Course Description

Welcome! This site is for students, parents, teachers and anyone else interested in the tenth-grade World History 2 Course at Santa Fe Prep.

The overall course covers the history of the world from roughly 1500 to the present. The first quarter opens with the time when Asia was the center of world affairs, then traces European encounters with Asia and the Americas, and the complex interactions and consequences of the so-called "Columbian Exchange" between Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. The first quarter ends with a survey of the European Renaissance and Reformation, in both its local and global dimensions. The second quarter will focus on the rise of absolute monarchies and new ideas and practices, especially with the scientific revolution and Enlightenment. The second quarter ends with assessments of the legacies of the French Revolution, Napoleon and the emergence of the British Empire. The third quarter starts with the implications of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars in the wake of the Congress of Vienna, i.e., the discourse on rights, reaction, revolution and reform, the rise of new ideologies, in particular, Classical Liberalism, nationalism, and romanticism, and conservative reactions to the changes wrought by the American and French Revolutions. The course then examines the rise of industrialization and social change in 19th-century Europe, and the emergence of middle and working class cultures, followed by new iterations of liberalism and conservatism, the proliferation of more ideologies, e.g., socialism, communism, ultranationalism, social Darwinism, and antisemitism. Then the course examines the unification of the Italian and German nation states, and the creation of the modern welfare state. From there the course traces the rise of a new wave of Western imperialism, followed by the rest of the world's reactions to the rise of European empires and ideas, and in particular, the emergence of industrial Japan and their surprising victory over Russia. The third quarter ends with the outbreak of the First World War. The fourth and final quarter surveys the effects of the First World War, followed by the brief peak of classical liberal nation states and promises for peace, and the rapid rise of authoritarianism, in both communist and fascist variations, with a special focus on the rise of Nazism, the Nazi racial transformation of Germany and the Holocaust and Shoah of modern Europe. The fourth quarter concludes by looking at the causes and effects of the Second World War, the Cold War, the end of European empires in Asia and Africa, the emergence of the Modern Middle East and China, the end of the Cold War, history since 1989, all the way to the present, including current events.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Week 4 - Iberian Empires

Monday through Friday, September 15-18
*Events and Holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Monday, 9/14 (no school); US TAP begins, Thursday, 9/17.
*Leading Questions: How do historians account for the emergence of European overseas expansion? In what ways was overseas expansion tied to European political and economic developments at home or elsewhere overseas in the 15th and 16th centuries? How do these explanations compare with Crosby’s “Columbian Exchange” thesis? What consequences flowed from the interactions of Western and non-Western civilizations?
**Readings: Sherman, "Overseas Expansion and New Politics," in Western Civilization, 33-44.
***I am world history/Story of Place writing and creative pieces DUE by Friday, 9/18.
****Online Quiz#1 will open at the end of the week on Haiku website (9/25-10/2). 

Day 1: Spain and Portugal in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
- In-class: Current events reports and chronicles.
- In-class: Review key terms and persons from Weeks 1 and 2. 
- In-class: Discuss book review projects, strategic reading and writing.
- Homework for Day 2: Analyze 2 primary source HANDOUTS using the SOAPSTONE rubric, #1: Gomes Eannes de Azurara, "The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea," and Christopher Columbus, "Letter to Lord Sanchez, 1493". - Using these sources, ANSWER the question: why did the Europeans, i.e., the Portuguese, begin exploring. Discussion on Day 2 will be graded based on this preparation and discussion.
- Key Terms and persons: Iberia, the Moors, the Reconquest (Reconquista), Ferdinand and Isbella, Cristobal Colon, Prince Henry the Navigator, and the new monarchies.

Day 2/3: The Rise of Imperial Portugal and Spain in Africa and the Americas.
- In-class: Discuss the primary source readings on Spain and Portugal from homework; start research and reading for the book review project (see online blog for more detailed guidelines); book review draft due in early October (TBD).
- In-library: Independent research and conference time with instructor.
- Homework for Day 3: Read the two secondary source HANDOUTS, Richard B. Reed, "The Expansion of Europe," in Western Civilization, ed. Sherman, pp. 41-43, and Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik, "Woods, Winds, Shipbuilding, and Shipping: Why China Didn't Rule the Waves," pp. 47-49.
- For each secondary source, ANSWER the question: What is the author(s) argument about the rise of Europe vs. China, and what kind of evidence do they use to support their argument (DUE in class on Day 3)? Discussion on Day 3 will be graded based on this preparation and discussion.

Day 2/3: Why China Did Not Rule the Waves.
- In-class: Discuss the secondary source readings on Europe and China from homework.
- Homework over the weekend: Continue strategically reading the book selected for the book review project.
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