Page 32 in your ISN
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Diffusion refers to how something diffuses or
spreads
Physical geography can speed up or slow
down diffusion
How?
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China developed gunpowder, the compass,
and printing
Trade along the silk road allowed these
inventions to spread to Europe
How do you think the European’s used these
inventions?
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Gunpowder to construct cannons
Adapted the compass for sea travel
Printing was used for maps, documents, etc
Led to the European discovery of the New World.
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Where do you think oranges come from?
◦ Europe
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Where did potatoes originate?
◦ The Americas
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Are horses a native species of Europe or the
Americas?
◦ Europe
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The Colombian exchange led to the
introduction of new products to both
European and American cultures.
Colombian Exchange
Are there any exchanges that you are surprised about?
What are they?
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How might history have been different if the
cultures of Europe and the Americas had
never come in contact?
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The spread of new technologies
◦ Computers did not exist before the 1980’s
◦ First developed in the United States but quickly
spread throughout the world.
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Cell phones
◦ Have spread rapidly even to less developed nations.
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Contact between different cultures can lead
to important exchanges in ideas
◦ Religious beliefs
◦ Political ideas
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Case Study: The spread of Chinese Culture
◦ Many aspects of Chinese culture are visible in
Japan.
 Rulers are absolute
 Shintoism is a mixture of Buddhism and Confucianism
 Japanese written language was adapted from the
Chinese written language
 Music, art, pottery, weaving, and cooking very similar
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Japan’s location close to China had a great
influence on its culture. What are some other
examples in which ideas spread from one
culture to another?
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Fashions, art styles, cooking, music
Case Study: The Global Reach of American
Popular Culture
◦ Influenced by many cultures
 Today English is used as an international second
language
 Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga are international icons
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What factors do you think have most helped
American popular culture to spread
throughout the world over the past 50 years?
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The Bubonic Plague (The Black Death)
◦ Began in China and Central Asia
◦ Spread throughout Europe
◦ In less than 10 years almost 1/3 of Europe’s
population was killed
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Spread of “Old World” Diseases to the
Americas
◦ Smallpox, typhus, measles
◦ In 30 years the population of Native Americans
dropped from 25 million to 5.2 million and within
the 50 years after than it was down to 2.2 million
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Cultural Divergence: when cultures separate
and become different
◦ The Roman Empire
 The western empire (Europe)
 The eastern empire (Byzantium)
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Cultural Convergence: when different cultures
become similar or even come together
◦ The Colombian Exchange
◦ Globalization
 The creation of a common global culture
 Internet!!!!
Globalization
Are there any brands on here that you haven’t heard of?
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Democracy
◦ The fall of the Berlin Wall
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The English Language
◦ Today almost half a billion people speak English as
their primary language
◦ English is learned as a second language in most
countries
◦ More than 1 billion people now understand English
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New Technologies
◦ Telephones, TV, computers, cell phones, Internet
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Global Sports
◦ Soccer!!
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Work on vocabulary from yesterday.
Work on questions on pg. 204-206
Complete the graphic organizer on page 203