Unit Plan 15 (Grade 7 Social Studies): Medieval Trade and Urban Growth in Europe
Explain how fairs, guilds, and banking systems transformed medieval Europe’s economy—linking producers, consumers, and credit to the rise of prosperous urban centers.
Focus: Explain how fairs, guilds, and banking/credit systems transformed medieval European economies and fueled urban growth.
Grade Level: 7
Subject Area: Social Studies (World History • Geography • Economics)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students examine how European market fairs, craft guilds, and emerging money/credit practices linked rural producers with urban consumers, increasing specialization and prosperity. Through maps, primary-source snippets, and simulations, learners trace how economic changes supported the rise of towns and city-states and created new roles for merchants, artisans, and financiers.
Essential Questions
- How did fairs, guilds, and credit connect producers and consumers and reshape medieval economies?
- In what ways did changing systems of exchange (barter → coin → credit) support urban growth?
- What changed and what continued in European economic life between 1000–1400?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Identify producers, consumers, and key industries involved in medieval European trade (wool, cloth, wine, salt, metals) (Econ.2).
- Describe systems of exchange—barter, coinage, money changing, bills of exchange, fees/taxes—and explain their roles in growth (Econ.3).
- Construct explanations of change and continuity in the medieval economy using evidence and multiple causes (Hist.5).
- Use maps and charts to connect fairs, guild centers, and trade routes to urbanization.
- Communicate a claim–evidence–reasoning (CER) argument about how economic institutions transformed daily life.
Standards Alignment — 7th Grade (C3-based custom)
- 7.C3.Econ.2 — Identify producers/consumers and key industries in medieval/early modern economies.
- 7.C3.Econ.3 — Describe exchange systems (barter, money, credit, taxation) and their roles in growth.
- 7.C3.Hist.5 — Construct explanations for change/continuity with evidence and multiple causes.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can name who produced what and who consumed it, and where.
- I can explain how credit and banking made long-distance trade easier and towns richer.
- I can show change and continuity with evidence from maps, sources, and data.