The Columbian Exchange linked the world together. Where did it come from, and what was its impact?

Two giant networks in the Americas and Afro-Eurasia existed in the fourteenth century. The Columbian Exchange brought them together.

The connection of Afro-Eurasia with the Americas established the first truly global network, creating waves of change all over the world, but not with the same results for all.

Orient yourself in time and space as you begin Era 5, by using maps to make predictions about how the first transoceanic connections would reshape the world after 1492.

A full-color political map of the world in 1550 CE, highlighting the major states, communities, and cities you’ll learn about in WHP.

A black and white version of the world in 1550 CE, that can be cropped to specific regions and easily printed.

A full-color thematic map of Medieval Trade Routes in 1450 CE, meant to help you support, extend, and challenge the frame narratives.

An individualized tracker for new words encountered in Era 5. Add to it as the era progresses.

In Era 5, continue the routine of building a class word wall, an important visual cue and literacy support.

This vocab guide provides a summary of the key vocabulary for the unit.

Vocab cards for each of the key words in this era.

Here’s the new Era Problem! Respond to this based on what you currently know… don’t worry if it’s not much—you’re going to learn a lot more!

The past was not peaceful. Is there more violent conflict today than in the past? Is war becoming deadlier? The data is more complicated than you might think.

Students select their final project topic. Students identify a topic with world-historical significance that’s meaningful to them.

Revisit the Question Parsing Tool and improve your ability to figure out what you are being asked in writing prompts.

The Mongols started off as small, nomadic pastoral communities. United as an empire by Genghis Khan, they swiftly expanded and energized Eurasian trade and exchange.

Sorqoqtani Beki was one of many royal women whose actions and relationships shaped the Mongol empire, providing unity and later causing its division.

How did the Mongols create the largest empire in history? Use the Quick-Sourcing Tool to analyze the documents in this collection to find out.

Savage barbarians or the greatest empire-builders of all time? The Mongols were as interesting to their European neighbors in the thirteenth century as they are for students today.

Rashid al-Din was a Muslim intellectual whose history of the world showed the diversity of the peoples and ideas mixing in the Mongol Ilkhanate.

Rumi was a poet who believed that universal love was a path to God. He rejected divisions based on ethnicity and religion.

The Comanche Empire was formed by nomadic pastoralists indigenous to North America. They connected large territories into a thriving trade network—but was it really an empire?

The Mongols and Comanches did not have some of the features of many other powerful empires. But they did control large areas of land. How did they do it?

The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires ruled over large parts of Asia. These empires had similar origin, but they each developed unique political systems.

Should the Mongols and Comanches be considered “pastoral empires”? Time to make a claim!

A highly sophisticated and expansive commercial network developed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, which moved things, ideas, and germs throughout Afro-Eurasia.

Around 1250-1350, an archipelago of trade stretched across Afro-Eurasia. Nick and Trevor explore the role of the wool trade in this system and its impact on England.

Silk was the ultimate medieval cloth, and Song Dynasty China was its main producer. More than just clothing, it served as money, art, and symbol of imperial power

Zheng He was the great admiral of the Ming Dynasty. Were his expeditions peaceful trade voyages or threatening campaigns of conquest and imperialism?

Diverse indigenous communities thrived and had extensive networks of exchange across the Americas long before Europeans arrived in the New World in the 1490s.

Vibrant networks of exchange connected the islands of the Caribbean since c. 5000 BCE. So why do we usually only hear about this region starting in 1492 CE?

A triple alliance between Aztec city-states led to the formation of the Aztec Empire, with Tenochtitlan as its seat of power.

Macuilxochitl was a poetess and princess whose work is an important source about the Aztec state, warfare, and trade in the pre-Columbian era.

The Kingdom of Cusco brought other groups under its control and collected tribute, growing into a sophisticated empire with millions of residents.

Time to write home! Craft a postcard from the perspective of a someone who traveled the world in the thirteenth or fourteenth century.

Time to write home! Craft a postcard from the perspective of a someone who traveled the world in the thirteenth or fourteenth century.

This activity allows students to see how networks of exchange can be both beneficial and detrimental to society.

One of the biggest epidemics in world history was started by one tiny animal. It spread through trade networks across large portions of Afro-Eurasia.

How has our understanding of the Black Death changed over time? Use the primary and secondary sources in this collection to find out!

The primary and secondary sources in this collection help us understand the origins and spread of the Black Death.

Narratives of the Renaissance often portray its cultural achievements as uniquely European. Let’s evaluate these narratives and look for global connections in Renaissance art.

In this activity, students are asked to take context clues to help them figure out a vocabulary word from this era in order to strengthen their understanding.

This vocab guide provides a summary of the key vocabulary for the unit.

Vocab cards for each of the key words in this era.

