Early in Era 4, the two pillars of the Eurasian trading network, the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty China, collapsed. These weren’t the only societies to go into decline or break down during this era. As a result, European historians in particular have labelled much of this era a “dark age”. But was this true everywhere, or anywhere? Looking at Era 4 on a global scale, we see restructuring and rebuilding, often in the aftermath of crisis, both in the Americas and in Afro-Eurasia.

This video introduces you to the global history of humans and our societies during Era 4. It focuses on a question that becomes particularly clear in this period: What happens when communities and networks go into crisis or break down? Through this video, you will think about that question and encounter the first evidence you can use to respond to it.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you want the video.

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. What does this video say happened to the Eurasian system early in this era?
2. What kind of quantitative evidence does the video present that suggests decline in the Roman Empire during this era?
3. What evidence from Tintagel points to a dark age in this community? What evidence suggests there was a recovery?
4. What evidence does the video present that suggests there was not a dark age across Eurasia during this period?
5. How does the video characterize the period after a large-scale collapse?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. How can studying what happens after collapse in history help us today?
2. What kinds of evidence would you need to investigate what happened after Han Dynasty China collapsed?

In this lesson, you will encounter a lot of trade routes, as they expand, collapse, and rebuild along with the societies they connected. Over the course of this lesson, you’ll see the disruption of old routes, and you’ll see new long-distance trade routes emerge and expand, reshaping the communities they passed through. The purpose of this activity is to introduce you to some of the many geographic features that shaped these routes and impacted the people moving across them. The focus of this activity is on the task of identifying and predicting with maps. As the opening map activity for this lesson, this is intended to help orient you in time and space while raising some important questions about the geography they will encounter in this lesson.

You will begin this activity by identifying several geographic features that were important to long-distance trade in this lesson. Next, you’ll use a map of medieval trade routes to make some guesses about how these features helped shape long-distance trade during this lesson of the course.

Step 1

This activity is intended to introduce the geography of the world in this era. You aren’t expected to have all the answers!

With your teacher, brainstorm some factors that might have impacted the development of long-distance connections in this period. How do you think the development of these connections might have reshaped human communities? Your teacher may add some factors you haven’t thought about.

Step 2

In small groups you should select one “geographic features” column from the table and label the four units in each of your selected columns on the blank map. When this is complete, each group should share their answers until all 20 features are labeled on your maps.

Step 3

Now examine the Medieval Trade Routes Thematic Map. Choose three of the geographic features you just identified and make a guess about how you think each feature shaped long-distance trade routes in this lesson of the course. Finally, on your blank maps, trace one trade route that you think will be the most significant during this lesson.

Empires are complex states that must keep different communities unified and under control. Many different problems must be avoided, or the empire will collapse. Invasion, lack of money, and internal challenges all can be risky for empires. This article looks at different causes of collapse in the Roman Empire, Han Dynasty, Persian Empire, and Inca Empire, as well as Maya states (which weren’t really empires).

This article introduces the causes of the decline of multiple empires, allowing you to compare causes across several different cases. Together, this information provides important evidence for understanding why empires collapse.

Think about the following question as you read the article: How and why did empires collapse during this era? Write this question at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. According to the author, what are two general factors that usually bring down an empire?
2. How might changes in population affect an empire?
3. What problems did Rome and the Han Dynasty have with taxes? What were their specific circumstances?
4. In both Rome and the Han Dynasty, what was a problem with some of their emperors?
5. What factors made it easier for Alexander to conquer Persia?
6. Why did the Spanish have lucky timing when they took over former Inca territory?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. How and why did empires collapse during this era?
2. Are there any lessons we can learn from the collapse of these empires that might help us think about how to keep our own society from collapsing? If so, what are they? If not, why not?

The Han Dynasty’s management of the Silk Road helped link together smaller regional networks and support trade across Asia. But when the Han Dynasty fell, the Silk Road did not collapse. Many of the traders at the time came from Central Asia and operated in smaller circuits, and other empires stepped in to provide stability until the Tang Dynasty, when Chinese imperial power recovered and a golden age was launched.

