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Unit 2: How Trade and Travel Changed the World

Lesson H: Exploration and Contact in the Atlantic

Review and Assessment


European exploration of the Atlantic Ocean was driven by a variety of internal and external factors. The resulting travel and trade between the Old World and the New World forever altered modern world history. The mixing of Portuguese and Spanish colonial with native customs created unique American societies.

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Classroom Activity - Role of Travel


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Activator: The World 1300-1550

Directions: The interactive map from the opening of the lesson containing key events from 1300-1550 is linked above. Select each continent and review the role of travel in the world. Prepare a response to the discussion questions below. Follow your teacher's directions to participate in your class discussion.

  • How do the events listed from the period 1300-1550 show the role of travel in exchanges between societies of the world?
  • What are the potential benefits of interaction between different people of the world?

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As expansion of European influence into the Americas increased, contact between native people of the Americas and Europeans soon became a colonial relationship. Old World technology and diseases rapidly overcame New World defenses, and the Americas were opened to the global forces of change. The cultural interaction that followed created a unique American society that increasingly contributed to political and economic trends of the modern period. Think about specific examples that explain colonization of the New World as you complete the BCR below.

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Brief Constructed Response - Atlantic Colonization

Why was Europe able to colonize the New World?

  • Explain the reasons Europeans were able to create colonial empires in the Americas.
  • Analyze the cultural blending that occurred between Spanish colonizers and native populations of the Americas.
  • Include details and examples to support your answer.

Download Icon Download the Student Resource: Atlantic Colonization Brief Constructed Response (BCR) (doc).

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Dropbox Icon Submit the completed BCR to your teacher as instructed.