8.3 - Commerce & Collective Learning

Lesson Purpose

Evading bandits through mountain passes, leading a caravan of yaks carrying silk and goods, sailing the trade winds off the Indian coastline - these are a few things you might have done as a trader in the age of agrarian civilisations. Systems of exchange and trade between large agrarian civilisations facilitated the transfer of goods from one civilisation to the next, but they also helped share the world's religions, ideas, innovations, diseases, and people. While each world zone had its own trade routes, none were as vast and intense as the Silk Road. This large system of exchange and trade, initially designed for commerce, dispersed goods and ideas throughout Afro-Eurasia, and paved the way for a substantial increase in both commerce and collective learning.

The outcomes of this lesson are: 1.) To investigate the implications of interconnected societies and regions by looking at how commerce has spread; 2.) To explain how new networks of exchange accelerated collective learning and innovation.

Activity 1 - Quick Poll: Has the Scientific Revolution Ended?

Activity Objectives
In this lesson, you will start thinking about how interconnectedness influenced the spread of ideas, and how this brought about the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. These events took place hundreds of years ago but the question of whether or not the Scientific Revolution has ended is up for debate. This quick poll asks you for your initial thoughts as an entrée into this topic.

Activity Tasks

Look at the following questions and give a yes/no answer on your worksheets as you will refer back to your initial thinking later in the lesson:
1. Has the Scientific Revolution ended?
2. Did the Scientific Revolution start at the same time as global interconnectedness?
3. Will the Scientific Revolution ever end?
4. What disciplines (for example, Big History, history, technology) count as science?

Activity 2 - The Driving Question Notebook

Activity Objectives
You will now use the information you’ve learned about interconnection to answer the driving question using specific evidence from the content in the unit. This will improve your use of evidence for informal writing.

Activity Tasks

Complete columns 2 and 3 of the Driving Question Notebook for this unit.
Look back over the content covered as well as any additional information you have come across, and write down any quotes or evidence that provide new insights into the driving question for Unit 8: 'What are the positive and negative impacts of interconnection?'

Activity 3 - Jacqueline Howard Presents: The History of Money

Activity Objectives
The development of money has had a huge impact on societies, and is a great example of how humans evolve socially. In this video, you will learn about how and why the literal trading of this for that has been virtually replaced by the abstract notion of money.

Activity Tasks

Watch the video and try to answer these questions:
1. 0:58 Prior to money, what system of exchange was used to obtain necessary goods?
2. 1:13 What were some of the first items to be bartered in early agricultural societies?
3. 1:23 Why did bartering societies move toward systems of money?
4. 2:12 What were some of the earliest forms of money?
5. 2:46 When and where did paper money originate?
6. 3:37 What brought about the use of credit as a system of monetary exchange?
7. 4:01 What is the Gold Standard System?
8. 4:23 The US dollar is fiat money. What does this mean?
9. Discuss - What do you foresee for the future of paper money. Will it ever go away completely? If it does, can you envision any problems that might arise in a world where no real money ever changes hands?

Prior to the existence of money, agricultural societies operated under systems of barter. Later, value was given to shells and to metals such as copper, silver, bronze, and gold, as coins and then paper became currency. The idea of credit developed during the Age of Exploration and evolved into the Gold Standard System and then modern systems, in which monetary transfers are primarily electronic.

Activity 4 - "One Lump or Two? The Development of a Global Economy"

Both the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific trade routes contributed to the development of a global economy that still exists in today’s world. Initially, Europeans were the chief controllers of this trade, even though they were not the producers of most of the goods being traded. Eventually, Asia was able to have a stake in these trade routes, but more as suppliers of goods rather than traders.

Activity Objectives
In this article, networks of trade from the Far East to the Mediterranean are examined. While you have learned a lot about interconnection and trade networks from the Columbian Exchange lesson, you did not learn about the economic systems that were created to support these developments or the specifics of certain kinds of trade. Understanding these systems helps us understand how Europe became the centre of trading networks, and provides insight into the widespread development of capitalism.

