Big Era Six: The Great Global Convergence 1400-1800 CE

Today, as we concluded our reading of I, Juan de Pareja, we reviewed the world history between the years 1400-1800 to gain a better perspective of what we encountered in the historical fiction novel.  I came upon the greatest history website, http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/bigeras.php, to find incredibly useful information.  (Not to mention, this awesome site is a project from my alma mater, San Diego State University! Way to go!) I like how this site asks the 'big questions' and outlines information on the scale of humankind.  So much of history is presented in a manner that is specific to one region or event at a time and is therefore isolated from the bigger picture. This site breaks world history into nine eras and expains this:


"In many schools, teachers are expected to sweep across thousands of years of world history in a single academic year. Even if the social studies program provides for two or more years of world history, teachers must select among a galaxy of possible topics, deciding what subject matter to include and what to leave out. Teachers often face one of two broad alternatives:

• Choose among world history time periods, omitting some altogether. This approach may result in students having little or no exposure to major eras of the past, such as the paleolithic, the ancient periods, or the past half-century. It may also leave students with insufficient understanding of how major historical eras link to one another.
• Choose among regions and civilizations, including some but not others. This solution is never satisfactory in a genuinely global history course because it usually excludes the historical experience of a significant part of humanity. If mostly European topics are chosen, students will likely come away with a skewed and misleading view of the human venture.

World History for Us All recommends that teachers who expect to cover thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years of history (whether in one, two, or three years) raise the scale of historical investigation, both in time and geographical space. That is, this curriculum gives more thorough attention to large patterns of change and to "big" historical questions."

Niah's

Baron's

So, while we read and discussed ERA 6 http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/eras/era6.php , the kids busied themselves with coloring pages from a historical costume book.

It was interesting to learn about the factors that inhibited population growth in the Americas and how/why our country demographic is relatively small by comparison to China and India.  We talked about how different life would be here if the Americas were discovered earlier or if the period of 'Great Dying' hadn't occurred.  We discussed how the explorers/merchants/settlers brought many biota that affected the native people, plants, and animals.  The topic of weeds came up and how some species dominted and even obliterated native species.  We questioned what the lands would look like now if we were isolated from the rest of the world.   

This was a great history study for us.  The kids kept their attention focused on the subject for the most part as much of it was relevant and they could make connections between hsitorical factors and life as we know it. 

Next on the agenda is to survey Pirates which is relevant as they claimed 'fame' during this era when exploration and global trade was booming.