1. Cultural Diffusion and Convergence
Page 32 in your ISN

2. Patterns of Diffusion
Diffusion refers to how something diffuses or spreads
Physical geography can speed up or slow down diffusion
How?

3. Case Study: Chinese Inventions Foster European Exploration
China developed gunpowder, the compass, and printing
Trade along the silk road allowed these inventions to spread to Europe
How do you think the European’s used these inventions?
Gunpowder to construct cannons
Adapted the compass for sea travel
Printing was used for maps, documents, etc
Led to the European discovery of the New World.

4. Case Study: The Columbian Exchange
Where do you think oranges come from?
Europe
Where did potatoes originate?
The Americas
Are horses a native species of Europe or the Americas?
The Colombian exchange led to the introduction of new products to both European and American cultures.

5. Colombian Exchange
Are there any exchanges that you are surprised about?
What are they?

6. Whip Around
How might history have been different if the cultures of Europe and the Americas had never come in contact?

7. Cultural Diffusion cont…
The spread of new technologies
Computers did not exist before the 1980’s
First developed in the United States but quickly spread throughout the world.
Cell phones
Have spread rapidly even to less developed nations.

8. The Spread of Ideas
Contact between different cultures can lead to important exchanges in ideas
Religious beliefs
Political ideas
Case Study: The spread of Chinese Culture
Many aspects of Chinese culture are visible in Japan.
Rulers are absolute
Shintoism is a mixture of Buddhism and Confucianism
Japanese written language was adapted from the Chinese written language
Music, art, pottery, weaving, and cooking very similar

9. Whip Around
Japan’s location close to China had a great influence on its culture. What are some other examples in which ideas spread from one culture to another?

10. The Spread of Cultural Traits
Fashions, art styles, cooking, music
Case Study: The Global Reach of American Popular Culture
Influenced by many cultures
Today English is used as an international second language
Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga are international icons

11. Whip Around
What factors do you think have most helped American popular culture to spread throughout the world over the past 50 years?

12. Pandemics: The Spread of Disease
The Bubonic Plague (The Black Death)
Began in China and Central Asia
Spread throughout Europe
In less than 10 years almost 1/3 of Europe’s population was killed
Spread of “Old World” Diseases to the Americas
Smallpox, typhus, measles
In 30 years the population of Native Americans dropped from 25 million to 5.2 million and within the 50 years after than it was down to 2.2 million

13. Definitions
Cultural Divergence: when cultures separate and become different
The Roman Empire
The western empire (Europe)
The eastern empire (Byzantium)
Cultural Convergence: when different cultures become similar or even come together
The Colombian Exchange
Globalization
The creation of a common global culture
Internet!!!!

14. Globalization
Are there any brands on here that you haven’t heard of?

15. Recent examples of Convergence and Divergence
Democracy
The fall of the Berlin Wall
The English Language
Today almost half a billion people speak English as their primary language
English is learned as a second language in most countries
More than 1 billion people now understand English
New Technologies
Telephones, TV, computers, cell phones, Internet
Global Sports
Soccer!!

16. Assignment Work on vocabulary from yesterday.
Work on questions on pg
Complete the graphic organizer on page 203