Activity Tasks

Read the article "One Lump or Two?" and try to answer these questions:
1. Why was trade with Asia severely limited in the early sixteenth century?
2. What were the goods that went from the New World to Spain from 1493-1550?
3. How do historians know what goods were being traded during this time?
4. Why is it significant that mercury was being sent to the New World?
5. What was the trans-Pacific trade, and who controlled this trade?
6. Why was silver eventually devalued over the world, and how did gold not get devalued?
7. Who was the original European importer of tea and how did the British end up taking that over?
8. Why was beaver the most valuable fur in the fur trade, who had access to this type of fur, and what is our evidence for knowing this?
9. Discuss - How did the British and Europeans manage to place themselves at the center of trade networks even though they were not producing most of the goods being made? What are some of the impacts of this that can still be seen in the world today?

Activity 5 - Systems of Exchange and Trade

Activity Objectives
In this video you will learn about the important connection between how trade and transportations systems affected collective learning and the spread of goods, ideas, and diseases.

Activity Tasks

Watch the video and try to answer these questions:
1. 1:19 What made the explosion of trade possible?
2. 2:25 What led to the initial demand that drove the creation of the Silk Road?
3. 3:22 What ended the Silk Road era?
4. Discuss - Why was a stable empire a necessity for trade to flourish during antiquity?

Activity 6 - Benjamin Banneker: Science in Adversity

Activity Objectives
This reading helps you to gain an understanding of the life and accomplishments of one of the first African-American scientists, Benjamin Banneker.

Activity Tasks

Read the article "Benjamin Banneker: Science in Adversity" and try to answer these questions:
1. What does the story of Molly and Banneker tell us about the time in which they lived, and how the inequalities of the period affected collective learning?
2. What was Banneker’s greatest contribution to science?
3. Explain Banneker’s exchange of letters with Thomas Jefferson. What arguments did Banneker use to try to convince Jefferson he was wrong?
4. How did Banneker’s circumstances make it difficult for him to contribute to the pool of human knowledge?
5. What were some of the unique ways in which Banneker went about acquiring knowledge and doing studies?
6. Discuss - Benjamin Banneker, his parents, and his grandparents are proof that the collective learning of humanity is robbed of the contribution of many gifted people when society succumbs to corruption, prejudice, and intolerance. Can you think of other cultures that are currently in the state that colonial America was in during the time of Benjamin Banneker, for example, through apartheid or gender discrimination?

Activity 7 - "The First Silk Roads"

Activity Objectives
It’s important for you to learn that exchange networks linked diverse cultures and moved products as well as ideas and diseases. One of the first major exchange networks was the linking of Afro-Eurasia via the Silk Roads.

Activity Tasks

Read the article "The First Silk Roads" and try to answer these questions:
1. Why was the linking of different civilizations through networks of exchange and trade an important process?
2. What characteristics were important for the smooth operation of the Silk Road and which empires maintained these characteristics?
3. What are some of the goods that were in high demand and traded throughout the Afro-Eurasian world zone?
4. What innovations in transportation technology made trade on the Silk Road possible?
5. Why did the Silk Road decline after the third century CE?
6. Why did the Silk Roads revive after the seventh century CE?
7. What effect did the Silk Roads and other networks of exchange and trade have on the development and power of the four world zones?
8. Discuss - The Silk Roads allowed for the exchange of goods, ideas, and diseases across Afro-Eurasia. How would this be detrimental to the culture and civilizations in other world zones?

Activity 8 - "Lost on the Silk Road"

Activity Objectives
By now, you know about how the Silk Roads connected cultures and allowed for the exchange of goods and ideas; however, do you know how long and dangerous these roads could be? Peter Stark and his wife travelled along these roads to find out what obstacles early traders might have encountered.

Activity Tasks

Read the article "Lost on the Silk Road" and try to answer these questions:
1. What are some of the challenges that Stark and his wife face throughout the story?
2. How do you think traders, leading yaks loaded down with 300 pounds of goods, would have met these challenges?
3. According to Stark, what were some of the goods, both material and nonmaterial, that were traded back and forth on the Silk Road?
4. Discuss - Travel and trade along the Silk Road was dangerous. What types of goods were often traded along these routes and why?

