Target age range: Year 12 students of A-level history, AQA 1J specification

This resource is designed to be taught as an eight-lesson enquiry to Year 12 students (primarily those studying AQA 1J specification), although it could be adapted for teaching at Key Stage 3.

The resource aims to foster a developed understanding of the impact of the British Empire in economic terms. Students are introduced to up-to-date academic research and engage with historical sources throughout the enquiry, most of which were not created for our purpose. Consequently, students develop the ability to read sources ‘against the grain’. This helps students to learn that history, and particularly this topic, is debated, contested, complex and current.

This enquiry was written by Emma McKenna TFHA CTHist, Head of History at The King’s School, Grantham. Source material has kindly been made available by academics from LSE and by the British Library: Padlet: The British Empire and the economic impact on colonised people: sources from West Africa, East Africa and India, c. 1870-1925 

Every effort has been made to trace all image copyright holders and permissions in these resources, although occasionally it has not been possible to identify them. Please contact Maheema Chanrai at maheema.chanrai@history.org.uk with any queries.

Image: Dooteriah Tea Estate, Darjeeling, 1870s, photograph by Robert Philips; Public Domain, held by the British Library