Disease has always existed in human history—and may have helped define it. John Green explores the world historical effects of disease, asking: Who is really in charge?

Whether in poetry, or history, it’s pretty amazing how a change in perspective can give you an entirely different view.

After 1500, a biological exchange between the Old and New Worlds transformed global populations, trade networks, cultures, and environments.

Christopher Columbus’s arrival in North America led to a system of exchange that fundamentally altered the environment, economic systems, and culture across the world.

How did the Columbian Exchange impact the food we eat? Create a menu that features both pre- and post-Columbian Exchange items.

The Columbian Exchange changed the face of the world as diseases, animals, plants, and people moved across continents and dramatically remade the societies they reached.

Increased global networks had some benefits, but the Atlantic slaving system and the sharp decline in indigenous populations were among the devastating effects of this period.

People moved across the Atlantic for multiple reasons, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Starting in the late fifteenth century, the population of the Americas grew rapidly.

Though the facts of her life are disputed, Amonute was an important figure in the relationship between the Powhatan people and English settlers in Virginia.

After Spanish conquistadors sacked the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, they tried to convert Mexico City’s indigenous people to a new religion. Results were mixed.

What's the gist? What info is here and why does it matter? Use Three Close Reads to dive into the article!

How and why did beliefs systems change from c. 1450 to 1750? Use the Quick-Sourcing Tool to assess the primary sources in this collection to find out!

Why did belief systems change during the period from 1450 to 1750? The primary sources in this collection will help you understand this period of sectarian struggles.

These sixteenth-century documents describe the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Why did they do it? How did indigenous peoples respond?

In this activity, students will begin to understand how the world went from where it was in 1750 to how it is today.

The transatlantic slave trade was a major economic development. But it depended on the horrific treatment of enslaved humans on an unprecedented scale.

How did the Atlantic slave trade impact Africa? We can study a smaller region to try to determine bigger answers.

How did people experience and react to their situation in the transatlantic slave trade? Use the Quick-Sourcing Tool to analyze the documents in this collection to find out.

Over 12 million people were abducted from Africa and transported across the Atlantic Ocean. These first-hand accounts show the horrors of the journey and ways people resisted.

Despite being enslaved and forcibly transported to the Americas and Europe, West African healer Domingos Álvares continued to treat others, building community and networks.

Slavery in the Americas is the subject of many histories. In this article, we take time to absorb the disturbing fact that it was ever legal to “own” a person.

What were the motives that created the Atlantic slaving and plantation systems? How did people try to justify its terrors in an era of “Enlightenment”?

How has your understanding changed since the beginning of the era? Time to revisit the EP Notebook!

Continue developing your understanding of CCOT, this time looking at the changes and continuities which occurred in Era 5.

Europeans combined and built on Afro-Eurasian ideas about credit, interest, and banking to help organize big trading voyages. This led to the emergence of capitalism.

What's the gist? What info is here and why does it matter? Use Three Close Reads to dive into the article!

You’ve learned a lot since Era 1! How has your understanding of the frames changed?

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a woman that went on to become a prolific writer, despite the disadvantages that came along with being a woman in colonial New Spain (Mexico).

The Spanish went looking for gold in the Americas, but they actually found silver. Unfortunately, all that silver led to death, inflation, and other not-so-good things.

For a time, the Dutch East India company dominated the spice trade in southeast Asia, using some clever financial innovations. But was this capitalism or something else?

Yasuke was an East African man who, for a brief period, became a powerful samurai in Japan during an era of intensifying exchange across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Slaving and slavery existed alongside capitalism. But were they rival economic systems, or did they support each other?

It’s time to review the map predictions you made at the beginning of the era, as you examine a series of new maps to help you respond to the era problem.

A full-color political map of the world in 1550 CE, highlighting the major states, communities, and cities you’ll learn about in WHP.

A full-color political map of the world in 1750 CE, highlighting the major states, communities, and cities you’ll learn about in WHP.

A full-color thematic map of the Silver Trade and Transoceanic Voyages in 1550 CE, meant to help you support, extend, and challenge the frame narratives.

Yes, we are returning to the Claim and Focus row, and don’t argue about it. Wait… DO argue! Or at least figure out how well this writer constructed their argument.

It’s time to use Score! Get automated feedback as you evaluate the extent to which the Columbian Exchange transformed the Americas from c. 1500 to 1750 CE.

These DBQ writing samples provide example essays to help support writing instruction in different ways—use as you see fit in your classroom!

The age of oceanic exploration was made possible when technologies and ideas from across Afro-Eurasia came together in fifteenth century Europe.

Scholars explaining the roots of the American Revolution often look to centuries of English democratic traditions. Are they right?

Being a great sailor requires a lot of knowledge, and the greatest among them relied heavily on the collective learning that made crossing the vast Indian Ocean possible.