Standard 5: The competent history teacher understands major trends, key turning points, and the roles of influential individuals and groups in world history from the Age of Exploration to the present.

This standard requires the teacher to understand a span of time from 1450 to the present including major revolutions, wars, changing cultural views, and global realignment. The teacher should realize the enormous amount of information and depth of history involved in this standard and adjust their world-view accordingly. The existence of multiple "histories" and distinctive cultural viewpoints should be taken into account.
The Age of Exploration was a key turning point in the world, as it opened North America to the Eurasian continent. The teacher should understand the many voyages undertaken by European explorers and merchants and their role in Native American interactions and politics. The teacher should also understand the political climate in Eurasia and the shifting alliances within the continent, as well as the rise of Africa in the world political and economic system, and how this increasing importance resonated within the context of the New World. Emphasis should be placed on a holistic interpretation of history, with countries and leaders interacting and influencing each other beyond typical political and diplomatic alliances. The teacher should also understand major wars and leaders of the time period, especially in India, Europe, and Asia.
The teacher should understand the concept of Europe as an explorer. The various pressures created by space, economies, and power dynamics forced Europe to act as a whole to expand their physical and economic borders beyond the European landmass. The concept of the Age of Exploration is usually defined as an interaction between Europe and the rest of the world; however, the teacher should also understand the other explorations occurring at this same time. The gradual colonization of Oceania, the spread of nomadic cultures in Northern China, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire should be taken into account.
The teacher should also comprehend the often disparate perspectives placed on history by either the exploring culture or the culture being explored. Teachers should be aware of the differing viewpoints, and how these can be misleading in studying the Age of Exploration. Most history gets written by the dominant (and often European) culture, and the subordinate culture is often ignored or lowered in status in comparison. The teacher should also be aware of the role that colonization played in exploration. While the British Empire is a classic example of colonization efforts around the world, the teacher should also be aware of other colonizers, both European, such as the Dutch and the French, and non-European, such as the Japanese, Moroccans, and the Ottomans. Colonies created by these powers, such as the French settlements in Korea, lasted for decades, and often sowed the seeds of later political upheaval.
The 150 years after the start of the Age of Exploration began a new period in world history. The early Anglo colonization of North America led to early questions of economic and political freedom, as well as giving birth to a new world power, though this power would not be realized for some time. The revolutions - both social and political - in Europe and Asia had repercussions beyond their immediate physical area. The teacher should realize the scope of these events - such as the French social revolutions and the wars within Russia, as well as the Civil War in China and the closing of Japanese ports - and the ramifications they had on the world power dynamic. Additionally, the teacher should be aware of the social upheaval in India and Asia, and the potential effects these had within a global context. The effects of these social and political upheavals would be felt for the next five hundred years, throughout the entire world.
The increasingly fractured state of world power was evident by around 1600. South America came under the political control of the Spanish monarch and religious control of the Spanish Catholic Church while the Spanish, French and British vied for control of North America. Turkish forces were invading Europe, the Mogul Period in India was gaining strength, Asia was becoming increasingly insular in the face of foreign invasion, and Africa was the location of much infighting among kingdoms. This splintered world persisted into the late twentieth century as economics and politics exacerbated differences.