Old ideas like credit got a reboot in this era. Along with some other financial innovations, credit really changed the way the European economy worked. Building on ideas from the Islamic world and India, Europeans created new economic systems which stimulated efficient trade. These systems helped Europeans run new empires pretty much as businesses, which contributed to the rise of capitalism, the middle class, and even nationalism.

This article shows how some economic changes in Eurasia led to global connections—and major global changes, which will help you consider the Era 5 Problem: How did the first ongoing global connections among the hemispheres promote change both globally and regionally? It gives you important information about the links between capitalism and imperialism, which you’ll need to understand before you move on to other material in this lesson and in Era 6. This information will also equip you to test the claims made in the production and distribution frame narrative.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. In what ways was the European use of credit in this period a continuation of older practices? In what ways was it a change?
2. What was the impact of Fibonacci’s book, according to the author?
3. Why was a bill of exchange useful?
4. What financial innovation did the British East India Company and Dutch East India Company rely on?
5. What was the economic role of colonies, for Europeans in this era?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following question:

1. Was the development of the system of capitalism, in this era, an example of innovation (invention), or diffusion (the spread of ideas), or both? What evidence supports your response?

Working with frames allows you to understand how and why people lived the way they did throughout history. They help you recognize how communities (such as societies and nations); networks (such as those for trade and exchange); and the production and distribution of goods, impacted, and still impact, people in different parts of the world. Viewing history through frames gives us a usable knowledge of history that allows us to make sense of the world today and think critically about the future. The process of depicting frames by drawing them—mixing language with imagery—will make the information more memorable.

In this activity, you will draw the course frames, much like you did earlier in the course. However, instead of coming up with your own ideas about each of the frames, you will draw them according to the frame narratives at this point in the course. This will not only help you gain a sense of your understanding of the frames, but will also give you a chance to review what you’ve already learned, which will help you remember all that stuff!

Don’t worry about your drawing skills—you don’t have to be an artist to complete this activity. However, try to use more pictures than words. And feel free to be creative! Here are the criteria:

• Draw a representation of community based on the content of this era. Be sure to label that area of the picture with “community.”
• Draw a representation of production and distribution based on the content of this era. Be sure to label that area of the drawing with “P&D.”
• Finally, draw the networks between communities (people, states, empires, and so on) based on the content of this era.
• Where possible, use arrows and other lines to show movement. This will largely apply to P&D and networks.

Once you’re done, be ready to share your drawings and thinking behind them with your class. Was your approach the same as your classmates? Or did you think about the frames differently? Frames are no different from anything else we study in history—there can be many perspectives on the same topic.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a woman born of mixed heritage in what was then the colony of New Spain (Mexico). She went on to write poems, songs, letters, and plays, many of which were widely-read, despite not being allowed a formal education as a young girl. Although she was later censored by the church, her writings contributed to changing ideas in Europe in this era.

This biography will provide you with a different viewpoint from which to consider the Era 5 question: How did the first ongoing connections between the hemispheres promote change both globally and regionally? Sor Juana’s story, when looked at through the networks frame, will help you to formulate ideas about how new beliefs emerged and spread around the world. Juana’s story will also help you evaluate narratives about the roles of women in different communities.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads – Graphic Histories worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. When and where was Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz born?
2. When Juana was a young girl, what did she first learn?
3. Where was Juana working and living when she was seventeen years old? What controversial writing did she complete at this time?
4. What decision did Juana make so that she could continue studying? How did this decision cause problems for her later?
5. How does the artwork help us to understand the unique circumstances that shaped Juana’s unique life, particularly her dual heritage?

Evaluating and Corroborating

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in the course.

1. What evidence does Sor Juana’s biography provide about people’s lived in the colonial Americas in this period?How does this evidence support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about the impact of the Columbian Exchange in this region?
2. Compare and contrast Sor Juana’s biography with that of Domingos Álvares, also in the colonial Americas. In what ways were their lives similar? In what ways were they different?What accounts for those similarities and differences?

The tiny country of Spain did some things that had global effects—many of which were not so positive. This video explores Spanish conquest and silver extraction in the Americas, showing how aspects of Aztec and Incan society set the stage for what would come. It then takes us to other places, like China, where silver flowed. And as it turned out, where silver flowed, problems were sure to follow.

This video highlights the before-and-after of Spanish imperialism in the Americas, helping you see the major shifts that happened as a result of the first ongoing global connections. This is crucial for thinking about the Era 5 Problem: How did the first ongoing global connections among the hemispheres promote change both globally and regionally? The video will give you evidence to answer this question at regional and global scales, through a focus on labor, taxation, and money. You can also use this evidence to test the claims made in the production and distribution frame narrative.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. What are some aspects of Inca society that strengthened the Empire?
2. What was the mit’a system? How did the Spanish change this system?
3. What resource did the Spanish find instead of gold, and how did they extract this resource?
4. What were the economic results of Spanish silver mining in the Americas?
5. What other country had a problem with inflation? How did they try to deal with it, and were they successful?
6. What were some effects of China’s new tax structure in the sixteenth century?
7. What were the overall global effects of Spanish silver mining?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. John Green argues that Spanish silver mining had a huge impact that was both global and long-lasting. He claims that “this process led to the life that you have today, one where I can teach you history through the magic of the Internet.” Is his argument convincing? What other sources or facts support, extend, or challenge his argument?

