Unit 3: Transoceanic Connections

Unit 3 explores how belief systems, states, and exchange shaped Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to 1450 CE. It shows how agrarian states expanded, how rulers gained and kept power, and how migration and trade reshaped societies. Students examine the spread of technology, the role of religion, and the rise and fall of empires. Articles and videos connect Mongol rule, state growth, and exchange networks to political, economic, and cultural change.

The unit examines how agrarian states changed as political systems evolved and empires expanded in an interconnected world.
The learning objectives focus on belief systems, state formation, exchange networks, and their technological and environmental effects.
The unit investigates how rulers legitimated, consolidated, and maintained power through innovations and continuities in governance.
The unit emphasizes that migration and exchange transformed the economics, politics, and culture of Afro-Eurasia.
Teaching tools connect religions, Mongol rule, state growth, and trade networks to major Afro-Eurasian developments before 1450.

1450 – 1750 CE

Teaching Tools

After 1492, transoceanic voyages linked the hemispheres in sustained connection for the first time, setting the stage for an exchange that forever changed lives in the Old World and the New.

Lesson 3.1

Transoceanic Connections

In the sixteenth century, transoceanic connections linked continents as the first truly global economy began to emerge and transform the world.

Early Modern Empires

Lesson 3.2

Land-Based Empires

Land-based empires controlled vast regions of Afro-Eurasia from 1450 to 1750. The empires in this lesson used a variety of strategies to rule over diverse peoples. How did they ensure that their subjects obeyed the empire’s rules?

Lesson 3.3

Age of Exploration

Though Europeans had traveled by sea to the Americas centuries earlier, during this period their reach expanded into maritime empires. In this lesson, we will explore the beginnings of the European empires that cemented transoceanic connections.

European Empires in the Americas

Lesson 3.4

Conquest

The arrival of Europeans in the Americas brought grim tidings for Indigenous populations. The European invasion killed tens of millions of people through war and disease. Indigenous people resisted colonization in every region of the Americas.

Lesson 3.5

The Columbian Exchange

After 1492, oceanic empires and transoceanic trade moved plants, animals, people, and disease to new places. This exchange transformed populations, food, culture, and social structures in every society on Earth.

Lesson 3.6

The Transatlantic Slave Trade

For 400 years, over 12 million people were enslaved and forcibly transported to the Americas, where they worked in horrific conditions. Their labor enriched European empires and settler colonies.

The First Global Economy

Lesson 3.7

The Plantation System

Slavery was not a new idea, but the plantation system that flourished in the Americas during this period was. This system made some people very wealthy, and it empowered empires and merchants at the expense of millions of lives.

Lesson 3.8

Transoceanic Migration

Migration is fundamental to human history. During this period, waves of people spread to new shores. Many moved seeking the opportunity for new connections, while millions of others were forced from their homes.

Lesson 3.9

The Business of Empire

Oceanic empires and capitalism emerged together, and they each supported the other. Learn how the emergence of the first global economy depended on and reinforced the rule of European empires.

Lesson 3.10

The Scientific Revolution

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, people started to question long-standing beliefs about the planets, nature, and the human body. Ancient theories that people had believed for centuries about the movement of planets and the causes of disease were soon overthrown. Were these new ways of thinking really revolutionary?

Teaching This Unit

Unit 3 Guide

Everything you need to know about Unit 3.

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