Lesson 1: The Rise of Land-Based Empires
Duration of Days: 3
Lesson Objective
Students will explain why land-based empires expanded between 1450 and 1750 by identifying political, military, and economic factors that supported imperial growth.
What conditions allowed land-based empires to expand?
Why did empire-building accelerate after 1450?
land-based empire, imperial expansion, gunpowder weapons, taxation, centralized authority
APWH Unit 3 Topic 3.1
Skill 2.A
Reasoning Process: Causation
Identifying cause-and-effect relationships in informational and historical texts.
This lesson introduces the core characteristics and causes of land-based empires as a foundation for regional case studies.
Purpose: Establish causal understanding of empire expansion
DOK: 2
Modern state expansion and debates over military power and taxation.
Students may assume all empires expanded for the same reasons or at the same pace.
Cause-and-effect organizers; extension through comparative discussion.
Formative multiple-choice questions focused on causation.
AP World History textbook, political maps