In watching this video, you will explore how the fall of empires may (or may not) have greatly impacted the vast networks linking different routes on the Silk Road. This video will provide you regional evidence to evaluate the economic systems theme. Remember to look for how the collapse of political communities affected or did not affect trade networks.

Think about the following question as you watch the video: How does this video help you to understand how the rise and fall of empires impacted trade networks and economic systems? You will be asked to respond to this question again at the end of the video.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. The term Silk Road is commonly used. Why does this video argue that the name is somewhat misleading?
2. What were some of the commonly traded items on the Silk Road?
3. How did the Han Dynasty “manage” the Silk Road? What were the economic impacts of this management?
4. What was the impact of the fall of the Han Dynasty on the Silk Road?
5. What is the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and how does it relate to the Tang “golden age”?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. How does this video help you to understand how the rise and fall of empires impacted trade networks and economic systems?
2. The video says that the Tang Dynasty created a golden age across the Silk Road, starting in 626 CE. But the Tang Dynasty gained power in 618 CE. What’s going on here? What does this suggest about the effects of collapse and recovery on large networks?

This article covers only a small part of the vast Pacific Ocean. And yet, that small part is by itself huge! Humans migrated to the islands of Oceania—including Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Australasia—thousands of years ago. But they are often left out of world-historical narratives. These societies developed innovations that allowed them to cross ever-larger spans of open ocean, eventually migrating to even the most distant and isolated of island chains. Despite the vast distances that separated them and diverse societies they developed, many of these societies remained in contact and retained cultural practices and social organization.

The peoples of Oceania developed technologies that allowed them to move vast distances across the open ocean—a feat not achieved by Afro-Eurasians until much later. This article provides an overview of a people often left out of the world historical narrative, and it will provide you with evidence to challenge these narratives.

Think about the following question as you read the article: How does the evidence presented in this article support, extend, or challenge what you’ve learned thus far about ancient states? Write this question at the top of the Three Close Reads worksheet. You will be asked to respond to this question again after the third read in the Evaluating and Corroborating section of the worksheet.

Preview—Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas—Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How do historians believe that humans ended up settling the islands of Oceania? What debate surrounds this question?
2. What were the most important innovations that allowed migrations across Oceania?
3. In general, how did communities in this region organize themselves?
4. How does the article describe gender relations in societies in Oceania?
5. What evidence do the authors use to argue that Oceania was not separated from the rest of the world?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following question:

1. How does the evidence presented in this article support, extend, or challenge what you’ve learned thus far about ancient states?

In this activity, you will reflect on what you’ve learned during this lesson by comparing three political maps. You’ll also review the predictions you made about the consequences of long-distance trade in the Era 4 Part 1 map activity earlier in this lesson. Finally, you’ll be able to look at maps showing the spread of Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism as you discuss how societies restructure after collapse.

This activity begins with an identification opening in which you identify seven political communities in the year 800 CE. Next, you will compare the maps of political communities in 100, 800, and 1200 CE as you evaluate how states changed and stayed the same during this era. Finally, you will compare your guesses and predictions from the Part 1 activity and write a response to a prompt about collapse and restructuring.

Step 1

Identify the political communities associated with the numbers on the black-and-white map of the world in 800 CE and record your answers on the worksheet. You should complete this part of the activity without referencing outside sources or the rest of the maps in this activity.

Step 2

Open and review the 800 CE Political Map and correct your identifications. Then, in small groups, examine the 100 CE Political Map, the 800 CE Political Map, and the 1200 CE Political Map. You should compare these three maps and identify significant changes or continuities, focusing particularly on the collapse and restructuring of large states and empires.

Step 3

Remaining in small groups, open and review the Spread of Buddhism and Christianity Thematic Map and the Spread of Islam Thematic Map. Review the guesses and predictions you made in the Part 1 map activity for this lesson. What did you get right? What did you miss? Finally, prepare a short paragraph or bullet list in response to this prompt:

At the beginning of this lesson, some of history’s most prominent empires collapsed, but soon, societies began to restructure. Yet, as you learned, this process of collapse and restructuring continued through this era. Using the maps you encountered in this lesson, explain the role of trade and the spread of religion in the patterns of collapse and restructuring you’ve seen in this unit.