Big Era Six: Landscape Unit 6.5

Why This Unit?

This unit leads students through an investigation of the formation of this new world region, which included peoples of European, African, and Native American origin. The first part of the investigation is a comparison of several maps made by Europeans that show the European perspective on the names and geographic relationships among the three regions. The second lesson leads students to analyze the voluntary and forced migrations of peoples within the Atlantic basin. Two lessons follow in which students compare stories of people who contributed to the new societies that emerged in the 1500-1800 period. The stories serve as a reflection of the millions of lives that were altered when the Atlantic rim world was created as an interactive “world.” In using the analytical tools of the historian, students question the extent to which peoples in each region helped create the new societies of the Atlantic rim.