Whose Renaissance? — Unit Launch and the RENAISSANCES-EVERYWHERE Atlas

Display G7-Fall I-STILL-WONDER chart MG-22. Read aloud 3 selected G7-Fall wonderings about the Renaissance. Bridge: 'This term we begin to answer those wonderings AND to refuse the Eurocentric framing absolutely.'

• Read aloud 3 selected G7-Fall I-STILL-WONDER notes
• Display the compelling question 'Whose Renaissance? Whose Discovery? Whose Conquest?'
• Recite the FIVE PROMISES (MG-9 + MG-10 + MG-11 + MG-12 + NEW MG-13a) together

M-7-S-CHR-01-B Diagram

18x24 inch wall poster showing all 5 Promises including NEW MG-13a Multi-Perspective-Encounter Promise: 'Every encounter is told from at least TWO perspectives, and Indigenous + African voices are NAMED FIRST.' Each promise illustrated with a lesson-application icon.

Show MG-2 RENAISSANCES-EVERYWHERE Atlas for the first time. Explain: the period 1450-1750 has been called 'the Renaissance' or 'the Age of Discovery' — but these are EUROCENTRIC LABELS. 'Renaissance' (rebirth) of WHAT? For WHOM? In the same 1450-1750 period, Italian humanists studied classical texts (Lessons 3-5) while Akbar's Mughal court 1556-1605 produced multilingual translations (Lesson 19); while Ming China sent Zheng He's treasure ships 1405-1433 PRECEDING Columbus by 87 years (Lesson 20); while Songhai under Askia Muhammad 1493-1528 maintained Timbuktu's libraries with 700,000+ manuscripts (Lesson 8); while Ottoman Suleiman built the Süleymaniye Mosque (Sinan 1557) and Piri Reis charted the world (1513); while Tokugawa Japan after 1603 produced Bashō haiku and ukiyo-e prints with literacy rates rivaling Europe (Lesson 20). The unit's FIFTH PROMISE (MG-13a) is NEW: 'Every encounter is told from at least TWO perspectives, and Indigenous + African voices are NAMED FIRST.'

• The textbook story called 'the Renaissance' tells us about ONE formation in a network of SIX. Whose Renaissance does this framing erase?

  model All 6. Italian Renaissance late-phase (Anguissola d.1625, Galileo b.1564); Mughal Akbar died 1605, Jahangir succeeded; Ming Wanli emperor (d.1620) + Ricci-Xu Guangqi 1582+; Songhai had fallen to Moroccan invasion 1591 (end-phase); Ottoman Mehmed III to Ahmed I; Tokugawa Ieyasu just established shogunate 1603. Six simultaneous flowerings.

  prompt At 1600 CE, how many of the 6 formations on MG-2 were active and producing major art, science, and scholarship?
• model MG-13a says: 'Every encounter is told from at least TWO perspectives, and Indigenous + African voices are NAMED FIRST.' While G7-Fall established multi-perspective Crusades (MG-8), G7-Spring extends multi-perspective to ENCOUNTER — Cortés-Mexica, Pizarro-Inca, Portuguese-African. Indigenous + African voices named FIRST per Mignolo decolonial frame.

  prompt What does MG-13a Multi-Perspective-Encounter Promise mean? Why is it NEW for G7-Spring?

• Point to MG-2 and name 3 of the 6 early-modern formations.
• Recite the FIFTH PROMISE in your own words.
• How does MG-13a extend G7-Fall's four-perspective Crusades protocol?

M-7-S-CHR-01-A Map

24x36 inch wall display MG-2 with all six early-modern formations color-coded; each formation labeled with capital + ruler + named scholar; time-period bands 1450-1750; Atlantic Triangular Trade arrows overlaid; Pueblo + Maya + Inca + Mexica present-tense Indigenous regions distinctly marked.

MG-2 Map

RENAISSANCES-EVERYWHERE Atlas — 24x36 inch wall display showing 1500 CE world with six early-modern formations color-coded: (1) Italian/Northern Renaissance Europe — yellow; (2) Mughal India — green; (3) Ming/Qing China — red; (4) Songhai West Africa — orange; (5) Ottoman Empire — purple; (6) Tokugawa-precursor Sengoku Japan — blue. Each formation labeled with major cities — Florence/Venice/Wittenberg/Antwerp; Agra/Delhi/Fatehpur Sikri; Beijing/Nanjing/Hangzhou; Timbuktu/Djenné/Gao; Istanbul/Cairo/Aleppo; Kyoto/Osaka/Edo. Time-period bands show 1450/1500/1550/1600/1650/1700/1750. Atlantic Triangular Trade overlaid with arrows. Pueblo + Maya + Inca + Mexica + 19 Pueblos + Vilcabamba present-tense Indigenous regions distinctly marked. Scale bar, modern country outlines in faint gray.

• Pairs: place 6 formation-cards on MG-2 Atlas, then write one sentence about ONE formation you knew NOTHING about before today.

  scaffold Sentence frame 'I knew ___ about the Renaissance, but I did NOT know about ___.'
• Class chart: for each of 6 formations, one student writes one named scholar/artist from that formation.

  scaffold Formation-card reverse side lists 3 named scholars per formation.

• List 3 of the 6 early-modern formations on MG-2.
• Recite the FIFTH PROMISE MG-13a in your own words.
• Write one I-STILL-WONDER note for MG-23.

• Restate the unit's compelling question 'Whose Renaissance? Whose Discovery? Whose Conquest?'
• Add 1 sticky to MG-23
• Preview Lesson 2: Italian city-states

M-7-S-CHR-01-C Chart

18x24 inch wall chart MG-23 for unit-wide student wonderings sticky-note collection — carries forward from G7-Fall MG-22; sections: Renaissance women / Conquest perspectives / African voices / Global empires / Resistance leaders.

MG-22 Map

TOKUGAWA JAPAN 1603-1868 map — 18x24 inch laminated showing major castle towns (Edo + Osaka + Kyoto + Nagoya + Kanazawa + Sendai + Hiroshima + Kumamoto) + Dejima island Nagasaki diagram inset (artificial fan-shaped island c.120m x 75m built 1634 for Portuguese 1636-1639 then Dutch 1641-1854 — only foreign-trade contact during sakoku) + sankin-kotai daimyo-route arrows from major domains to Edo + Kabuki theaters of Edo + the 1700 Edo population ~1 million annotated as 'world's largest city' against London ~575,000 + Paris ~500,000 comparison bars.

MG-23 Diagram

I-STILL-WONDER chart G7-Spring — 18x24 inch wall chart for unit-wide student wonderings sticky-note collection — carries forward from G7-Fall MG-22 + collects new wonderings during G7-Spring; serves as bridge into G8-Fall (Civil War + industrialization). Includes sections labeled: 'Renaissance women I want to know more about' + 'Conquest perspectives I want to read' + 'African voices I want to read' + 'Global empires I want to compare' + 'Resistance leaders I want to research.'

• Find one image of any of the 6 early-modern formations and bring to share; name the formation and why.