TITLE: Exploring Commerce and the High Seas in the 1700s

WORLD HISTORY: Commerce/Trade - Explore how commerce was carried out in the late 1700s.

TEKS:

113.33

OBJECTIVE:

To develop an understanding of the importance of the shipping industry in commerce in the late 1700s.

MATERIALS:

• See images below

RESEARCH ACTIVITY:

Have students write down their observations of the painting's subject, or main idea. What might the ship be carrying?  Where might it be going?   What clues has the artist given to tell us more about the ship?

Have students locate material on companies that were active during the late 1700s in England. Students should be looking for what the company shipped, how successful the company was, what was carried in a ship on each leg of the trip, etc. Students can team up and divide their time between the Internet and library resources.

CULMINATING PROJECT:

Put the students into teams. Students are to use their research as the basis for developing their own companies that would fit into that era. Students should use a product from the era such as cotton or tea and develop their company that exports and imports the product to England. Students need to create a realistic company based on what they uncovered in their research. Creating the company should include giving it a name, arranging for shipping various products, and hiring and paying necessary employees. Students should present their companies to the class with an explanation of why they set up their company the way they did, and its purpose in England in the 1700s.

CLOSURE:

Inquire as to whether the students enjoyed learning about commerce in the 1700s.  Have students review what they learned through this activity.