Hello, and thank you for joining me.

I'm Mr. Marchin and I'll be your history teacher for today's lesson.

I'll be guiding you through all of our resources, and my top aims are to ensure not only that you enjoy our learning, but also that you can successfully meet today's lesson objective.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the British Empire, where we are asking ourselves, to what extent was the British empire transformed in the mid-19th century? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain the importance of Charles Darwin's ideas for British imperialism in the mid-19th century.

There are five key words which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are empire, colonies, evolution, Social Darwinism, and imperialism.

An empire is a collection of territories, or countries ruled by a single person or government.

Colonies are countries and territories ruled over by another country.

Evolution is the process of gradual change which occurs over long periods of time.

Social Darwinism was the false claim that Charles Darwin's ideas apply to human societies making some groups of people superior to others.

And finally, imperialism refers to the control of one country over another and the expansion of a country's empire by gaining new colonies.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts and will begin by focusing on the British empire.

In the mid-19th century, many powerful European countries ruled over empires with colonies located around the world.

Of these European countries, Britain ruled over the largest global empire by the mid-19th century.

The British empire ruled over colonies on every inhabited continent by the mid-19th century.

Major colonies included India, Canada, Australia, and Cape Colony in South Africa.

Because of its global extent, it was sometimes said that the sun never sets on the British Empire because in every part of the world where there was daylight, there would be a British colony that could be found.

So, let's reflect on what we've just heard.

Why was it claimed that the sun never sets on the British empire? Was it because British colonies all had good weather, because British colonies were spread all across the world? Or because British colonies were all very wealthy and growing? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was B.

It was said that the sun never sets on the British empire because British colonies were spread all across the world.

This meant that there would always be a colony somewhere, which was experiencing the daytime and daylight.

The empire was mostly governed by white Christian men from Britain, but by the mid-19th century, these men ruled over a very diverse empire.

The millions of subjects living in the empire came from a wide range of racial backgrounds.

A wide range of religious groups also lived in the British Empire, including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and those who belonged to many different indigenous religions.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just heard.

We have a statement on the screen that reads, there was a wide mix of religious groups who lived in the British Empire, is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that, that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that the empire was mostly run by Christians, but Britain ruled over many other groups including Muslims and Hindus.

The second statement says that the Empire was mostly written by Muslims, but Britain ruled over many other groups, including Christians and Hindus.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was A, Britain's empire was ruled over by white Christian men for the most part, but they ruled over millions of people from different faiths, including Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and those from other religious backgrounds.

Different colonies also differed from one another in how they were governed in the British empire.

There were self-governing colonies.

These were places where the governor was appointed by the British government, but the people living in a colony were able to control many aspects of day-to-day life themselves.

This was because colonists had the right to elect representatives who could make decisions on their behalf.

However many over colonies in the British empire were crown colonies.

In crown colonies, there was also a governor appointed by the British government.

But unlike in self-governing colonies, the governor held most of the power, and it was a little opportunity for people living in the colony to participate in its government.

So let's think about what we've just heard.

Which statement is most accurate? That crown colonies and self-governing colonies were running the same way.

The ordinary people had more power in crown colonies compared to self-governing colonies.

Although ordinary people had more power in self-governing colonies compared to crown colonies.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was C.

Ordinary people had more power in self-governing colonies compared to crown colonies.

This was because in self-governing colonies, they had the right to elect representatives who could make decisions on their behalf.

In crown colonies, most power was held by the governor, meaning that ordinary people had little opportunity to participate in or influence government.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about the British Empire into practise.

I want you to study the two adjectives shown on the screen.

Those are diverse and large.

I want you to briefly explain why each of these adjectives can be used to describe the British Empire.

You should provide examples to support each of your answers.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you to study the two adjectives I provided, diverse and large, and then I asked you to briefly explain why each of those adjectives could be used to describe the British empire.

So your answer may have included, the British Empire can be described as large because it controlled colonies located all across the world.

In fact, the empire was so large that people claimed the sun never sets on the British empire.

You may also have written the British Empire can be described as diverse because a wide range of people lived in it.

For example, the empire ruled over millions of people with different faiths such as Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and many indigenous religions.

So really well done if your own answers look something like this two models, which we've just seen.

So now we can move on to the second part of our lesson for today where we are going to think about Charles Darwin's work.

Charles Darwin was a British scientist.

In 1859, Darwin published his book, "On the Origin of Species." Darwin's work was focused on natural selection, and the evolution of different animal species.

Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection and evolution explain that species change over time, that some of these changes would help species adapt to their surroundings, and it's species who adapted more successfully would survive and increase more than others.

So let's think about what we've just heard.

What did Charles Darwin's theory suggest? That evolution could help make a species more successful? That evolution usually harmed a species, or that evolution was rare and only occurred in some species? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was A, Darwin's idea was that if a species evolved, some of those evolutions might help it adapt more successfully to its surroundings, so its population size would increase.

Charles Darwin's theory explained some of the links and differences between different species.

However, some of those who read on the origin of species began to use Darwin's ideas to try and explain differences between races of people.

These interpretations of Darwin's work became known as Social Darwinism.

Social Darwinism has been discredited by scientists, but many people accepted the theory between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard.

I want you to write the missing word from the following sentence.

Blank, Darwinism was an incorrect theory used by some people to try and explain differences between human races.

So what's the missing word? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing word was social.

Social Darwinism was an incorrect theory used by some people to try and explain differences between human races.

Those who believed in Social Darwinism argued that some races were more evolved, and therefore superior to others.

Differences in appearances were used as evidence of adaptation and evolution.

Many people began to measure the skulls of people from different races.

