Compelling Question: Why did some societies emerge with more power and others with less?

1. The Columbian Exchange & its Consequences

4.2.3 Spheres of Interaction and Influence in the Americas – compare and contrast the diverse characteristics and interactions of peoples in the Americas.

5.1.1 Emerging Global System – differentiate between the global systems of trade, migration, and political power from those in the previous era.

CCSS-RH.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Supporting Questions: What were the contributions of Afroeurasia and the Americas to the biological exchanges of plants, animals, humans, and germs? Why are there large differences in estimates of pre-eighteenth century populations for other regions of the world. What were the changes in African slaves’ numbers and experience in America from 1492 to 1650? List What were the reasons given by contemporaries for large-scale deaths and a steep decline in Native American populations after the arrival of Europeans? What numbers should we believe about the Native American genocide?

2. Is sharing and trading across cultures a good thing? The Columbian Exchange and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

HSCE-5.2.1 Cultural Encounters and the Columbian Exchange – explain the demographic, environmental, and political consequences of European oceanic travel and conquest.

Supporting Questions: How did the Columbian Exchange affect both hemispheres that it involved? What motivated Europeans and Africans to turn to selling people as property during the Age of Discovery? Where did slavery extend during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and what were the processes involved along the trade route? Why are slaves still working for me?

3. How magnificent was Suleiman? The Ottoman Empire

HSCE-5.2.2 The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – analyze the causes and development of the Atlantic trade system with respect to the capture and sale of Africans, the creation of the gun-slave cycle, the Middle Passage, and forced migration of Africans to the Americas, the establishment of the plantation complex, and the rise of slave resistance in the New World.

5.2.3 Afro-Eurasian Empires – compare and contrast the different ways governments expanded or centralized control across various parts of Afro-Eurasia, and analyze the consequences of these changes.

Supporting Questions: How was Suleiman characterized during his reign? How did Suleiman expand the Ottoman Empire?What changes did Suleiman make to the governance of the Ottoman Empire? To what extent did Suleiman promote tolerance in the Ottoman Empire?

4. Rulers with Guns: The Rise of Powerful States

HSCE-5.2.3 Afro-Eurasian Empires – compare and contrast the different ways governments expanded or centralized control across various parts of Afro-Eurasia, and analyze the consequences of these changes?

Supporting Questions: What is gunpowder? What were the effects of firearms on the development of powerful, centralized states? What were the material and cultural impacts of powerful monarchies based on gunpowder military expansion?

5. New Societies: The Making of the Atlantic Rim 1500-1800 CE

HSCES- 5.2.2 The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – analyze the causes and development of the Atlantic trade system with respect to the capture and sale of Africans, the creation of the gun-slave cycle, the Middle Passage, and forced migration of Africans to the Americas, the establishment of the plantation complex, and the rise of slave resistance in the New World.

6.1.2 Worldwide Migrations and Population Changes – analyze the causes and consequences of shifts in world population and major patterns of long-distance migrations, including the impact of industrialism, imperialism, changing diets, and scientific advances.

Supporting Questions: How did the voluntary and involuntary migration of peoples from both Africa and Europe to the Americas drastically altered the societies of the Atlantic rim? What data can we analyze to determine the impact of migration in the Atlantic Rim? What was life like for women in the Pacific Rim? What can we learn about life in the Pacific Rim from studying sources on Olaudah Equiano? Is his account reliable? How did individuals in the Pacific Rim gain new identities? What is the role of gender and class in shaping the identities and opportunities of each of these individuals?

6. The Protestant Reformation

HSCES- 5.1.2 Diffusion of World Religions – evaluate the impact of the diffusion of world religions and belief systems on social, political, cultural, and economic systems.

Supporting Questions: What were the major reasons for the Protestant Reformation? What were the main differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism after 1530? What was the Counter Reformation? How did Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims engage in missionary efforts in different areas of the world? How did the relationship between religion and the state change during this era? How successful were Muslim and Christian Muslim expansion and conversions efforts? What were the interactions among various religious faiths in the Indian subcontinent in the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries?

Summative Writing Assessment

Write an essay of at least five paragraphs in response to the unit compelling question:

Why did some societies emerge with more power and others with less?

Your essay should cite at least five documents from the module and your knowledge of the development of the world through the end of this era. Be sure to source and contextualize your documents. Also, in your essay be sure to do the following:

1. Explain how the Columbian Exchange benefited some societies and not others.
2. Explain the impact of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade on various societies.
3. Explain the impact of gunpowder on various societies.
4. Explain the role religion played in the growth of powerful states.

Use the attached Argumentative Essay Organizer and/or Step-by-Step instructions to help organize your ideas. Essays will be scored using the Social Studies Argumentative Writing Rubric.

Performance Task

Teacher-Created PBL

or

Taking Informed Action

Students create posters/infographics addressing the labor, trade, and environmental practices of contemporary

multi-national companies (diamond-mining or child labor/slavery in the chocolate industry in Africa, sweatshops in Asia, prison labor in America, etc.) Images are displayed in the school halls, cafeteria, library etc. or the community.