Trade was pretty hot in southeast Asia, and the Dutch wanted a piece of the action. They formed the VOC, also known as the Dutch East India company, which became a monopoly with lots of government support. Dutch trade flourished, partly because the Dutch used many new economic tools. The VOC went on to make a lot of money, mostly off of spices, but with not without some major human costs, like the use of violence and slavery. Eventually the VOC’s heyday came to an end, and the British stepped in as the more powerful trading empire.

This video builds on what you learned in the “Overview of New Economic Systems” article by showing a specific case study of a joint-stock company: the Dutch East India company. You can use the evidence and narratives from this video to evaluate the production and distribution frame narrative. It also brings up important questions about whether these economic systems are moral or not.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. Why did the Dutch enter into trade in southeast Asia?
2. What was the VOC and why was it formed? What powers did it have?
3. How did low interest rates help the Dutch?
4. Why was it easy for Dutch citizens to invest?
5. What were some important financial technologies used by the Dutch?
6. What key advantage did the VOC have over British companies?
7. How did the Dutch control trade in Southeast Asia?
8. What caused the VOC to decline and eventually go bankrupt?
9. Why isn’t the VOC a good example of modern free market capitalism, according to John Green?

Evaluating and Corroborating

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. Does the example of the VOC support or contradict the argument, made elsewhere in this unit, that capitalism was the main system supporting European overseas trade in this period? Why?
2. John Green closes the video by claiming that, “the VOC provides a chilling example of what has happened in the past when corporations become more powerful than states.” Is this convincing? What other sources or facts support, extend, or challenge this assertion?

Records of Yasuke’s life exist only for a four-year period in the sixteenth century. We know little about his life beyond these four years. But it was an extraordinary four years. He traveled with Jesuit missionaries to Japan. He became perhaps the first foreigner—and the first African—to gain the rank of samurai. He befriended the most powerful daimyo in Japan, fighting in several important battles. After his lord committed ritual suicide to escape capture, Yasuke was sent back to the Jesuits and once again fades from the historical record.

Sometimes, it seems as if only Europeans were moving around the oceans of the early modern period. But in fact, the sea was full of travelers from Africa, Asia, Polynesia, and the Americas. In general, however, we don’t hear about these people—or even about average European sailors—except where they cross paths with important people. The biography of Yasuke challenges these typical narratives and reveals how much influence an individual can exert on events given the right circumstances. What little we know of Yasuke’s life, we know because of his relationship with an important leader, Oda Nobunaga.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Where was Yasuke likely from and how did he get to Japan?
2. What was Yasuke’s relationship with Oda Nobunaga?
3. What happened to Yasuke after Oda Nobunaga was killed?
4. What else do we know about Yasuke?
5. How does the artist’s depiction of Yasuke change across the page?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. How does this biography of Yasuke support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about oceanic connections and networks in this period?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

By the end of Era 5, capitalism was on its way to becoming the economic system that dominated the global economy. However, this was also the era that brought into existence the Atlantic slave trade and plantation slavery in the Americas. Both systems would become dominant in the next era—the long nineteenth century. How did these two systems—slavery and capitalism—coexist? Did capitalism help lead to the abolition of slavery? Or did slavery help capitalism to spread? This article presents contrasting views on these questions.

The Era Problem for this era asks you to explore how new interconnections promoted change. The Atlantic slaving system and the growth of capitalism were two of the most transformative events in this era. But how were they related to each other? This article explores the relationship between these two trends. It will help you respond to the era question and evaluate the way in which the production and distribution frame narrative depicts rise of capitalism and its impact.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Why does the author argue that the relationship between capitalism and slavery has meaning today?
2. Why, according to some theories cited by the author, does capitalism theoretically promote free rather than enslaved labor?
3. What evidence, from the United States, is cited to support the argument that enslaved labor was an inefficient system for the owners of businesses?
4. How does the author connect abolitionism to industrialists?
5. What evidence does the author present that the Atlantic slave trade may have helped to stimulate industrialization and capitalism?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. One side of the debate in this article argues that capitalism and slavery were tied together in this era. But in the era following this one, slavery was abolished, while capitalism continued to grow. Does this point provide evidence that the two were not really related to each other? Why or why not?
2. This article makes some surprising connections between slavery and capitalism. What are some ways that capitalism influences your daily life?

This activity will provide additional evidence to help you respond to the Era Problem: How did the first ongoing connections among the hemispheres promote change both globally and regionally? In this activity, you will look back on what you’ve learned during this unit by comparing two political maps. And you’ll review your predictions about the changes in long-distance trade and empires from the Era 5 Part 1 activity. Finally, you’ll examine a map showing transoceanic voyages and the silver trade as you discuss how these voyages and trade reshaped the world.

