colonized describe what is happening rather than the colonizers. One of my favorite sources for teaching the British colonization of India is Amrita Lal Roy, a Bengali. 🗺️🗃️

One of my favorite resources to use when teaching the transatlantic slave system is Belinda Sutton's 1783 petition to the Massachusetts General Court. After her former enslaver fled, she asked for a pension. She also described her experience as an enslaved woman. 🗺️🗃️ (🧵1/2)

Excited to be leading an important workshop with @mrshistorylee.bsky.social & Eric Beckman at NCSS in Boston We need to highlight more Black, Indigenous, and female voices in the Age of Revolutions 🗃️ 🗺️

Colonized peoples sometimes revolted (as on previous map) and more often they resisted subtlely using cartoons that criticized Europeans

5. Highlight the persistence of resistance There were lots of uprisings!

Europeans frequently staged photos to make colonized people seem primitive. Many European cartoons about imperialism are racist.

3. Be Careful Using Images Here’s a postcard from French Senegal (c.1905)

Focus on students understanding the causes of imperialism A good cartoon can show students that nationalism and greed caused imperialism

2. Fewer conquest, more causes Students don’t need to color in maps of colonies.

1. Begin with New Imperialism (c.1860 - c.1940). Late nineteenth century European empires differed from older empires, such as the Roman, Chinese, or Mongols. New Imperialism was “more extensive” and “more intensive.”

Hi folks. I’m currently traveling in the Balkans planning a study tour for history educators for next summer in July. It would focus on the Balkans as a crossroads of world history and visit Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia. I’m wondering who would be interested. 🗺️🗃️

A lot of us teach about Ibn Battuta & Marco Polo, but what about Benjamin of Tudela? He was a 12th century Jewish traveler who about Jewish communities in Afroeurasia. Learn more about how to use him in the classroom https://www.liberatingnarratives.com/a-commerical-market-for-all-nations/

I visited the church in Kochi where Vasco da Gama was first buried in 1524. Da Gama was the first European to sail directly from Europe to India. He also was a violent psychopath who introduced armed trading to the Indian Ocean. 🗺️🗃️

By the 17th century, Mughal rulers loved their jewelry. Here’s Shah Jahan admiring an emerald. That emerald most likely came from the Americas, and European brought it to India.

In the bottom left corner (far away from Shah Jahan and behind a railing) are Europeans bringing gifts of jewelry. You can compare the plain clothing of the European to the more ornate clothing of the Mughals. The Mughals in the top row also wear pearls.

Mughal paintings can tell us a lot about the concerns of the Mughal rulers and the relative weakness of Europeans in India in the 17th century. In this painting, Shah Jahan holds court. He’s at the center & lots of Mughal elites around him. 🗃️

The first poster I hung in every classroom I taught. Students rarely understand how large Africa is. You can buy copies at www.bu.edu/africa/outre... 🗂️