Introducing Afro-Eurasia
Teacher Resources
Driving Question: How did governments and religions work together to organize communities during this period?
From East Asia to Western Europe, from Siberia to South Africa, Afro-Eurasia’s diverse landscapes, climates, and peoples have shaped the course of world history. In this lesson, you’ll explore the communities of Afro-Eurasia and the different ways in which they structured their states and religions.
Learning Objectives:
- Evaluate how communities were organized in Afro-Eurasia.
- Assess the role of religion in the governance of states in Afro-Eurasia.
- Use the historical thinking practice of claim testing to identify, assess, and use authority when evaluating and making claims.
Vocab Terms:
Show students the Medieval Trade Routes Thematic Map to help orient them in the connections linking Afro-Eurasia in this period. Use the deep zoom feature (the + button in the magnifying glass in the top-left corner) to zoom in on South and Southeast Asia. Want more maps? Check out OER Project’s collection of regional, political, and thematic maps.
Would you ask your dentist for advice on fixing a hole in your jeans? Probably not. We trust different authorities in different situations.
It’s not always easy to decide between conflicting claims from two people with strong credentials. In a battle of PhD vs. PhD, who wins?
Fun fact: Most medieval historians hate the terms Dark Ages and feudalism, with some calling the latter “the F word” because they think it’s a misleading and overly simple term. There’s a common misconception that after the fall of Rome, Europe descended into darkness and chaos, and that all learning was lost. But this myth has its origins in thinkers of the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. Those thinkers thought of themselves as reviving the glory of the ancient Greeks and Romans. So they portrayed the medieval period as “dark” and “backward” to make their own era look more advanced. In reality, medieval Europe had major developments, including universities, technological advances, stunning architecture, and legal systems.
Graphic biographies are short and fun, but they’re also packed with information. Share this tool with your students to help them break down the elements of graphic bios.
A diverse tapestry of different communities stretched across Afro-Eurasia in the thirteenth century. Explore the articles below to compare how they were organized and the role of religion in their government structures. Then, use the graphic biography to assess how Jewish communities interacted with other religious communities in this era.
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Guiding Questions
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Guiding Questions
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Guiding Questions
Sometimes less is more. How can you quickly summarize what you’ve learned in this lesson?
