World History since the Fifteenth Century

In this unit you will investigate the world from 1450 to 1650, the two centuries in which the world's separate regions became connected. You will study great states across the globe: Ming China, the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires, Songhai, Kongo, Benin, Ethiopia and the Swahili city-states, and the Mexica (Aztec) and Inca empires; the First Nations and Inuit of what is now Canada and their first encounters with Europeans; the Renaissance, the printing press, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations and the beginnings of the Scientific Revolution; and European exploration, the conquest and colonization of the Americas, the Columbian Exchange and the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade.

Throughout, you will use the historical inquiry process and the four historical thinking concepts (significance, cause and consequence, continuity and change, historical perspective), evaluate primary sources (including Indigenous records and oral histories), compare historians' interpretations, and finish with a full inquiry and essay plan. Lessons on colonization, slavery and the conquest of the Americas are written respectfully and without graphic detail. The story continues in the sibling units The World, 1650–1789, The World, 1789–1900 and The World since 1900.

In this unit you will investigate the world from 1650 to 1789, a period when trade, war, migration, disease and ideas tied the continents together more tightly than ever before. You will examine absolutism in France, Prussia, Austria and Russia and the rise of constitutional government in Britain and the Dutch Republic; the great Asian states of the Qing, Tokugawa, Joseon, Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal rulers; the Scientific Revolution and the global exchange of knowledge; the Enlightenment and its limits; mercantilism, global trade in silver, sugar, tea and cloth, and the Agricultural Revolution; the transatlantic slave trade at its peak and the resistance of enslaved people; the diplomacy, trade and resistance of Indigenous nations across the Americas, from the Great Peace of Montreal to the Royal Proclamation, the Treaty of Niagara and the Túpac Amaru II rebellion; the wars for empire that ended with the Seven Years' War; European companies and colonies in India, Java, the Cape, Alaska and Australia; the American Revolution and the road to 1789; and society, religion, gender and the arts from Versailles to Edo. Throughout, you will practise the historical inquiry process and the four historical thinking concepts, ending with your own inquiry: Was 1650–1789 an "Age of Enlightenment" for the world?

This unit follows The World, 1450–1650 and leads into The World, 1789–1900, which begins with the French and Haitian revolutions.

Some lessons deal with slavery, colonialism, war and dispossession. They are written respectfully and without graphic detail, each has a note for grown-ups, and those lessons have no joke block.

Curriculum expectations covered: Strand C, The World, 1650–1789 (overall expectations C1, C2 and C3), with Strand A, Historical Inquiry and Skill Development (A1.1–A1.4, A1.7–A1.9, and overall expectations A1 and A2), of World History since the Fifteenth Century, Grade 12, University Preparation (CHY4U), from The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Canadian and World Studies (2015, revised). The ministry's specific-expectation codes for Strand C could not be confirmed from an online source, so lessons list the overall expectations C1 to C3; the same applies to A1.5, A1.6 and A2.1–A2.4, which are covered under A1 and A2.

In this unit you will investigate the world from 1789 to 1900, an age of revolutions that historians call the time of the dual revolution: political and industrial. You will study the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution, the only revolution in which enslaved people won both freedom and independence; Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna; and independence in Latin America. You will examine the Industrial Revolution as a global story that linked Lancashire mills, cotton grown by enslaved people in the US South and the weavers of India, and the new industrial society of workers, cities and reform. You will compare the ideologies of the century (conservatism, liberalism, socialism, nationalism and feminism) and see them at work in the revolutions of 1848 and the unification of Italy and Germany. You will trace the abolition of slavery and serfdom, including slavery and freedom in Canada; the Scramble for Africa and African resistance; British India, the Opium Wars and Qing China; and reform movements in Meiji Japan, Qing China and the Ottoman Empire. You will examine settler colonialism and the experiences of First Nations and Métis peoples in Canada and Indigenous peoples in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South America, and new ideas in science, culture and women's rights.

Throughout, you will practise the historical inquiry skills of strand A (asking questions, evaluating and using primary and secondary sources, analysing different perspectives, building arguments and citing sources), ending with an inquiry into the most significant change of the period. This unit follows The World, 1650–1789 and leads into The World since 1900.

Expectation codes: Strand D's specific-expectation numbers could not be confirmed from an online source, so lessons list the overall expectations D1, D2 and D3. Strand A uses the specific codes confirmed in a ministry-linked chart (A1.1 to A1.4, A1.7 to A1.9) and the overall code A2.

In this final unit of CHY4U you will investigate the world since 1900: a century of extraordinary change, terrible violence and new hopes.

You will begin in an age of empire and follow the First World War as a global war, the revolutions in Mexico, Russia and China, the Great Depression and the rise of dictatorships, and the Second World War in Asia, Europe and beyond. You will study the Holocaust and other genocides, and the creation of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

You will see how the Cold War divided Europe and spread to Asia, Africa and Latin America, how colonized peoples won independence in Asia and Africa, how the struggle against apartheid succeeded, and how the modern Middle East and Latin America took shape. You will examine globalization, science, technology and the environment; the changing roles of women; culture from jazz to K-pop; the survival, resistance and resurgence of Indigenous peoples worldwide; and the world since 1991, up to events of 2026.

Throughout, you will use the historical inquiry process and the concepts of historical significance, cause and consequence, continuity and change, and historical perspective (strand A), and you will see how these skills prepare you for university and careers.

A note on difficult history: several lessons deal with genocide, residential schools and war. They have no humour blocks, and they include support information. Take breaks and talk with a trusted adult when you need to.