Teach me the following content. Each unit’s first and final topics include key concepts, which
summarize the historical developments in the unit.
These topics encourage the use of the key concepts
and learning objectives in the unit to develop the skills of
contextualization and argumentation. The thematic focus of the topic is the long-term takeaway that
leaves a lasting impression on students. Learning objectives define what a student should be able
to do with content knowledge in order to progress toward an
enduring understanding.
Historical development statements comprise the knowledge
required to demonstrate mastery of the learning objective. 
Content:
LEARNING OBJECTIVE PREVIEW: UNIT 1 KEY CONCEPTS
Unit 1: Learning Objective A
Explain the context for
European encounters in the
Americas from 1491 to 1607.
KC-1.1
As native populations migrated and settled
across the vast expanse of North America over
time, they developed distinct and increasingly
complex societies by adapting to and
transforming their diverse environments.
KC-1.1.I
Different native societies adapted to and
transformed their environments through
innovations in agriculture, resource use,
and social structure.
KC-1.2
Contact among Europeans, Native Americans,
and Africans resulted in the Columbian
Exchange and significant social, cultural,
and political changes on both sides of the
Atlantic Ocean.
KC-1.2.I
European expansion into the Western
Hemisphere generated intense social,
religious, political, and economic competition
and changes within European societies.
KC-1.2.II
The Columbian Exchange and development
of the Spanish Empire in the Western
Hemisphere resulted in extensive
demographic, economic, and social changes.
KC-1.2.III
In their interactions, Europeans and Native
Americans asserted divergent worldviews
regarding issues such as religion, gender
roles, family, land use, and power.
THEMATIC FOCUS
Geography and the Environment GEO
Geographic and environmental factors, including competition over and debates
about natural resources, shape the development of America and foster regional
diversity. The development of America impacts the environment and reshapes
geography, which leads to debates about environmental and geographic issues.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Unit 1: Learning Objective B
Explain how and why various
native populations in the
period before European
contact interacted with
the natural environment in
North America.
KC-1.1.I.A
The spread of maize cultivation from presentday Mexico northward into the present-day
American Southwest and beyond supported
economic development, settlement,
advanced irrigation, and social diversification
among societies.
KC-1.1.I.B
Societies responded to the aridity of the Great
Basin and the grasslands of the western Great
Plains by developing largely mobile lifestyles.
KC-1.1.I.C
In the Northeast, the Mississippi River Valley,
and along the Atlantic seaboard, some
societies developed mixed agricultural and
hunter-gatherer economies that favored the
development of permanent villages.
KC-1.1.I.D
Societies in the Northwest and present-day
California supported themselves by hunting
and gathering, and in some areas developed
settled communities supported by the vast
resources of the ocean.
THEMATIC FOCUS
America in the World WOR
Diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military interactions between empires, nations,
and peoples shape the development of America and America’s increasingly
important role in the world.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Unit 1: Learning Objective C
Explain the causes of
exploration and conquest
of the New World by various
European nations.
KC-1.2.I.A
European nations’ efforts to explore and
conquer the New World stemmed from a
search for new sources of wealth, economic
and military competition, and a desire to
spread Christianity.
THEMATIC FOCUS
Geography and the Environment GEO
Geographic and environmental factors, including competition over and debates
about natural resources, shape the development of America and foster regional
diversity. The development of America impacts the environment and reshapes
geography, which leads to debates about environmental and geographic issues.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Unit 1: Learning Objective D
Explain causes of the
Columbian Exchange and
its effect on Europe and the
Americas during the period
after 1492.
KC-1.2.I.B
The Columbian Exchange brought new crops
to Europe from the Americas, stimulating
European population growth, and new sources
of mineral wealth, which facilitated the
European shift from feudalism to capitalism.
KC-1.2.I.C
Improvements in maritime technology and
more organized methods for conducting
international trade, such as joint-stock
companies, helped drive changes to
economies in Europe and the Americas.
KC-1.2.II.A
Spanish exploration and conquest of the
Americas were accompanied and furthered by
widespread deadly epidemics that devastated
native populations and by the introduction of
crops and animals not found in the Americas.
THEMATIC FOCUS
Social Structures SOC
Social categories, roles, and practices are created, maintained, challenged, and
transformed throughout American history, shaping government policy, economic
systems, culture, and the lives of citizens.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Unit 1: Learning Objective E
Explain how the growth
of the Spanish Empire in
North America shaped
the development of social
and economic structures
over time.
KC-1.2.II.B
In the encomienda system, Spanish colonial
economies marshaled Native American labor
to support plantation-based agriculture and
extract precious metals and other resources.
KC-1.2.II.C
European traders partnered with some West
African groups who practiced slavery to
forcibly extract slave labor for the Americas.
The Spanish imported enslaved Africans to
labor in plantation agriculture and mining.
KC-1.2.II.D
The Spanish developed a caste system that
incorporated, and carefully defined the status
of, the diverse population of Europeans,
Africans, and Native Americans in their empire.
THEMATIC FOCUS
America in the World WOR
Diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military interactions between empires, nations,
and peoples shape the development of America and America’s increasingly
important role in the world.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Unit 1: Learning Objective F
Explain how and why
European and Native
American perspectives
of others developed and
changed in the period.
KC-1.2.III
In their interactions, Europeans and Native
Americans asserted divergent worldviews
regarding issues such as religion, gender roles,
family, land use, and power.
KC-1.2.III.A
Mutual misunderstandings between Europeans
and Native Americans often defined the early
years of interaction and trade as each group
sought to make sense of the other. Over time,
Europeans and Native Americans adopted
some useful aspects of each other’s culture.
KC-1.2.III.B
As European encroachments on Native
Americans’ lands and demands on their labor
increased, native peoples sought to defend
and maintain their political sovereignty,
economic prosperity, religious beliefs,
and concepts of gender relations through
diplomatic negotiations and military resistance.
KC-1.2.III.C
Extended contact with Native Americans and
Africans fostered a debate among European
religious and political leaders about how
non-Europeans should be treated, as well
as evolving religious, cultural, and racial
justifications for the subjugation of Africans and
Native Americans.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE REVIEW: UNIT 1 KEY CONCEPTS
Unit 1: Learning Objective G
Explain the effects of the
development of transatlantic
voyages from 1491 to 1607.
KC-1.1
As native populations migrated and settled
across the vast expanse of North America over
time, they developed distinct and increasingly
complex societies by adapting to and
transforming their diverse environments.
KC-1.1.I
Different native societies adapted to and
transformed their environments through
innovations in agriculture, resource use,
and social structure.
KC-1.2
Contact among Europeans, Native Americans,
and Africans resulted in the Columbian
Exchange and significant social, cultural,
and political changes on both sides of the
Atlantic Ocean.
KC-1.2.I
European expansion into the Western
Hemisphere generated intense social,
religious, political, and economic competition
and changes within European societies.
KC-1.2.II
The Columbian Exchange and development
of the Spanish Empire in the Western
Hemisphere resulted in extensive
demographic, economic, and social changes.
KC-1.2.III
In their interactions, Europeans and Native
Americans asserted divergent worldviews
regarding issues such as religion, gender
roles, family, land use, and power.