This lesson explores the early impact of the Europeans in Africa.
It focuses on the incursions of the Portuguese in West Africa from the late fifteenth century onwards.
The aim of the lesson is to challenge the idea that the Europeans (in this case the Portuguese) simply exploited Africa – suggesting ways in which the people of West Africa derived some benefit from their contact with the Portuguese.
Students examine a range of clues as they seek to refine their hypotheses about the extent to which the people of West Africa benefitted from contact with the Portuguese, plotting the evidence on to a graph.
Finally, they use their new knowledge to create plaques to be displayed at the Cape of Good Hope (the location of the first Portuguese landing in Africa), which include a sense of their newly-refined hypotheses.
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- Lesson presentation: PowerPoint
- Lesson write-up: PDF
- Worksheet 1, 2 & 3: PDF
- Resource 1a b: PDF
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