This activity begins with an identification opening in which you identify 10 political communities in the year 1750 CE. Next, you’ll compare the maps of political communities in 1550 and 1750 CE as you evaluate how communities changed and stayed the same over this 200-year period after the first transoceanic connections. Finally, you will compare your predictions from the Part 1 activity to a map of the silver trade and transoceanic voyages and write a response to a prompt about how these connections transformed economic systems and societies.

Step 1

Identify the political communities associated with the numbers on the black-and-white map of the world in 1750 CE and record your answers on the worksheet. If applicable, indicate which empire controlled the territory.

Step 2

In small groups, examine the 1750 Political Map alongside the 1550 Political Map that you saw in the Part 1 map activity at the start of the unit. Compare these two maps and identify three significant changes and continuities between the two.

Step 3

Remaining in small groups, open and review the Silver Trade and Transoceanic Voyages Thematic Map. Review the predictions you made in the Part 1 map activity for this unit. What did you get right? What did you miss? Finally, prepare a short paragraph or bullet list in response to this prompt:

The first sustained transoceanic connections that you’ve learned about in this unit reshaped life on Earth. Using the maps you encountered in this unit as evidence, explain one way that transoceanic connections transformed long-distance trade and one way that these connections reshaped one political community of your choice.

Download the Sentence Starters worksheet (optional)

In this writing activity, you’ll circle back to the first row of the WHP Writing Rubric: Claim and Focus. You’ll progress from analyzing an essay for its major claim and focus, to identifying and revising these elements in a student-written essay. The move from analysis to application should help you advance your claim-making skills so you can generate your own well-crafted thesis statements and claims. This is an important skill to practice—a clear thesis statement can be thought of as the backbone of a well-written essay.

It’s another writing activity! And although you’ve done it before, you are once again going to take a look at claim and focus in a student-written essay. However, this time you’ll get an essay that needs some improvement.

With your class, first review what makes a claim good and an essay focused. Then, get ready to read an essay that didn’t exactly get high marks for claim and focus. Your job is to revise and improve upon claim and focus in the essay. Take out the Writing – Claim and Focus Part 2 worksheet and the WHP Writing Rubric for reference and follow the directions. Your teacher may also hand out a Sentence Starters Worksheet to give you some ideas about how you might revise some of the writing in this essay.

First, locate the major claim/thesis statement in the essay, then revise it. Next, look for focus in the essay, and then revise at least two sentences where the focus could be improved. It’s important to follow the instructions in order, since it will be difficult to improve the focus without a clear and convincing major claim to connect to. Keep in mind that improving focus might mean adding more text and not just revising what is there.

Finally, look for one counterclaim in the article. You didn’t do this before, but it is part of claim and focus as described in the rubric: “The essay maintains a strong focus on defending a directly stated position, using the whole essay to support and develop the claim and counterclaims while thoroughly addressing the demands of the prompt.” Although a counterclaim doesn’t support the claim, it’s an important addition to essays because it does recognize when something deviates from a trend and anticipates where a reader might push back on the major claim.

DBQ Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which the Columbian Exchange transformed the Americas from c. 1500 to 1750 CE.

Have the Comparison, CCOT, and Causation tools available (find all resources on the Student Resources page)

This DBQ is another opportunity to get a sense of your progress in developing your historical thinking and writing skills. Additionally, writing DBQs will help prepare you to be successful on the written portion of standardized tests.

Day 1

It’s time for another DBQ. This time, you’ll be thinking about the Columbian Exchange. The DBQ prompt is: Evaluate the extent to which the Columbian Exchange transformed the Americas from c. 1500 to 1750 CE. Start out by using the Question Parsing Tool to help you figure out what this question is really asking, so you can write an appropriate response.

Take out the Columbian Exchange DBQ and skim the documents quickly. Then, pick the thinking tool you want to use to help you analyze the documents (comparison, causation, or CCOT). Once you’ve picked a tool, read each document a bit more closely and write down or underline the information you think you might use in your essay, along with any additional sourcing you have time for. Write your ideas on your chosen tool as you work through the documents.

Next, create a major claim or thesis statement that responds to the prompt. The notes you have taken should help you form a defensible thesis statement.

Finally, it’s time to contextualize. As you likely know, all historical essays require this. If needed, you can use the Contextualization Tool to help you decide what to include.

Day 2

This second day is your writing day. Feel free to use your tools and notes from any prewriting work you completed as you craft your essay response. Make sure you have a copy of the WHP Writing Rubric available to remind you of what is important to include in your essay. And don’t forget to contextualize: Think of the entire time period, not just the time immediately preceding the historical event or process you are writing about. Your teacher will give you a time limit for completing your five- to six-paragraph essay responding to the DBQ.

In order to improve your writing skills, it is important to read examples—both good and bad—written by other people. Reviewing writing samples will help you develop and practice your own skills in order to better understand what makes for a strong essay.

Your teacher will provide sample essays for this era’s DBQ prompt and provide instructions for how you will use them to refine your writing skills. Whether you’re working with a high-level example or improving on a not-so-great essay, we recommend having the WHP Writing Rubric on hand to help better understand how you can improve your own writing. As you work to identify and improve upon aspects of a sample essay, you’ll also be developing your own historical writing skills!