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Lesson Plans
World Civilizations: The Global Experience ©2001
by Stearns, Adas, Schwartz, and Gilbert
Focus Lesson 10
Chapter 21: "The West and the Changing World Balance"
Chapter 22: "The Transformation of the West: 1450–1750"
Chapter 23: "The West and the World"
AP* Course Description
1450–1750
Major Developments
- Change in global interactions, trade, and technology
- Knowledge of major empires and other political units and social systems
- Territorial and commercial aspects of the above
- Demographic and environmental changes
- Diseases, animals, new crops, and comparative population trends
- Cultural and intellectual developments
- Scientific Revolution
- Enlightenment
- Comparative global causes and impacts of cultural change
- Diverse interpretations
- What are the debates about the timing and extent of European predominance in the world economy?
Key Components
- Instructor's Manual:
Chapter 21, pp. 152–157
Chapter 22, pp. 160–168
Chapter 23, pp. 169–175 - Study Guide, Vol. I:
Chapter 21, pp. 207–214
Chapter 22, pp. 215–224
Chapter 23, pp. 225–235 - Test Bank:
Chapter 21, pp. 271–280
Chapter 22, pp. 281–294
Chapter 23, pp. 295–307
Key Web Sites Listed in the Student Text
Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites.
- Chapter 21: p. 513
- Chapter 22: p. 541
- Chapter 23: p. 563
Key Words and Terms
Chapter 21
- Ottoman Turks
- Hundred Years' War
- Iberian peninsula
- Polynesia
- Ibn-Rushd
- Henry the Navigator
- Vivaldi brothers
- Ming dynasty
- Francesco Petrarch
- ethnocentrism
- Cheng Ho
- Giotto
- Inquisition
- Maoris
- Renaissance
- Castile and Aragon
- Society Islands
- Black Death
- Marco Polo
- Hawaiian islands
Chapter 22
- Niccolo Machiavelli
- Anglican Church
- Thirty Years' War
- Isaac Newton
- Frederick the Great
- humanism
- Jean Calvin
- Treaty of Westphalia
- Deism
- Enlightenment
- Northern Renaissance
- predestination
- Copernicus
- absolute monarchy
- social sciences
- Johannes Gutenberg
- Catholic Reformation
- scientific revolution
- mercantilism
- Adam Smith
- Martin Luther
- Jesuits
- witchcraft
- Glorious Revolution
- Mary Wollstonecraft
- Protestantism
- Edit of Nantes
- Rene Descartes
- Louis XIV
Chapter 23
- world economy
- Vasco de Balboa
- New France
- Ferdinand Magellan
- mestizos
- Boers
- Vasco da Gama
- core nations
- Columbian exchange
- Treaty of Paris
- dependent economic zones
- Cape Colony
- Cape of Good Hope
- battle of Lepanto
- Francisco Pizarro
- Atlantic colonies
- British East India Company
- coercive labor systems
- Calcutta
Suggested Pacing
Allow two weeks to teach Chapters 21, 22, and 23 as a unit.
Test Strategy
In reading the question stems for both the multiple-choice and the essay questions, students should note all words that delimit the scope of the question. For example, the question might ask students to discuss the differences between the Chinese and Indian views of women in the 15th century. In this case, students should circle the words differences, Chinese, Indian, women, and 15th century because they limit what students should consider either among the answer choices posed or in writing the essay response.
Key Concepts
- Changing world balance
Chapter 21 establishes the rise of western European nation-states within the larger context of world events. This chapter deals with Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Polynesia as well as western Europe. A major factor that the authors emphasize is the influence of shifting trade patterns in the 15th century. After the Ming dynasty in China receded from world leadership in the area of trade, western European nations began to take the lead. By the end of the century, the relative power of civilizations and trading networks had dramatically shifted westward. - Western Europe in ascendance
Chapters 22 and 23 provide the details to flesh out the changing fortunes of western Europe. These two chapters discuss Europe from the early 1400s to 1750 and deal with the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, world exploration, and the commercial revolution that would spawn the Industrial Revolution. The emphasis is on how the "process of change produced a particularly dynamic society, whose position depended on establishing a prominent position in the world trade system." As the authors also note, the cultures that came in contact with these new European behemoths changed and responded in their own ways. - Revival of classicism
Students should note that a major influence on the Renaissance was Greco-Roman culture. This glorification of the classical world was also reinvented at the end of the 18th century during the time of revolutions. This later Neo-Classical period will not only look back to ancient Greece and Rome but to the Renaissance as well.
Summing Up Student Understanding
The feature on pp. 509–510 of the text, "The Problem of Ethnocentrism," begins: "Many cultures encourage an ethnocentric outlook, and the culture of the West is certainly one of them." Have students use this sentence as the basis for a panel discussion. Assign six students to the panel to discuss whether they think the statement is true or not. Assign other students roles such as a moderator, a timekeeper, and research assistants to aid the panelists. All other students are to be audience members, and they must do research and write two questions to ask the panelists. At the end of the session, the questions should be collected and graded.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
You might also find these additional readings useful to develop students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities:
- Aspects of Western Civilization, Vol. I, edited by Rogers—Part IV
- Aspects of Western Civilization, Vol. II, edited by Rogers—Part I
- Sources of the West, Vol. I, edited by Kishlausky—Part III
- Sources of the West, Vol. II, edited by Kishlausky—Part IV
- The Global Experience, Vol. II, edited by Schwartz, Wimmer, and Wolfe—Part IV
- Documents in World History, Vol. II, edited by Stearns, Gosch, and Grieshaber—Section One