Unit Outline
The growth of agricultural civilisations and empires from 3500BCE to 1800CE ushered in an era of increasing innovation in communication and transportation that led different parts of the world to connect in entirely new ways. The linking of the different world zones in this period and the exchanges that this linking made possible, transformed the lifeways of the people and civilisations involved - and laid the foundation for modern exchange routes and the global balance of power.
Statement of inquiry
"Unless managed, global interactions like trade can create inequalities in power and wealth"
global context
Fairness and Development (Imagining a Hopeful Future) - Students will explore rights and responsibilities; the relationship between communities; sharing finite resources with other people and with other living things; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.
key concepts
Global Interaction - The key concept for this unit is global interaction. We will examine this by considering how exploration has accelerated the interconnection and interdependence between human communities, including the ways people come into conflict with and cooperate with each other. This will be explored further by examining global trade networks.
related concepts
Disparity & Equity (Geography) - Equity involves concerns about fairness and justice. Disparity is the uneven distribution of a given quality, indicator or resource and it can be opposed to the concept of equity. Geography is often the study of the condition or fact of being unequal—recognizing that the world around us has inequality, disproportionate opportunity and discrepancy, which, creates disparity. What causes the gap between those that have and those that have not? What does it mean “to have” and to “have not”? What is the perception of a disparity? As a related concept, disparity should have a degree of scale and harness the essential drivers of disparity: economics, opportunity, access to resources, choices, values and freedom. Inequality might be based on gender, ethnicity, age, location, citizenship and income, among other variables.
Trade (Economics) - Trade is the exchange of goods and services between the various participants in an economy. When people are allowed to trade freely, including across national borders, overall wealth usually grows. However, the gains from this increase in wealth may not be distributed equally. Trade can be limited by various factors including, but not limited to: war and terrorism, natural disasters, government regulations and taxes, control of markets by monopoly firms, and actions by workers such as strikes. |