The Mongol Empire and the Making of the Modern World
Teacher Resources
Lesson Guide
Hey teachers! The guide has all the essential information for this lesson.
Black Death and Mongols Thematic Map
Help students understand the vastness of the Mongol Empire with this thematic map highlighting Mongol expansion and the Black Death. Remember to use the deep zoom feature by clicking on the + sign in the magnifying glass.
Driving Question: How did the Mongols manage to build and maintain history’s largest land-based empire?
From the steppes of Central Asia came nomadic tribes who would forever change the face of Afro-Eurasia. The Mongols are known for establishing the largest contiguous land empire ever to have existed. Their methods for growing and maintaining their empire differed greatly from the successful empires that came before and after them. Despite their fierce reputations, the Mongols’ empire also brought a prodigious level of stability and security to the Silk Road.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the process of state building and decline in Eurasia over time.
- Explain how the expansion of empires influenced trade and communication over time.
- Explain the significance of the Mongol Empire in larger patterns of continuity and change.
- Evaluate various sources in order to recognize how history is complicated and enriched by multiple perspectives.
- Use graphic biographies as microhistories to support, extend, or challenge the overarching narratives from this time period.
Vocab Terms:
Don’t skip the World Travelers activity—it’s a student favorite. It also helps students work on their sourcing skills, making it a teacher favorite, too! An OER Project teacher says this activity is a must-do because it “asks students to think critically about texts and support their conclusions with evidence.”
Did you know that Marco Polo, in the years before he invented a hide-and-seek water game, was a world-traveling salesman who brought back many previously unknown goods to a thirsty European market?
Did you know: The Mongol Empire paused its invasion of Europe because of a death in the family? In 1241, Mongol armies were tearing through Eastern Europe; they were basically unstoppable. They had reached as far as Austria when they suddenly turned around. Why? The Great Khan Ögedei had died, and leaders needed to return home to vote on who would be the next Great Khan.
When we think of the Mongols of this period, there’s a temptation to remember them only as destroyers. As students read, have them hold onto both sides of the story: The Mongols built their empire through brutal conquest, but they also created the conditions for greater stability, long-distance trade, and exchange across Afro-Eurasia under the Pax Mongolica.
Imagine conquering 17% of Earth and a quarter of all people on it. Now, imagine controlling it all. That’s exactly what the Mongols did. Find out how, as you make some predictions about what it takes to expand an empire and then explore the Mongol Empire at two different scales.
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Guiding Questions
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Guiding Questions
This is a good place to remind students that sources about the Mongols are often shaped by fear or political agenda. Use the source collection to show how the Mongol Empire looked depending on where someone stood. Conquered subjects, court historians (like Rashid al-Din), merchants, European visitors, and imperial officials each experienced Mongol rule in very different ways.
Remember that there’s a tool your students can use to help them break down the elements of graphic biographies.
A lot of people wrote a lot of words about the Mongols. You’ll use the Quick-Sourcing Tool to evaluate some of those words and then read two graphic biographies about individuals who encountered the Mongols to help you understand how the Mongols grew so powerful.
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Guiding Questions
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Guiding Questions
You’ve learned that conquering and managing the world’s largest empire was no easy task. In this closing activity, you’ll reconsider your earlier opinions.
Thanks to Genghis Khan, the Mongols emerged as a confederation that was successful thanks to, among other things, a willingness toward adaptability.
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Guiding Questions
The Mongols started off as small, nomadic pastoral communities. United as an empire by Genghis Khan, they swiftly expanded and energized Eurasian trade and exchange.
