C. The World, 1650–1789 · The World, 1650–1789The World in 1650: Empires, Peoples and Thinking Like a Historian
C1 C2 A1.1 A1.2 A1 A2About 70 minutes
Learning goals- I can describe the major states, empires and peoples of the world around 1650.
- I can explain why historians treat 1650 to 1789 as a period, and what that choice leaves out.
- I can write factual, comparative, causal and evaluative inquiry questions about this period.
- I can tell primary sources from secondary sources and organize evidence from both.
- I can name careers that use historical inquiry skills.
Words to know
periodization
Dividing the past into named periods (such as 1650–1789). Periods are choices historians make, not facts found in the past.
empire
A large state in which one ruler or people governs many different peoples and territories, often won by conquest.
primary source
Evidence created at the time being studied: a letter, treaty, map, painting, tax record, wampum belt or object.
secondary source
An account written later by someone who studied primary sources, such as a textbook or a historian's book.
historiography
The study of how historians have written about the past, and how their interpretations have changed.
Eurocentrism
Telling world history mainly from a European point of view, as if Europe were the centre and other peoples only reacted to it.
inquiry question
An open question that guides an investigation and can be answered with evidence and argument.
A world on the move
Imagine a single year, 1650. In Beijing, a new dynasty, the Qing, has held the capital for six years. In Agra, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan is finishing the Taj Mahal. In Istanbul, the Ottoman sultan rules from Hungary to Iraq. Along the St. Lawrence, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy is at war with the Wendat and their French allies. Off West Africa, ships are loading enslaved people bound for sugar plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean.
None of these places was "waiting" for Europe. Each had its own politics, economy and beliefs. But between 1650 and 1789 they became tied together by trade, war, migration, disease and ideas. This unit investigates that connected world.
Why 1650 to 1789?
The dates are a historian's choice. Many textbooks begin around 1650 because of the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe, and they end in 1789, the start of the French Revolution. Those are European turning points.
From other places, different dates stand out: 1644 (the Qing take Beijing), 1707 (the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, after which Mughal power declined), or 1763 (the Treaty of Paris and the Royal Proclamation in North America). Choosing a period is a form of interpretation. Asking "Whose turning points are these?" is one way to avoid Eurocentrism.
This course has four period strands. The unit before this one, The World, 1450–1650, covered the Renaissance, the Reformation, the first European voyages and the Columbian Exchange. This unit picks up the story. The next unit, The World, 1789–1900, begins with the French and Haitian revolutions.
Big themes of 1650–1789
The three overall expectations for this strand point to three kinds of questions:
- C1: Social, economic and political context. How were societies organized and governed? Think of absolutist monarchies, constitutional government in England and the Dutch Republic, the Qing, Mughal, Ottoman and Tokugawa states, the Atlantic economy, and the Scientific and Agricultural revolutions.
- C2: Communities, conflict and cooperation. How did groups interact? Think of the transatlantic slave trade, colonial wars such as the Seven Years' War, Indigenous diplomacy and resistance, European trading companies in Asia and Africa, and the American Revolution.
- C3: Identity, citizenship and heritage. How did ideas shape who people thought they were? Think of the Enlightenment, religious change and toleration, new ideas about rights, and the arts from Versailles to Edo.
Thinking like a historian (Strand A)
In Grade 10 history you met the historical inquiry process and the four historical thinking concepts. In this course you use them at university level.
- Historical significance: Why does this matter, to whom, and for how long?
- Cause and consequence: What led to this? What followed, intended and unintended?
- Continuity and change: What changed, what stayed the same, and how fast?
- Historical perspective: How did people at the time see things, given their beliefs and situation? (This is not the same as agreeing with them.)
Good inquiry starts with good questions. Historians use several types:
- Factual: When did the Qing restrict European trade to Guangzhou?
- Comparative: How was Louis XIV's power similar to and different from the Kangxi emperor's?
- Causal: Why did Mughal power decline after 1707?
- Evaluative (judgement): To what extent was the Seven Years' War a "world war"?
Factual questions are building blocks. Evaluative questions need an argument backed by evidence; they are the kind you will write essays about at university.
Sources: what counts as evidence?
