Manuel Moya

Students will roleplay European explorers pitching proposed expeditions to monarchs/investors in a Shark Tank–style format. The goal is to learn about the different explorers and their principal travels as well as to understand how exploration was funded, critically assess risk vs. reward, and realize the opportunities afforded by early joint-stock companies.

This is a fun activity I used in my class to demonstrate the different roles in Japan's feudal social structure, as well as to give students context about the disorder plaguing the country before the Tokugawa bring about centralized rule for the next two and a half centuries.