Activity 9 - A Curious Case: African Agrarianism

Activity Objectives
This reading helps you to gain an understanding of the delayed start of agriculture in Central and South Africa and the overarching effects of that delay.

Activity Tasks

Read the article "A Curious Case: African Agrarianism" and try to answer these questions:
1. Why do states often take so long to form after the adoption of agriculture?
2. What were some of the benefits of foraging? Why did some groups of people remain foragers far longer than others?
3. What are some of the characteristics of complex agricultural societies?
4. What implications did getting a “late” start in agriculture have for Central and South African societies?
5. Discuss - The end of this article debates whether or not, in the big picture of human history, the people of Central and South Africa were better off for the relatively late arrival of agriculture to their region, or if it has left them at a disadvantage moving forward. Where do you fall in this debate?

Activity 10 - Personal Supply Chain

Activity Objectives
Improvements in travel and communication over the last 500 years have led to the interconnection of the four world zones, but what does this mean for us today? You will research an item you use every day in order to understand how this item is made, how long it takes to travel to the area where you live, and how much energy is needed in this process.

Activity Tasks

Choose an item that you use in your daily lives. Using the internet (and these research tips!), research the supply chain of that item. Record your research in the table and map on this worksheet, remembering to answer these questions:
1. What are the raw materials needed for this product? Where are they found?
2. What are the steps involved in making this product? Where does each step in the production take place?
3. What energy is needed to produce this item? Where does that energy come from?
4. What kind of transportation, if any, is needed at each stage of the production process, including getting the finished product to you?
When you have finished, swap your research sheet with a partner and examine their work. Now discuss these questions:
1. What is the most surprising discovery you made in your research?
2. What is the most surprising discovery you see in the work of your classmates?
3. What does this tell you about the importance of interconnection today?

Activity 11 - Little Big History Final Project

Activity Objectives
This is the last structured Little Big History activity before the final presentations. It’s important for you to work through the activity in order to narrow down the subject of your paper and to choose how you would like to present it.

Activity Tasks

For your final Little Big History Project, you must complete a written report of 1,500-2,000 words long AND give either a presentation OR create a video that presents your findings in a creative and fun way. Remember, you LBH project must research the history of an object or commodity and:
1. Capture change over time and must include at least three thresholds of increasing complexity, one of which must be before humans.
2. Include at least three approaches to knowledge, such as geology, cosmology, paleontology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, and so on. One of the approaches to knowledge must be history.
The Written Report - will be marked out of 20 according to the BHP writing rubric on this page. You have already begun to research your object/commodity from the biography task from Lesson 7.0 (Activity 9) and you should have already confirmed a research question for its title from Lesson 7.2 (Activity 8). Use this checklist to help you research and complete your final written report which should include:
1. Research Question - The research question about your object/commodity should be clear and related to your thesis
2. Inclusion of Thresholds - You have meaningfully included and researched three thresholds in your report.
3. Inclusion of Scientific Perspectives - You have meaningfully included three scientific perspectives in your report.
4. Annotated Sources - You have listed at least 5 sources in your bibliography with annotations on their relevance.
5. Clear Connections - You have identified and explained clear connections among the sources and across various thresholds, including scientific perspectives
The Presentation - the final presentation could be delivered as a PowerPoint or Prezi lecture or alternatively you could create your own documentary video. The presentation should present the findings of your research report in a fun and creative way. It will be marked out of 20 according to the presentation rubric on this page. The final presentation should include the following:
1. Introduction - A short introduction or framing that uses introduces the research question and sets out your findings.
2. Inclusion of Thresholds - You meaningfully included three thresholds when explaining the history of your object.
3. Inclusion of Scientific Perspectives - You meaningfully included three scientific perspectives that shed light on your object.
4. Clear Connections - You've identified and explained clear connections across thresholds, including scientific perspectives.
5. Creative and Fun - Be as creative as possible and make this presentation fun!
6. General Requirements - Polished and well thought out.

Activity 12 - "She Blinded me with Science"

As the world became interconnected through increased trade routes, collective learning accelerated due to the interconnectedness of people and ideas. Through this spread of ideas, modern science emerged, leading to the scientific methods that we still use in today’s world.

