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Land-Based Empires

Driving Question: How did land-based empires in Afro-Eurasia expand their influence and govern diverse communities between c. 1450 and 1750 CE?

The collapse of the Mongol Empire allowed for the emergence of several large land-based empires in Eurasia. The empires in this unit all had large, multicultural, and multiethnic populations. Rulers had to devise ways to keep their subjects in line and relatively happy to avoid civil unrest. They also learned strategies from their predecessors about centralizing authority and maintaining control over diverse populations.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand how land-based empires developed, expanded, and maintained power from c. 1450 to 1750.
  2. Work on informal writing skills to evaluate the themes of this unit.

Vocab Terms:

  • cannon
  • devshirme
  • gunpowder
  • sultan
  • Sunni
  • tax
  • tsar
STEP 1

Opener: Land-Based Empires c. 1450–1750

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 2 of Lesson 3.0 Teaching Guide Locked .

Want to connect to other WHP AP® World History teachers? Join the OER Project Community Forum External link .

When people think about history, they often believe that life was very different in the past—and in many ways it was! But you might find that, in other ways, there are a surprising number of similarities to our lives now.

STEP 2

Unit 3 Overview

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 3 of Lesson 3.0 Teaching Guide Locked .

This thread in the Community Forum provides some teacher suggestions for approaching Unit 3 External link .

Can you imagine how hard it is for a teacher to keep control of a classroom? Or a coach to control a team? It’s a lot of work. Now imagine controlling an entire region! Phew!

Unit 3 Overview: Land-Based Empires External link

Large land-based empires covered much of Afro-Eurasia from 1450 to 1750. How did these empires manage to expand and maintain control over such large areas?

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 3

Unit 3 Introduction: Land-Based Empires 1450 to 1750

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 4 of Lesson 3.0 Teaching Guide Locked .

Weapons are often used by empires to defend and conquer; however, successful empires use various strategies to maintain control.

STEP 4

Closer: Land-Based Empires c. 1450–1750

Teaching Tools

To teach this lesson step, refer to page 5 of Lesson 3.0 Teaching Guide Locked .

Our Openers and Closers Guide will provide more information about these short, but important, activities at the beginning and end of each lesson.