Imperialism: A Tale of Politics or Economics?

Each group will take a look at the Imperialist quest and journey of 5 countries - Japan, France, England, Spain, and Germany. Through these countries we can see the different results of Imperialist efforts around the world. The big question is ...
Were the efforts of Imperialist countries success because of political strategies or economic policies (of both the countries themselves and/or corporations within those countries)?

To help you answer this question, and gather the background information needed to back-up you stand you and your group will ...
1. Create 3 maps for each country, each map showing the
    territories/colonies of that country during the periods of ...
        a. 1800-1810
        b. 1840-1860
        c. 1890-1900

2. In looking at how these maps changed, you will need to be able to answer -
        a. What changed? (did the colonies increase or decrease in number? why?)
        b. What led to this change? A matter of new political ideas, economic policies, or
            technological change?

 
3. Analyze your answers for each country, and then come to an answer (with support) for the big question. You will post your argument in answering the big question, support for your point of view, and links to the sources you used in a well organized blog post that includes your maps (which you should reference in your post).

Age of Revolutions

As a class we will create a master timeline of some of the revolutions from 18th century to early 20th century. This is by no means an extensive list, but the ground floor of revolution and calls for independence through-out the world. All of these revolutions and fights for independence we will be looking at have a common theme. Once we have the whole timeline created, we will examine that theme more closely.

We have already signed-up for your revolution/independence battle, now here is what you will be doing for them.
1. Discover the years in which your revolution took place.
2. Discover the major figure(s) that led the revolution. There may be one or multiple, and if your revolution had phases, list the major one for each phase.
3. Discover who they were wanting independence from - a certain country, ruling class, political party, way of life?
4. Discover major battle or events of the revolution.
5. Discover if they had outside help during their fight (either/or political and military assistance)

Once you have this information, you will construct a timeline of your revolution/fight for independence. You will list the major events (with photos/drawings) during the revolutions, and state how the revolution/fight for independence ended (again photo/drawing). Also on the timeline, for your major figures you will need a photo, quick bio, and their role within the revolution. And lastly you will need to include a map showing where your revolution took place.
Your group's timeline is due by the end of class on Thursday March 19 - we will then piece all of the timelines together in class on Friday and discuss the common theme among them all.