Why are Some Nations
More Powerful than
Others?
World Geography
The Card Game
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Each student is given an
envelope with a variety of cards
The rank of each card is as
follows:
Diamonds
Clubs
Spades
Hearts
Rules
The game is like “war.” Students can win
cards from others by pulling out a card
with a higher value than the other
student.
 If they both pull the same card, they will
pull from their envelope again.
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Was the game fair?
NO
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Some students received more cards than
others
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Some students received better cards than
others
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Some students didn’t play fair
How does this game resemble the
countries of the world?
Greens = High levelof development
Reds= Low level of development
Yellows= Medium level of development
Colonialism
Colonialism is when one country conquers
another in order to exploit it’s people and
resources.
Spanish Colonialism
Spain colonized most of South America, Central
and North America.
The places they colonized now speak Spanish, are
predominantly Catholic.
Places like San Diego, Los Angeles and San Antonio
were origninally set up by the Spanish as Catholic
missions.
British Colonialism
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It was said that “the sun never set on the British Empire.”
Places like the United States, Australia and New Zealand that
were colonized by England now speak English and are
predominantly Protestant
Factors of Development
What factors led Europe to develop faster
than others?
Farming
Technology
Literacy
Government
National Identity
Why are some nations more
powerful?
What nations could the grasshoppers
represent?
What nations could the ants represent?
How were the ants able to defeat the
grasshoppers?
6
4
4
2
1
6
Farming
Farming began and
spread from the
Fertile Crescent
This area had
characteristics that
produced grains such as
wheat and barley
Animals such as cows,
horses, sheep and
pigs were domesticated
here.
Technology

Farming allowed a surplus of food
which gave farmers more time.

Free time led to developments in
technology and culture:
 Guns
 Steel
 Printing press
Literacy

The development of writing allowed
people to record information so that it
could be passed on to more people with
greater accuracy.
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This way people could build on the
accomplishments of the past.
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Idea’s spread quickly from
the Fertile Crescent
because Eurasia has a
wide east/west axis.

Places that are wide
from east to west share
common climates and
vegetation.

That made it easy for
plants and ideas to
spread
Geography
Population Growth & Government
Farming led to larger families and longer life
expectancy.
Larger populations required a more complex
government than a tribe could provide.
Along with laws and punishments came tax
collection and government services.
National Identity
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In Europe, feudal
kingdoms grew
together into nations
where people shared a
common language,
religion and race.
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Common identity
brought a willingness to
work for/with others for
a common cause.
Response
Write a one page response to this lesson.
1. main idea: Some nations are more
powerful than others because they
developed faster.
2. supporting details: use information from
the slide show to explain what countries
conquered others and the factors that allowed
them to do so.
3. personal application: Apply the ideas
about nations to answer the question “what
makes some people more powerful than
others?”