Today we will continue to learn about European exploration, focusing on the effects of the conflict between the Spanish and the Aztecs. We will also work on our document analysis skills.
Question of the Day
Why were the Spanish able to conquer the Incas and Aztecs?
Focus Questions
What advantages did the Spanish possess in these conflicts? Disadvantages?
What advantages did the Incas and Aztecs possess in these conflicts? Disadvantages?
The vocabulary below is related to the work you are doing today and would be worth using in your paragraph. In a few classes you will have write an assessment in which you have to identify three of these that I will choose. Here is an example of an ID:
Alps: The Alps are a mountain range in southern Europe (France, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland). They were significant to European society between 1300 and 1750 because they were one of the physical landforms that made it difficult for Europe to be politically centralized under one government. Europe’s decentralization was a key to its economic development.
Historical Connection: Physical geography is important to the development of civilizations. Just as the Alps influenced the development of Europe, we have studied that the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers had an impact on the development of settlements and life in Mesopotamia.
Prince Henry the Navigator
Vasco de Gama
Bartolomeu Dias
Christopher Columbus
Zheng He
Ferdinand Magellan
Aztecs
Fernando Cortes
Montezuma II
Incas
Francisco Pizzarro
Atahualpa
The Columbian Exchange
The Atlantic Slave Trade
Sugar plantations
Plantation agriculture
Treaty of Tordesillas
Extractive political and economic institutions
Mercantilism
Silver
Inflation
Notes and summary of Guns, Germs, and Steel (Part 2) at the beginning of class.
Be prepared to write one paragraph responding to this prompt: Contrast the effects of European exploration in two of the following regions: Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Those students who have their Artifact Speech, please be prepared for that.
Artifact speeches
Analysis of these documents. You should try to use one or more of these documents in your paragraph.
Read Chapter 18 in World History: Patterns of Interaction (blue textbook). Make a chart comparing and contrasting the Mughal Empire under Akbar, the Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas, and the Ottoman Empire under Suleyman I. There is an example of what this should look like on page 524. There will be a reading assessment in which you compare and contrast these three societies under these rulers at the beginning of next class.
Related Readings
1491: The Western Hemisphere Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
"The Pristine Myth": Charles C. Mann talks about the thriving and sophisticated Indian landscape of the pre-Columbus Americas.
Crash Course Videos
Guns, Germs and Steel Videos
Episode 1 of 3: Out of Eden
Episode 2 of 3: Conquest
Episode 3 of 3: Into the Tropics