Unit 4: The Americas

We recommend that teachers new to Investigating History review the Curriculum Guidebook before preparing to teach their first unit.

Cluster 1: Human Geography and Regional Geographical Systems of the Americas (Lessons 1-5)
What challenges and opportunities does geography pose in different regions of the Americas?
How are Latin American people today developing sustainable and inclusive cities?

Lesson 1: Meeting the People and Places of Latin America

Lesson 2: The Identities, Features, and Regions of Latin America, Part 1

Lesson 3:  The Identities, Features, and Regions of Latin America, Part 2

Lessons 4 & 5:  The Challenges and Adaptations of Latin America’s Largest Cities

Cluster 2: The Americas’ Earliest Complex Societies (Lessons 6-8)
How did the earliest known American civilizations innovate with natural resources in ways that were alike or different from other complex societies?

Lesson 6: The Oldest Complex Society of the Americas: Caral-Supe

Lessons 7 & 8:  Innovation and Natural Resources: The Olmec

Cluster 3: Mesoamerian Societies: Teotihuacan and the Maya (Lessons 9-21)
How did the spaces and places built by Mesoamericans mirror what they cared about and believed?  
How did Mesoamerican societies interact with and influence one another? 

Lessons 9 & 10: Teotihuacan: Magnificence and Mystery in the “City of the Gods”

Lesson 11: Daily Life in Sacred Spaces

Lesson 12: Teotihuacan’s Influence and Long-Distance Trade Interactions

Lesson 13 & 14: The Maya in the Mesoamerican World

Lesson 15: Sacred Places and the Meaning of a Myth

Lesson 16: Astronomers and Timekeepers Extraordinaire

Lessons 17 & 18: The Ball Game and Sacrifice

Lesson 19: Divine Rulers of the Classic City-States

Lesson 20: What Maya Writing Reveals

Lesson 21: Markets and Trade in the Maya World (A Game)

Cluster 4: Taino Culture and the Ancient Caribbean (Lessons 22-23)
How did geography and a history of migration lead ancient peoples of the Caribbean to create a unique culture?  How is that culture still influential today?

Lesson 22: The Shape of Ancient Taíno Culture and Society

Lesson 23: Legacies of Taíno Culture Today

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