Grade 7: Markers make trading easier.

The Standards for sixth and seventh grades illustrate the relationship between economics, politics, culture and geography. They also explain the role of trade in the development of economies. Finally, they illustrate how markets attract resources and lead the way to exploration, colonization and social and political exchange among different peoples.

7.2 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of civilizations of Islam in the Middle Ages:

• Section 5. Describe the growth of cities and the establishment of trade routes among Asia, Africa and Europe, the products and inventions that traveled along these routes (e.g., spices, textiles, paper, steel, new crops), and the role of merchants in Arab society.

7.3 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of China in the Middle Ages:

• Section 2. Describe agricultural, technological, and commercial developments during the Tang and Sung periods. Section 4. Understand the importance of both overland trade and maritime expeditions between China and other civilizations in the Mongol Ascendancy and Ming Dynasty.

7.4 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the sub-Saharan civilizations of Ghana and Mali in Medieval Africa:

• Section 1. Study the Niger River and the relationship of vegetation zones of forest, savannah,and desert to trade in gold, salt, food, and slaves; and the growth of the Ghana and Mali empires. Section 2. Analyze the importance of family, labor specialization, and regional commerce in the development of states and cities in West Africa.

7.6 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Europe:

• Section 3. Understand the development of feudalism, its role in the medieval European economy, the way in which it was influenced by physical geography (the role of the manor and the growth of towns), and how feudal relationships provided the foundation of political order.

7.7 Students compare and contrast the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Meso-American and Andean civilizations:

• Section 1. Study the locations, landforms, and climates of Mexico, Central America, and South America and their effects on Mayan, Aztec, and Incan economies, trade, and development of urban societies.

7.8 Students analyze the origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance:

• Section 2. Explain the importance of Florence in the early stages of the Renaissance and the growth of independent trading cities (e.g.,Venice), with emphasis on the cities’ importance in the spread of Renaissance ideas.

• Section 3. Understand the effects of reopening of the ancient “Silk Road” between Europe and China, including Marco Polo’s travels and the location of his routes.

7.11 Students analyze political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (the Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason):

• Section 2. Discuss the exchanges of plants, animals, technology, culture, and ideas among Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the major economic and social effects on each continent. 

• Section 3. Examine the origins of modern capitalism; the influence of mercantilism and cottage industry; the elements and importance of a market economy in seventeenth-century Europe; the changing international trading and marketing patterns, including their locations on a world map; and the influence of explorers and map makers.