A primary source comes from the time: a treaty, a ship's log, a tax register, a painting, a wampum belt recording an agreement, a sermon, a court record. A secondary source is a later account, such as a historian's book.
Primary sources from this period are uneven. Kings, merchants and officials left many written records. Enslaved Africans, peasants, women and many Indigenous nations left fewer written records. Their histories survive in oral traditions, objects, songs, court testimony and the records of others, which must be read carefully. Part of your job is noticing whose voices are missing and looking for them.
| Evidence | Primary or secondary? | One question to ask |
|---|
| The Great Peace of Montreal (1701), with the pictographic marks of First Nations signatories | Primary | Who recorded the agreement on paper, and how did the nations record it themselves? |
| A 2015 historian's book on the Qing Empire | Secondary | What sources did the author use, and what is the argument? |
| A ship captain's log from a slave-trading voyage | Primary | Whose experience does it leave out? |
| A painting of Louis XIV in coronation robes (1701) | Primary | What message did the king want viewers to receive? |
| A museum website summarizing Mughal history | Secondary | Who wrote it, and does it cite evidence? |
Worked exampleModelled example: Turning a topic into inquiry questions
Topic: "Tea in the 1700s." Write one question of each type, then pick the best one for an essay.
- Factual: Where did most of the tea sold in Europe in the 1700s come from? (Answer: China, mainly through the port of Guangzhou.) Good for gathering facts, but too narrow for an essay.
- Comparative: How did tea drinking change daily life in Britain compared with Qing China? This invites evidence from two places.
- Causal: Why did the British East India Company want more tea, and what did it trade for it? This links to silver, Indian cotton and later opium.
- Evaluative: To what extent did the tea trade connect the economies of China, India, Britain and the Americas by 1789? This needs a thesis and evidence from several regions.
- Choose: the evaluative question is best for an essay, because it can be argued either way and draws on several historical thinking concepts (cause and consequence, significance).
A strong inquiry question is open, focused (on a time, place and issue) and answerable with evidence. The evaluative question meets all three.
Remember from Grade 7
If you studied New France and British North America, 1713 to 1800 in Grade 7, you already know the Canadian side of several events in this unit: the Acadian expulsion, the Seven Years' War, the Royal Proclamation and the Loyalists. Here we zoom out to see how those events fit into world history.
Just for funWhy do history teachers love fruit?
Because they are always looking for dates. This unit has plenty: 1644, 1648, 1683, 1707, 1763 and 1789, for a start.
Hands-on activityYour family as a primary-source archive
You need: about 20 minutes, a notebook, and any old items at home (a recipe card, a photo, a letter, a receipt, a souvenir).
- Collect five items. For each, write who made it, when, and why.
- Label each one primary (made at the time) or secondary (an account made later, such as a family-history book).
- Ask a grown-up what each item cannot tell you. (A photo shows a birthday party but not how people felt.)
- Write one factual, one causal and one evaluative question a future historian could ask using your items.
Look for: correct labels, and at least one note about what is missing from the evidence. That habit is exactly what historians of 1650–1789 need.
Your turn
1Name three large Asian empires that existed around 1650.
Any three: the Qing (China), the Mughal Empire (India), the Ottoman Empire, Safavid Persia, and Tokugawa Japan (a shogunate rather than an empire, but a powerful unified state).
2Why do many textbooks start this period around 1650 and end it in 1789?
Around 1650 follows the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years' War; 1789 is the start of the French Revolution. Both are European turning points.
3What is periodization, and why is it an interpretation?
Periodization is dividing the past into named periods. It is an interpretation because the historian chooses which events are turning points, and different regions would suggest different dates.
4Name the four historical thinking concepts.
Historical significance, cause and consequence, continuity and change, and historical perspective.
5Classify this question: "Why did the Qing restrict European traders to Guangzhou in 1757?"
A causal question: it asks why something happened.
6Is a wampum belt recording a treaty a primary or secondary source? Explain.
Primary. It was made at the time of the agreement to record it, and it was used by the nations involved to remember and renew the agreement.
7Name two careers that use historical inquiry skills.
Any two: archivist, museum curator, lawyer, journalist, policy analyst, teacher, librarian, heritage planner, intelligence analyst, documentary researcher. All of them gather, judge and communicate evidence.
