Global Marking Period 2 Weeks 4,5,6 and Columbus Trial
Name: ______
Website: http://sljglobal.wikispaces.com/ Unlike the Maya Calendar, it won’t run out!
Calendar and Agenda for Weeks 4,5,6 and Columbus Trial (subject to change):
Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5-Introduce Trial Doc packet
-Marco Polo and the riches of the East
-Docs 1-3 / -Reconquista
-Explorations of Portuguese
-Docs 4-8 / -MesoAmerican Societies: Maya and Aztecs
-Docs 9-13 / -Inca Society
-Compare Americas and Europe / -Quiz (25 pts) on Unit 4, Sections 1&4
-Columbus and the voyage of 1492
-Docs 14-18
Day 6 / Day 7 / Day 8 / Day 9 / Day 10
-Spanish Conquistadors and the Conquest
-Docs 19-24 / -Columbian Exchange
-Smallpox Pandemic
-Docs 29-31 / -Encomienda System
-Docs 25-28,32 / -Timeline, cause&effect
-Transatlantic Slave Trade
-Docs 33-39 / -DBQ in-class exam on Columbus (100 pts) *come in with all documents completed, thesis, and outline*
-Find out role for Trial
Day 11 / Day 12 / Day 13 / Day 14 & Day 15
-Go over trial procedure
-Prep Day 1: drafts of statements/ques / -Prep Day 2: get drafts checked, start final draft / -Prep Day 3: submit final copies of statements/ques
-Trial dry-run / COLUMBUS TRIAL! (100 pts)
-You are encouraged to wear a costume for your character and to bring props!
Homework:
- Complete a study guide for Unit 4, Sections 1&4 (due day 5) - 20 pts
- Email Mr. Houston with your name, period, and desired role for the Columbus Trial (by Day 6)
- Complete your documents in your trial packet (due day 10)
- Create an outline and a thesis for the DBQ exam to bring to class on day 10 (Prep for exam is worth 50 pts)
- Final draft of your statement/questions for the Columbus Trial are due day 13
Three Civilizations Collide: Cultural Conflict in the Americas (1492-1600)
“It was fourteen hundred and ninety-two when Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” Everyone knows the poem, but what happened before Columbus and his three ships arrived on the island of the Taino people in the middle of the Caribbean, the island that is now the Dominican Republic and Haiti? Who lived in South and Central America before Europeans explorers “discovered” them? And what exactly happened in the Americas in the years after 1492? Our next unit will explore the clash, collision, and conflict of three civilizations…
Before contact
Prior to 1492, a number of major civilizations flourished in Central and South America. Between approximately 1400 BCE (nearly 3000 years before Columbus first arrived in the Western Hemisphere) and 1570 CE, major empires such as the Olmecs, Mayans, Incas, and Aztecsbuilt complex cities and civilizations all across the Americas.
The Incan empire was centered in the mountaintop city of Machu
Picchu, built nearly 7000 feet above sea level. The city was abandoned
in the 1600s and not re-discovered until 1911. The Incas, like the Roman
Empire, were able to build an incredible system of roads and bridges
(more than 12,000 miles of roads) that connected their vast empire
throughout the Andes Mountains.
The Aztecs ruled their empire from the city of Tenochititlan, a city built in the middle of a lake in present-day Mexico, where canals of water were roads and the people constructed floating gardens called chinampas to grow their crops. Until 1519, when the Aztecs were attacked by Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes, the Aztec empire was ruled over by an emperor named Montezuma.
The Europeans arrive
Before any Europeans such as Columbus or Cortes had arrived in the Americas, a number of rich civilizations existed. But the first European explorers knew none of this prior to their journey. What were they doing? Why did so many Europeans risk their lives to travel across a dangerous ocean on a journey whose end was not sure? What were they looking for?
There are many answers to this question, but perhaps the most important is gold. Ever since trade routes between Europe and Asia had opened up after the Crusades, Europeans had been fascinated with the prospect of claiming some of the riches of those lands. Marco Polo, on his journey through India and China, had described one of the palaces that he visited: “The palace itself has a very high roof. Inside, the walls of the halls and chambers are all covered with gold and silver and decorated with pictures of dragons and birds and horsemen and various breeds of beasts and scenes of battle. The ceiling is similarly adorned, so that there is nothing to be seen anywhere but gold and pictures. The hall is so vast and so wide that a meal might well be served there for more than 6,000 men.”
Such accounts intrigued Europeans like Columbus. In fact, when Columbus set out on his voyage, he was hoping to find westward sea passage to India and China. He was wrong, of course. He ran into the islands of the Caribbean instead. Others would soon follow.
The destruction of the people and land
As more European conquistadors traveled to the Americas, the life of the lands and people who lived there changed dramatically. Many indigenous peoples were enslaved by Europeans intent on finding as much gold as possible. The Europeans carried diseases for which the immune systems of the indigenous people had no defense; millions would die from smallpox, measles, and the influenza. As the native population decreased, Europeans began to import slaves from West Africa. Between 1500 and 1800, approximately 11 million black Africans were brought over on slave ships to the Americas.