This was used to argue that some groups, especially white Europeans were superior to others.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we just heard.

What did some Social Darwinists in Europe measure to try and prove that they were superior compared to groups like Africans and Asians? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was skulls.

Some people in Europe tried to measure the skulls of different groups of people and use these measurements to argue that Europeans had evolved more than Africans and Asians and were therefore superior.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about Charles Darwin's work into practise.

How did Charles Darwin's work affect the ways in which people understood differences between people? As part of your answer, I want you to try and include the following key words, evolve and superior.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you how did Charles Darwin's work affect the ways in which people understood differences between people? Your answer may have included, Charles Darwin's work suggested that species evolve over time, and that some adaptations would allow certain species to become more successful than others.

These ideas encouraged some people to explain that differences between races of people showed that some were superior to others.

For instance, many people in the 19th century claimed differences between skull sizes showed that white Europeans had evolved to become superior to Black Africans.

However, these understandings of differences between people have been proven incorrect.

So really well done if your own answer looks something like that model, which we've just seen, and that means we are now ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today where we are going to think about Social Darwinism and imperialism.

Social Darwinism argued that some races were more evolved than others.

It is often been suggested that Social Darwinism became very important for British imperialism, as well as that of other European countries.

Social Darwinism provided a way to justify British imperialism.

It was argued that physical evidence such as the skull size of white Europeans proved that they were superior to groups such as Aboriginals in Australia, Indians, Chinese people, and Africans.

Even though the theory was actually incorrect, Social Darwinism was used by those who accepted its ideas to argue that British rule over non-white people was justified as the British were more evolved, and would rule their colonies better than the people who actually lived there were able to.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard.

We have a statement on the screen that reads Social Darwinism helped to justify imperialism.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that, that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that Social Darwinism suggested that imperialism was good for a country's trade, and the second says that Social Darwinism suggested some groups were superior and therefore better suited to rule others.

So which one of those two justifications shows that our original statement was true? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was B.

Social Darwinism suggested some groups were superior, and therefore better suited to rule others.

This is how some people use the theory to help justify imperialism in the 19th century.

Social Darwinism helped to justify British imperialism by providing supposedly scientific proof that a British was superior to other groups.

However, the idea of British superiority had existed long before Darwin's ideas of evolution, and natural selection were developed.

For instance, it had been common for people in Britain to argue that the British were superior to other groups living in their colonies because of differences between their legal systems, government, and even because of the success of British industry and trait.

One of the most important justifications for British imperialism before and after Darwin published his work was the idea of Christianity superiority.

In 19th century Britain, it was widely accepted that Christianity contained God's real truth, and was therefore superior to other religions.

This made it necessary to spread knowledge of the Bible to non-Christians across the world and help to justify British rule over a wide range of colonies and people.

In this way, Social Darwinism may have helped to increase the confidence of many people in Britain.

That imperialism was justified, but it did not create the first beliefs that British imperialism was justified, nor the first beliefs that Britain was somehow superior to other groups.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of everything we've just heard.

Which statement is most accurate? Is it that many justifications of British imperialism in the 19th century claim that Britain was inferior to other countries? That many justifications of British imperialism in the 19th century claimed that Britain was equal to other countries? Or that many justifications of British imperialism in the 19th century claimed that Britain was superior to other countries? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was C.

Many justifications of British imperialism in the 19th century claimed that Britain was superior to other countries, and therefore almost had a right to rule over other groups because it was better suited to do so.

And let's try another question.

This time, I want you to write the missing word from the following sentence.

There was a widespread belief in 19th century Britain that, blank contained God's real truth and was therefore superior to other religions.

So what's the missing word? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing word was Christianity.

There was a widespread belief in 19th century Britain that Christianity contained God's real truth, and was therefore superior to other religions.

This helped to justify British imperialism as a way of spreading knowledge of the Bible.

So we're now ready to put all of our knowledge into practise.

I want you to study Alex's view shown on the screen.

Alex says that Britain couldn't have justified its imperialism in the 19th century without using ideas from Social Darwinism.

Do you agree with Alex? I want you to write one paragraph to explain your answer.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done to everybody for your hard work on that task.

So we had Alex's statement that said Britain couldn't have justified its imperialism in the 19th century without using ideas from Social Darwinism.

And I asked whether you agreed with Alex, and for you to write one paragraph to explain your answer.

Your answer may have included, I do not agree with Alex's view, because multiple justifications were used to support British imperialism in the 19th century.

Social Darwinism helped support imperialism as it was considered to provide scientific proof of white European superiority.

However, before and after social Darwinism was developed, many people in Britain believed that their religion made them superior to non-Christians, and use the idea of spreading Christianity to help justify British imperialism.

So really well done if your own answer looks something like that, the key thing for us to remember is that while Social Darwinism helped to justify British imperialism, there were other justifications that had existed before and continued to be used after Social Darwinism emerged as an idea.

So really well done for all of your hard work on that task.

And that means we've now reached the end of today's lesson, which puts us in a good position to summarise our learning.

We've seen that in the mid-19th century, the British Empire ruled over a diverse population living in colonies located across the world.

In 1859, Charles Darwin published his theory of natural selection and evolution.

Social Darwinism adapted Darwin's theories incorrectly in order to explain that some races such as white Europeans were superior to others, and Social Darwinism was one of many justifications for British imperialism alongside others like the belief in Christian superiority.

So really well done for all of your hard work during today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure to help guide you for our resources, and I look forward to seeing you again in the future as we continue to think about the British Empire and continue to ask ourselves, to what extent was the empire transformed in the mid-19th century?.