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Changing Social Hierarchies from 1450 to 1750 CE

Driving Question: In what ways have social roles and traditions persisted or transformed over time?

The new age of global exchange networks not only had a massive impact on the global economy and environment, it also dramatically altered social interactions and organizations in states all around the world. Migration, whether voluntary or involuntary, also contributed to changing the composition of populations in various regions, which further strained the organization of different states. In this lesson, you will learn how states reacted to these changes in a variety of different ways.

Learning Objectives

  1. Explain how social categories, roles, and practices have been maintained or changed over time.
  2. Assess how transatlantic migration patterns changed from c. 1450 to 1750.
  3. Analyze primary source documents to assess changes and continuities in labor and social hierarchy from c. 1450 to 1750.
  4. Evaluate the changes and continuities to economic and labor systems as new transoceanic empires expanded.
STEP 1

Opener: Changing Social Hierarchies

STEP 2

Source Collection: Labor and Social Hierarchy c. 1450–1750 CE

Primary source documents can give us insight into what really happened in history. In this exercise, you will use such documents to examine the changes in labor and social hierarchies from 1450-1750. As always, use the Quick-Sourcing Tool to help you.

STEP 3

Transatlantic Migration Patterns

The first movements of large groups of people across the Atlantic Ocean had numerous causes. Whatever the causes, migration from Africa and Eurasia to the New World increased significantly beginning in the late fifteenth century.

STEP 4

Tracking Changes and Continuities

STEP 5

Closer: Changing Social Hierarchies

You have made predictions about what you might encounter in these units, as well as categorized information by themes. It’s time to see if your predictions were right using the Themes Notebook.