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.
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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:
|
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.
2. Explore the varied art, cultures, and religions of the Silk Road.
3. Check out two student LBH examples: Wooly Mammoths and Alkaline Batteries.