History/Humanities

At Moses Brown, ninth grade history begins with armor clanking in the Middle Ages and ends with the sound of German boots marching into Poland.  The countries of western Europe were the crossroads of global economic development and exploration.  From the Silk Road to North America, a significant increase in global activity connected peoples across continents as never before.

This global convergence ushered in a period of European dominance around the world, marking the dawn of modern society. While Europe’s ascent created the mold of how to become an industrialized, militarized, and imperialist power, it borrowed much from Asian and Muslim societies as it honed its maritime and military technology. Students investigate the factors that led to Europe’s emergence as the leading economic, political and military power, its effects on the peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe, and the social costs of these developments.

Students write well-structured analytical essays, demonstrating command of the form, including a conclusion derived from presented evidence.  They construct logical arguments supported by primary sources from multiple perspectives, and analyze cause-and-effect relationships.

Students practice these skills over and over as they examine Ming China, the Ottoman Empire, 15th- and 16th-century Spanish and Portuguese exploration, the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, 19th-century China and Japan, 19th-century European imperialism in Africa, WWI and the Treaty of Versailles, and finally the Interwar Years.  In every class, they review current events and identify patterns in past events than can inform their understanding of the present.