Linking Important Geographic Sites to World History

Students will learn the importance of geography as it relates to significant events or periods in world history, especially that which pertains to Europe and the United States.

A lesson plan for grade 9 Social Studies

By Guy Swanson

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• demonstrate the interconnectedness of geography to events in world history.
• develop visual analysis skills.
• develop research skills using printed resources.
• develop research skills using technology.
• develop the ability to work independently or in groups.
• develop reflective writing skills.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

90 minutes

Materials/resources

• Board, chalk or markers as appropriate
• Outline maps of the world (attached)
• Geography and world history reference books
• Atlases
• Encyclopedias
• The World Almanac
• List of sites (attached); cut apart

Technology resources

Computers with Internet access

Pre-activities

During a “warm-up” class discussion, bring up the importance of location and geographic features that distinguish certain places from others. Illustrate the discussion with examples of important events in world history that are distinct because of geography. As an example:

The English Channel has protected the United Kingdom from invasion for hundreds of years. The last successful invasion was the Norman Conquest in 1066, not even the military prowess of the Spanish Armada (1589) or Nazi Germany (World War II, 1939-1945) could master the Channel. As an aside, ask the class to speculate on what may have been different if troops from Spain or Nazi Germany had made a successful invasion of the British Isles.

Activities

1. Divide students into 9 groups.
2. Distribute slips cut from the attached list of sites for investigation so that each group has a different site.
3. Distribute outline maps of the world (attached).
4. Have the students locate and highlight the location(s) of the site(s) that they are investigating on the maps.
5. Instruct students to research how this site is critical in world history. Note the particulars about the place, its location and its association with one country, and its strategic importance between the two competing nations. Note the great potential for changes in world history if the nation that lost the military engagement had won same.
6. As the activity phase concludes, ask students to share common denominators that they have found and list them on the board in a graphic organizer. The importance of water, economics and trade, and security (military and naval) will be of primary importance.

Assessment

In an essay, have each student select at least two (at 50% each) but no more than four (at 25% each) important geographic sites, other than those in the exercise, and relate the same to world history. Ask them to speculate on how world history may have been changed if at the particular site the event had a different outcome. Refer back to the example of the English Channel given in the Pre-Activities section. Students may have some choices of their own.

Supplemental information

1. Strait of Gibraltar: The narrow body of water between Spain and North Africa that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries it has been a vital link in the water route from the Atlantic and Northern Europe to Southern Europe, to the Middle East (and Suez Canal), and back. The Strait has been under British control since 1713. It was particularly important to the Allied powers during World War II as their naval vessels moved back and forth between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
2. Panama Canal: The waterway that cuts across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It eliminates the long, dangerous voyage around Cape Horn. The canal was built (opened in 1914) and operated by the United States government for most of the twentieth century in a separately controlled Canal Zone. During World War II it was one of the major security links the Allied Powers had to both oceans. It was and remains important in world economic development, though less so for naval security. The United States returned the canal to the nation of Panama in 1999.
3. Mississippi River: This is main river into which the major tributary rivers flow from the interior of the United States. Since the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it has permitted easy transportation from the several tributary rivers southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Today, the transportation of American agricultural and manufactured products is dependent on these rivers, and as such the middle section of the nation has developed into one of the world’s most important farming and manufacturing regions. It remains vital in economic growth and development of the United States, though less so for internal security as it did during the Civil War (1861-1865).
4. St. Lawrence Seaway, Welland Canal, Soo Locks: These passageways allow ship traffic from the major Great Lakes ports easy connections to the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Lakes remain important in the economic development of the North Central region of the United States and Canada in mining and industries and agriculture. The two smaller canals opended first, linking the five Great Lakes with one another, and since the 1950s, with the opening of the Seaway, the area has had easy access for domestic and foreign vessels to and from the Atlantic Ocean.
5. Dardanelles and Bosphorus: The straits that allow passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara to the Agean and Mediterranean seas. The location has always been strategic for Russia, allowing its naval and commercial fleets access from isolated and locked-in warm water ports to the rest of the world. During the Cold War years (1945-1991) the West feared Russian (Soviet) influence over the area, and the potential spread of its power across the Mediterranean region and the Suez area.
6. Suez Canal: This artificial waterway in Egypt joins the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. Opened in 1869, it remains a highly important location for the world’s economy and security, avoiding lengthy trips around the Cape of Good Hope, to or from the Indian Ocean and the Far East. It remains important in the twenty-first century because of transporting oil from the Middle East to the indurtrialized nations of Europe and North America, and illustrates the high dependence the West places on a friendly, stable Middle East and its oil supply.
7. Strait of Malacca: This narrow body of water connects the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea. Since the sixteenth century it was and remains a vital trade route from which European and Middle Eastern traders can easily travel to the Far East, avoiding the many and scattered islands of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It was a highly prized, strategic location during World War II for both the Allied and the Japanese navies for movements of vessels.
8. Strait of Hormuz: This passageway is the connection from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and is also adjacent to the Red Sea that connects to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. After World War II the rich oil fields of the area became vital to the idustrialized nations of the West. Twentieth and twenty-first century economic activity in the entire world depends on a stable, safe Middle East. The United States and its coalition partners fought the Gulf War in 1991 to prevent agression by Iraq and keep the supply of oil flowing to the West.
9. Nile River: The Nile River flows northward from the eastern interior of Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. The most famous sections of the Nile and the mouth of this great river are associated with Egypt. The Battle of the Nile took place in 1789, between the French and Britsh fleets off the Egyptian coast. If the French had defeated the British, then it would have been possible for the French to control the Mediterranean Sea; Napoleon’s army was trying to gain control of Egypt and probably would have with support from a victorious French fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. The French would have become the dominant force in the Middle East and the controlling power in the region between the Mediterranean and Red seas; France, rather than Great Britain, would certainly have been the major player (militarily, financially, etc.) in what would become the transportation link known as the Suez Canal, to the riches of India and the Far East.

Related websites

Some online world history references:
http://www.atlapedia.com/
http://www.refdesk.com
http://www.infoplease.com/
http://www.bartleby.com/reference/

NOTE: Using these references is preferred over search engines.

Comments

This activity will be useful toward the end of a grading period for teachers who want to provide review of world geography’s themes for their students.

Teachers may modify the list of sites that is provided in this lesson to meet their respective needs. They may add or substitute examples such as: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, Amazon River, English Channel, The Alps, etc.