MATERIAL TRANSFORMATIONS in Western Civilization
JANUARY
SYLLABUS
PINK
CLASS
Cycle
1: Exploration
Cycle
2: Commercial and Scientific
Revolution
BLUE
CLASS
Cycle
1: Exploration and Scientific
Revolution
Cycle
2: Industrial Revolution and
19th-Century Progress
YELLOW
CLASS
Cycle
1: Exploration and Scientific
Revolution
Cycle
2: Industrial Revolution and
19th-Century Progress
Age
of Exploration Reading Guide
Chs.
3/4: Exploration of the East and
the Atlantic World
Part one: Europeans Explore
the East (pp. 80-88)
1. Read Previewing Themes (80) Main Idea and Why
it Matters Now (83)
·
What is the most important economic result of European
exploration?
·
Why is technology a key factor in the age of exploration?
2. List key factors that help to explain European
exploration after 1400.
3. What technological improvements made exploration
possible?
4. Portuguese Explorations:
·
What route did the Portuguese explore to get to the riches of
Asia? (See also map on 87.)
·
What role did government play in Portuguese exploration?
·
What kinds of luxury goods from Asia were the Portuguese
looking for?
5. What two groups lost out as Portugal asserted control
over the Spice islands? What was
the impact of the Portuguese spice trade for European consumers?
6. Answer the questions on the map on p. 87.
7.
Identify the following : Prince Henry (the Navigator);
Bartolomeu Dias; Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus; Alexander VI; Treaty of
Tordesillas; Ferdinand Magellan; Dutch East India Company
Part 2: The Atlantic World
(pp. 100-119) (Skim sections 1-3 and respond to the following.)
1. Look at the map on 104: where are the areas of Spanish
settlement in the Americas?
2. Why is Columbus a controversial figure in history (109)?
3. Where are the earliest English settlements in North
America (111).
5. What is the impact of disease on Native Americans (114)
6. In the Atlantic Slave Trade section...
Spotlight on Slavery
(115): What is a key difference between historical slavery and the Slave
trade associated with the exploration of the Americas?
Note the scale of the
Atlantic Slave Trade (116): how many people were enslaved?
List the long-term
consequences of African slavery on American culture and population .
Part 3: The Columbian
Exchange and Global Trade (pp. 120-123)
1. Define the term Columbian Exchange; give examples in both
directions; assess its negative impact.
2. What is meant by the term Commercial Revolution.
3. What were joint stock companies and how did they
encourage people to invest in overseas trading ventures?
4. Explain the following about mercantilism:
·
What was its goal
·
What two ways did the system
hope to achieve this goal
·
What role was played by colonies
·
What advantages did it give to the "mother country"
5. How did the Commercial Revolution change life in Western
Europe?
Scientific
Revolution Reading Guide
Ch.
6: The Scientific Revolution, pp. 165-170
1.
Review the Main Ideas and Why It Matters Now on p. 165.
2. What two sources were unquestioned authorities for
Westerners?
·
What is meant by "the Scientific Revolution?"
·
What factors led to the Scientific Revolution?
3. What is the heliocentric theory and how did the following
contribute to it?
·
Copernicus
·
Kepler
·
Galileo
·
Newton
4. What is the scientific method?
What did Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes contribute?
5. Describe the contributions of Janssen, van Leeuwenhoek,
Vesalius, Harvey, Jenner.