Unit Title: The Age of Colonization
Course Title: 7th grade Social Studies
Pacing: 8 Days
Content Standards K-12 Vertical Alignment
H.2 - Understand the implications of global interactions.
Understandings
Students will understand that…
Essential Questions
Knowledge
Students will know…
Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, and the Netherlands began colonizing places they explored which lead to increased power and wealth for European powers. Spanish colonies spread upwards from South America into the western half of North America and Florida. British colonies mostly focused on the North American Atlantic seaboard. French colonies mostly focused on the far north of North America and the area around the Mississippi River.
The Columbian Exchange —The exchange of food, materials and diseases between the Old and New World.
Native inhabitants were usually seen as inferior savages, fit for exploitation and in need of conversion to Christianity
The death and disease of Millions of Native Americans led Europe to seek labor in other parts of the world introducing the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, also known as the “Triangular Trade.”
Middle Passage: During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, ships had to cross the Atlantic Ocean. This journey was called the Middle Passage. Africans were crammed into the bottom hulls on a boat with little ventilation, sanitation or proper nutrition. Many Africans died before even making it to North America.
Evaluate (to determine the significance, worth, or condition of usually by careful appraisal and study)
Skills
Students will be able to…
Analyze (to examine critically, so as to bring out the essential elements)
Course Title: 7th grade Social Studies
Pacing: 8 Days
Content Standards K-12 Vertical Alignment
H.2 - Understand the implications of global interactions.
- H.2.1 - Analyze the effects of social, economic, military and political conflict among nations, regions, and groups (e.g. war, genocide, imperialism and colonization).
- H.2.4 - Analyze the economic, political, and social impacts of disease (e.g. smallpox, malaria, bubonic plague, AIDS and avian flu) in modern societies.
- E.1.1 - Explain how competition for resources affects the economic relationship among nations (e.g. colonialism, imperialism, globalization and interdependence).
- C.1.1 - Explain how culture unites and divides modern societies and regions (e.g. enslavement of various peoples, caste system, religious conflict and Social Darwinism).
Understandings
Students will understand that…
- Competition for economic resources led Europeans into conflict with each other and the indigenous people in order to maintain trade, gather natural resources, and establish colonies.
- Various European countries competed for natural resources and labor by establishing colonies in Africa, India and the New World.
- European powers justified their domination of people and places around the world with a sense of cultural superiority.
- Disease brought by Europeans impacted the economic and social systems of newly explored territory (e.g. smallpox,)
Essential Questions
- What factors motivated colonization among European countries?
- How does colonization affect the economic, political, and social parts of the indigenous and colonizing country?
- What role does the military play in colonization?
- How do cultural beliefs impact colonization?
- How did European ethnocentric attitudes affect their rule of indigenous populations in the areas they colonized?
- Do the benefits of global interaction outweigh the costs for those involved (both in the short and long term)?
- How did European nations respond to disease that impacted the economy and social structures of the new world?
Knowledge
Students will know…
Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, and the Netherlands began colonizing places they explored which lead to increased power and wealth for European powers. Spanish colonies spread upwards from South America into the western half of North America and Florida. British colonies mostly focused on the North American Atlantic seaboard. French colonies mostly focused on the far north of North America and the area around the Mississippi River.
The Columbian Exchange —The exchange of food, materials and diseases between the Old and New World.
Native inhabitants were usually seen as inferior savages, fit for exploitation and in need of conversion to Christianity
The death and disease of Millions of Native Americans led Europe to seek labor in other parts of the world introducing the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, also known as the “Triangular Trade.”
Middle Passage: During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, ships had to cross the Atlantic Ocean. This journey was called the Middle Passage. Africans were crammed into the bottom hulls on a boat with little ventilation, sanitation or proper nutrition. Many Africans died before even making it to North America.
Evaluate (to determine the significance, worth, or condition of usually by careful appraisal and study)
- the positive and negative impact exploration had on cultural groups.
- the Columbian Exchange and its cultural influence on the colonies and Europe.
- the impact disease had on the indigenous people and how Europe will respond to their loss of labor due to millions dying from disease.
Skills
Students will be able to…
Analyze (to examine critically, so as to bring out the essential elements)
- colonization on the
- the cultures and traditions that were traded between the colonist and indigenous people.
- the similarities and differences between the Columbian exchange and triangle trade
- the role religion played in interactions with indigenous people.
- the similarities and differences of the governing styles in the colonies.
- how cultural influences interactions between groups
- A need and desire for resources creates competition
- the location of European nations that participated in the Age of Colonization.
- how the Middle Passage allowed European powers justified their domination of people and places around the world.