More practice: warm-up
1In what year did the Qing dynasty take Beijing?
2What event in 1789 often marks the end of this period?
The start of the French Revolution.
3Give one example of a primary source from the 1700s.
Examples: a treaty, a letter, a ship's log, a painting, a tax record, a newspaper, a wampum belt.
4Give one example of a secondary source about the 1700s.
Examples: a textbook, a historian's book or article, a documentary.
5Which historical thinking concept asks "Why does this matter, and to whom?"
More practice: on your own
1Explain why a world historian might prefer 1644 or 1707 as turning points instead of 1648.
Because 1648 (Westphalia) mattered mainly to Europe, while 1644 (the Qing take Beijing) changed the government of the world's most populous state, and 1707 (Aurangzeb's death) began the decline of Mughal power in India. A world historian looks for turning points across many regions to avoid Eurocentrism.
2Turn the topic "the fur trade" into an evaluative inquiry question.
Example: "To what extent did the fur trade benefit First Nations as well as European traders between 1670 and 1789?" It is open, focused and can be argued with evidence.
3Why are the voices of enslaved people and peasants harder to find in records from this period?
Most written records were made by the literate and powerful: officials, merchants, clergy and slaveholders. Many enslaved people and peasants were denied schooling or had no reason to write records, so their experiences survive in oral tradition, court testimony, objects and other people's records, which historians must read critically.
4Explain the difference between historical perspective and agreeing with people in the past.
Historical perspective means understanding how people saw the world given their beliefs and circumstances. It does not mean approving. A historian can explain why many Europeans in 1700 accepted slavery while still judging slavery as a grave injustice.
5What makes a good inquiry question? Give three features.
It is open (not answered by one fact), focused (on a specific time, place and issue), and answerable with evidence. Good questions also often use a historical thinking concept.
Challenge
1"The period 1650–1789 is the 'Age of Enlightenment'." Explain one strength and one weakness of this label for world history.
Strength: it names a real and influential movement of ideas about reason, science and rights that shaped later revolutions. Weakness: it centres European intellectual history; for most people in the world (in Qing China, Mughal India, West Africa or Indigenous North America) the Enlightenment was not the defining experience, and for millions of enslaved Africans the same period was one of the worst expansions of slavery. A world historian might use several labels, or none.
2Write a comparative question and an evaluative question about the Ottoman and Mughal empires in the 1700s, and explain which would make the better essay.
Comparative: How did the Ottoman and Mughal empires respond to military pressure in the 1700s? Evaluative: To what extent did the Mughal Empire decline faster than the Ottoman Empire after 1700, and why? The evaluative question is better for an essay because it requires a judgement ("to what extent") supported by comparison and causal reasoning.
3A student says: "Historians just report facts." Use the idea of periodization and source gaps to argue against this.
Historians select and interpret. Choosing 1648 or 1644 as a starting point shapes what story is told (periodization). Deciding which sources to trust, and how to read gaps where enslaved, Indigenous or poor people's voices are missing, also requires judgement. So history is an evidence-based argument, not a list of facts. Different historians can reach different, well-supported conclusions.
Quiz
1. Which dynasty took control of Beijing in 1644?
2. Which question is evaluative?
3. Which is a primary source for the 1700s?
4. What does Eurocentrism mean in history?
5. Which historical thinking concept asks what changed and what stayed the same?
6. Why is periodization an interpretation?
Big idea: This lesson introduces Strand C (The World, 1650–1789, overall expectations C1 to C3) and practises Strand A skills: formulating questions (A1.1), selecting and organizing evidence (A1.2), and transferable skills and careers (A2).
How to help: Ask your teen to explain why historians argue about dates. Then pick any news story and ask them to write a factual, a causal and an evaluative question about it. This is the same skill they will use all unit.
Common difficulties: Writing questions that are too broad ("What happened in the 1700s?") or too narrow (a single fact). Thinking of world history as "Europe plus the rest". Encourage them to name at least one Asian, African and Indigenous American example in every answer.
Expectation codes: The ministry's specific-expectation numbers for Strand C could not be confirmed from an online source, so lessons list the overall expectations (C1, C2, C3). Strand A uses confirmed specific codes where available.