Grade Nine

HSS.9.5 The student will analyze the impact of European expansion into the Americas, Africa, and Asia (16th through 19th centuries), in terms of

• the roles of explorers/conquistadors;
• migration, settlement patterns, and cultural diffusion;
• the exchange of technology, ideas, and agricultural practices;
• the trade in slaves, tobacco, rum, furs, and gold;
• the introduction of new diseases;
• the influence of Christianity;
• economic and cultural transformations (e.g., plants like tobacco and corn became available in new places, arrival of the horse in the Americas, etc.);
• competition for resources and the rise of mercantilism;
• the commercial and maritime growth of European nations, including the emergence of money and banking, global economies, and market systems; and
• social classes in the colonized areas.

Virginia City is a reproduction of a late 1800’s American town and therefore an educational experience for students learning about American settlement and expansion.  In addition, its working mine can enhance student’s understanding of the gold trade (by panning for gold) as well as the gem and mineral trade (while mining for them).

HSS.9.11 The student will demonstrate skills in historical research and geographical analysis by

• identifying, analyzing, and interpreting primary and secondary sources and artifacts;
• validating sources as to their authenticity, authority, credibility, and possible bias;
• comparing trends in global population distribution since the 10th century;
• constructing various time lines of key events, periods, and personalities since the 10th century;
• identifying and analyzing major shifts in national political boundaries in Europe since 1815; and
• identifying the distribution of major religious cultures in the contemporary world.

Students can improve their historical analysis skills by assimilating their firsthand experiences with the documentary and primary sources they study in the classroom. The rich mineral deposits are part of the native industry of this region, and our original buildings are themselves historical artifacts which students can analyze in comparison with their textbook.