Unit 10: Interactions and Disruptions

Essential Questions

Why did Europeans begin to explore Africa and the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries?

How did the "Encounter" impact the indigenous peoples of Africa and the Americas?

How and why did transoceanic trade routes change and shift?

What were the global implications of the Columbian Exchange?

Enduring Understandings

Students understand that...

Efforts to reach the Indies resulted in the encounter between the people of Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas. This encounter led to a devastating impact on populations in the Americas, the rise of the transatlantic slave trade, and the reorientation of trade networks. 

Knowledge 

Students know that...

9.10a Various motives, new knowledge, and technological innovations influenced exploration and the development of European transoceanic trade routes. 

9.10b Transatlantic exploration led to the Encounter, colonization of the Americas, and the Columbian exchange. 

9.10c The decimation of indigenous populations in the Americas influenced the growth of the Atlantic slave trade. The trade of enslaved peoples resulted in exploitation, death, and the creation of wealth. 

9.10d European colonization in the Americas and trade interactions with Africa led to instability, decline, and near destruction of once-stable political and cultural systems. 

9.10e The Eastern Hemisphere trade networks were disrupted by the European development of new transoceanic trade across the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. Shifts in global trade networks and the use of gunpowder had positive and negative effects on Asian and European empires. 

Skills

Students will be able to...

• Students will explore the relationship between knowledge and technological innovations, focusing on how knowledge of wind and current patterns, combined with technological innovations, influenced exploration and transoceanic travel. 

• Students will trace major motivations for European interest in exploration and oceanic trade, including the influence of Isabella and Ferdinand. 

• Students will map the exchange of crops and animals and the spread of diseases across the world during the Columbian exchange. 

• Students will investigate the population of the Americas before the Encounter and evaluate the impact of the arrival of the Europeans on the indigenous populations. 

• Students will contrast the demographic impacts on Europe and China after the introduction of new crops with demographic effects on the Americas resulting from the Columbian exchange

• Students will examine how the demand for labor, primarily for sugar cultivation and silver mining, influenced the growth of the trade of enslaved African peoples. 

• Students will investigate European and African roles in the development of the slave trade, and investigate the conditions and treatment of enslaved Africans during the Middle Passage and in the Americas. 

• Students will examine the political, economic, cultural, and geographic impacts of Spanish colonization on the Aztec and Inca societies. 

• Students will investigate the different degrees of social and racial integration and assimilation that occurred under colonizing powers, laying the foundations for complex and varying social hierarchies in the Americas. 

• Students will examine the social, political, and economic impact of the Atlantic slave trade on Africa, including the development of the kingdoms of the Ashanti and Dahomey.

• Students will explore how new transoceanic routes shifted trade networks (e.g., Indian Ocean, the Silk Road, Trans-Saharan) in the Eastern Hemisphere. 

• Students will explore how shifts in the global trade networks and the use of gunpowder affected the Ottoman Empire. 

• Students will examine the development of European maritime empires and mercantilism. 

Key Vocabulary

• Middle passage

• Diaspora

• conquistador

• Gunpowder Empires

• Columbian Exchange

• The Encounter

• encomienda

• mestizo

• mulatto

• mercantilism

Summative Tasks

  The Impact of the Columbian Exchange DBQ: 7 documents ask the students to evaluate the impact of the exchange and take a position on its significance. 

Unit closing activity: Students demonstrate understanding by proving or disproving claims by using evidence.

End of unit assessment: cumulative 50 question test, followed by Interconnectedness thematic essay and  Neolithic Revolution, the Crusades, and the Age of Exploration DBQ.

CRQ: Age of Exploration  

MCQ 

 Formative Tasks 

Create a T-chart listing the pro and cons of European mercantilism in Latin American

Stations on the Columbian Exchange 

Sugar and Slavery DBQ        

Create a list (1-5) of negative effects the Atlantic Slave Trade had upon Africa. (1 being the most devastating effect and 5 being the least devastating effect)

Compare and contrast matrix of Africa, Europe, and the Americas on the eve of the Encounter. (page 46)

The Spanish and the Indians: Two Views of colonialism of the Natives pp. 79-81: Students look at different perspectives and connect to other parts of curriculum.

Maps showing the impact of Age of Discovery on Eastern Hemisphere and Ottoman Empire

Creating Columbus Day: Beyond the Bubble Students use contextualization to understand President Harrison's motives

Akbar the Great 

Closing Activity on  African and Latin American adaptation to environment: Collecting evidence to support claims

Lesson Plans and Content

The Middle Passage (SHEG): How did people experience the Middle Passage? Asks students to corroborate sources and assess reliability to explain how specific individuals experienced the middle passage.

Atahualpa (SHEG): Did Atahualpa hold the Bible to his ear? 

Department Created Inquiry: Was Columbus a hero or a villain?

Indian Ocean Spice Trade Lesson

Causes and Motivations of European Exploration: A document based look at what caused exploration

Videos, Documents, and Resources

Map of the Flow of New World Silver in the 16th Century

Christopher Columbus in His Own Words (p. 58-59)

The Columbian Exchange Map and Chart

Cartoon can be used to explain myths about Columbus and discussion on merits of Columbus Day