Lesson plan
Mapping the Atlantic System
Grade band: middle school · 50 minutes
Objectives
- Describe the three legs of the Atlantic trade in their own words.
- Explain why the triangle model is a simplification.
- Identify at least three groups of people affected by the system.
Materials
- Blank outline map of the Atlantic
- Coloured pencils
- A short reading on the three legs
- Sticky notes
Steps
- Begin by asking students what they already know about the Atlantic trade and record their ideas without correcting them yet.
- Read the short text together and have pairs sketch the three legs on the map using three colours.
- Ask pairs to add sticky notes naming goods and people at each stage, making sure at least one note on each leg names enslaved people and not only cargo.
- Show or describe two routes that do not fit the triangle and ask students to add them to the map.
- Discuss what the triangle shows and what it hides, then have students write a one-sentence caption that acknowledges its limits.
Discussion questions
- What does the triangle make easy to see, and what does it hide?
- Whose point of view would a merchant's map show, and what would someone who was enslaved add?
- Why might historians prefer to talk about an Atlantic system rather than a triangle?
Assessment
Students submit their annotated map and a two-sentence caption explaining one strength and one limit of the triangle model. Look for accurate description of the three legs and for people, not only goods, being named.