List of Benchmarks for World History |
| Standard 46. | Understands long-term changes and recurring patterns in world history |
| | Level II (Grades 5-6) |
| | 1. | Understands why humans have built cities and how the character, function, and number of cities have changed over time |
| | 2. | Understands major patterns of long-distance trade from ancient times to the present and how trade has contributed to economic and cultural change in particular societies or civilizations |
| | 3. | Understands the economic and social importance of slavery and other forms of coerced labor in various societies |
| | 4. | Understands how ideals and institutions of freedom, equality, justice, and citizenship have changed over time and from one society to another |
| | 5. | Understands ways in which human action has contributed to long-term changes in the natural environment in particular regions or worldwide |
| | Level III (Grades 7-8) |
| | 1. | Understands major changes in world population from paleolithic times to the present (e.g., why these changes occurred, the effects of major disease pandemics) |
| | 2. | Understands the emergence of capitalism (e.g., the origins, development, and characteristics of capitalism; capitalist systems compared with other systems for organizing production, labor, and trade) |
| | 3. | Understands the development of the nation-state and how nation-states differ from empires or other forms of political organization |
| | 4. | Understands political revolutionary movements of the past three centuries and their ideologies, organization, and successes or failures |
| | Level IV (Grades 9-12) |
| | 1. | Understands the importance of the revolutions in tool-making, agriculture, and industrialization as major turning points in human history |
| | 2. | Understands the circumstances under which European countries came to exercise temporary military and economic dominance in the world in the late 19th and 20th centuries |
