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Cultural Consequences of Connectivity

Driving Question: How did expanding networks of exchange affect cultural amalgamation?

The networks of exchange across Afro-Eurasia facilitated not only the movement of goods, diseases, and people, but also the significant transfer of science, technology, and culture. Long-distance travelers like Mansa Musa played a key role in spreading these ideas, with religions expanding and advancements in fields such as astronomy, medicine, and mathematics reaching new regions. These exchanges contributed to the development of a shared global body of knowledge that transcended borders.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Explain the intellectual and cultural effects of the various networks of exchange in Afro-Eurasia from c. 1200 to c. 1450.
  2. Use historical thinking skills and reasoning practices such as sourcing, contextualization, comparison, continuity and change over time (CCOT), and claim testing to evaluate historical events and processes.

Vocab Terms:

  • culture
  • diffusion
  • indigenous
  • migration
  • pastoral
  • syncretism
STEP 1

Opener: Cultural Consequences of Connectivity

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 2 of Lesson 2.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

Check out this one-pager on contextualization for tips on how to teach this important skill.

It can be hard to fully understand a situation if you don’t have the full picture—literally and figuratively. Contextualizing helps you gather all the surrounding facts and details to ensure you’re not missing anything important.

STEP 2

Trade, Technology, and Religion in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–1450

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 3 of Lesson 2.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

Check out this thread for ideas on how to modify the three-step reading tool External link .

Meeting new people or coming into contact with new things might make you reevaluate the way you think or feel about things. Certainly, that was the case with all the Afro-Eurasian cultural diffusion going on circa 1200-1450!

STEP 3

Graphic Biography: Rumi

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 4 of Lesson 2.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

Teachers are talking about the Three Close Reads for Graphic Biographies Tool in this thread External link on our Community forum.

Poetry has the power to communicate in a way that standard writing sometimes cannot. This is certainly the case with Rumi, who affected many with his poetry.

STEP 4

Contextualizing: Mansa Musa

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 5 of Lesson 2.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

In this thread, teachers provide tips for contextualizing Mansa Musa’s journey to Mecca External link .

Imagine being one of the richest people who ever lived! What kind of effect do you think you would have on society? Or history? Build on your contextualization skills as you learn about an individual who both shaped and was shaped by his circumstances: Mansa Musa.

Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa: Crash Course World History #16 External link

Increased trade led to various states expanding over new territory. These growing states would greatly influence the powerful trade networks that crisscrossed the African continent.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 5

World of Chaco

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 8 of Lesson 2.5 Teaching Guide Locked .

Check out this blog post which highlights the importance of teaching Indigenous histories.

What are the qualities or conditions that would make an area the center of trade for a region? Chaco Canyon in modern-day New Mexico was one such center—but what about it made it so special?

World of Chaco External link

A thousand years ago, the Ancestral Pueblo made Chaco Canyon the center of their cultural world. Their networks stretched across the vast Colorado Plateau.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 6

Closer: Cultural Consequences of Connectivity

Teaching Tools

Group Problem-Solving: Together or Alone?

Try this: Present students with a historical dilemma. In the fourteenth century, the Guanche people were living in the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa. In 1312, an Italian navigator named Lancelotto Malocello landed on the island.

  • Have student role-play as islanders deciding whether to remain isolated or engage with outsiders.
  • They develop 10 questions to ask Malocello, then prompt AI for more.
  • After refining the list, students compare how AI shaped their thinking.

Behind the design: Students learn that AI can help expand how we ask questions. They deepen their understanding of historical dilemmas and the risks and rewards of global connectivity.

Have you ever traveled far from home? Most likely, you kept in touch by calling, texting, or maybe emailing! What did you talk about? Now imagine traveling in the thirteenth century—what would you write home about?