Age of Imperialism

First stop is Africa, where European nations fought to control the territory regardless of the people who lived there. Next comes India, where the British fought Spain and gained control over what would become Britain’s most profitable colony. From India, kids visit China, where the British found profits in tea, porcelain, and silk. Chinese nationalism developed in response and spawned a secret society, dubbed “The Boxers,” that instigated a rebellion in 1900. Kids explore how Japan’s industrial revolution led to its own need for raw materials, which in turn led to conflicts with China and the eastern territories of Russia. Kids speed travel to the western hemisphere, where they explore how the U.S. took on Texas after the Mexican-American War in 1848, and took control of Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War in 1898.

A powerful visual program gives kids a close-up view of 19th-century factories and railroad workers, colonial settlements in Africa, political cartoons of the times, and the seal of the East India Company. Future engineers will enjoy analyzing a detailed view of the Suez Canal, while artists will appreciate the vivid visual work depicting events of the times. And cartophiles will have plenty to examine in the maps showing European claims around the world. It’s all here, in the Age of Imperialism.