Activity Objectives
In this article, you will get a historian’s account of how she examined the birth of modern day science and the European Scientific Revolution. This journal entry gives you another window into how historians draw conclusions about the past, which should help you when drawing their own conclusions about history. In addition, thinking about the progression of collective learning in terms of the birth of modern science adds to your understanding of the development of science in human history.

Activity Tasks

Read the article "She Blinded me with Science" and try to answer these questions:
1. What are David Christian’s rules of collective learning?
2. How did Europeans have an advantage in the sixteenth century when it came to new knowledge?
3. What are the steps that made the “Scientific Revolution” more of a revolution of thought processes rather than just a discovery of more scientific information?
4. How do the excerpts from Copernicus’s “The Earth Moves” reflect the steps of the scientific process?
5. What technique, which is now the gold standard for scientific proof, did Redi use to help prove that worms do not come from decaying bodies?
6. How did scientists such as Copernicus and Redi help usher in the Age of Enlightenment?
7. Discuss - Does the author’s method of drawing conclusions about history mimic the scientific method that she discusses in the article? How is her historical method the same as the scientific method, and how is it different?

Activity 13 - Debate: Has the Scientific Revolution Ended?

Activity Objectives
In this activity, you will be asked to think about whether or not the scientific revolution has ever ended. Thinking about the progress of science prior to the Age of Enlightenment and the progress since gets you considering what counts as science, what makes a revolution, and if it’s possible for a revolution to go on for over 300 years. In addition, this debate compels you to reflect on what is currently happening in science, which helps you see how you are a part of historical narratives.

Activity Tasks

Divide into two groups. One group will argue that the Scientific Revolution has ended, the other group will argue that is has not and is still alive. Each group will need to research its position and prepare an argument to support its view. Use this worksheet to help you prepare your arguments and consider the following questions to prepare:
1. What counts as science?
2. Who are the scientists?
3. What is a revolution?
4. How do you define a scientific revolution?
5. Can a revolution really last for 300 years?
6. How do we know if we are in the midst of a revolution?
7. How do we know when something in history began and ended?
Each group should prepare a list of arguments to support your position AND a list of arguments that other groups might use to argue against your group. You also need an opening and closing statement.
Decide who in your group will read the opening statement, rebuttal, and closing statements.
When listening to the other team, remember to take notes to prepare for your rebuttal of the other teams' opening statements.
When finished, vote on which team made the best argument for its position. Refer to the debate rubric on the worksheet for help when deciding.

Investigation 8 - How and why have our reaction and response to disease changed?

Investigation Objectives
Plague! The term evokes horror in most people and for good reason. Outbreaks of bubonic plague have killed well over 100 million people throughout human history. And plague is what you’re going to study in this investigation. Actually, you’re going to compare two outbreaks of bubonic plague to try to explain if they show anything about how and why our responses to disease have changed. What do you think? How has our collective response to major diseases changed over time?

Investigation Tasks
You will write a 4-5 paragraph essay on the question: 'How and why have our reaction and response to disease changed?', using evidence on the spread of plague and our reactions from both the 14th century and 19th/20th centuries, as your case studies. Complete the following steps to finish your investigation:

Initial Conjectures - Gather your initial thoughts on this question before digging into the evidence. Do you think there have been changes in our reactions and responses to major diseases over the past 500 years? What have they been? What explains these changes?
Research - Read and makes notes from the Investigation Library and record all your notes on this research table to help organise your thinking. What does the evidence tell us about how our reactions to disease have changed?
Essay - Finally, using your research you can begin to write the essay. Remember to use Big History ideas and key words, support your thinking with logic and evidence, and don't forget a final conclusion that gives a judgement on the question.

Challenge Yourself! - Optional Activities

1. Modern travellers can experience the Silk Roads from the comfort of a luxury express train cabin.
2. Explore the varied art, cultures, and religions of the Silk Road.
3. Check out two student LBH examples: Wooly Mammoths and Alkaline Batteries.

TAKE THE QUIZ!

8.3 - COMMERCE AND COLLECTIVE LEARNING