Ancient Trade Networks
Driving Question: Why were Afro-Eurasian trade networks so much longer and denser than those in other parts of the world?
Local networks might have been the most common and important types of networks in this period, but long-distance regional trade networks also connected societies across Afro-Eurasia and the Americas. Trade along these routes was slow and dangerous, but it allowed for the exchange of people, goods, ideas, and diseases across many regions. The networks changed the communities they touched and transformed production and distribution in every region.
- Analyze how regional networks of exchange came into existence and how they became larger and more interconnected over time.
- Evaluate how the sharing of goods and ideas such as metals and iron-making skills transformed societies.
- Map regional trade networks to understand how communities were interconnected through trade and exchange.
- Use your claim-making skills to evaluate the expanding networks of this era and make evidence-backed claims.
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Supporting Materials
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Work on your mapping skills as you read an article about regional trade networks in this historical era.
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What was the largest and most active regional trade network in this era? Why was it so active?
- What are some items that were traded across the Afro-Eurasian trade network?
- Why was long-distance trade more difficult in Mesoamerica than in Afro-Eurasia?
- What do obsidian, jade, and pottery have to do with hierarchy in Olmec society?
- How did states affect regional trade? Provide two examples of state interaction with regional trade.
Evaluate
- How did long-distance trade networks change the communities they touched? List two examples as evidence to back up your claim.
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- Why do historians divide early human history using terms like Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age? Does this periodization work all over the world?
- What made iron both difficult and easy to make?
- Why was the timing significant when it comes to the invention of iron-smelting technology? How did some societies benefit from this timing?
- Which society used iron-smelting technologies extensively first? Where did this technology travel afterward? Did any other societies develop iron-smelting independently?
- Aside from making weapons, how else was iron primarily used?
- What does iron have to do with population growth?
- What environmental impact did iron-smelting technologies have?
Evaluate
- Iron-smelting technologies had a huge impact on social order. Were iron technologies the primary cause for some of these changes? If not, what other factors played a role? Find evidence in support of your claim, from this article and other materials from this unit.
- Can you think of any other technologies that have completely reorganized communities, networks, or systems of production and distribution?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- How do historians know about Phoenician society?
- What system of production and distribution sustained Phoenician society?
- What aspects of Phoenician sailing technology helped them become “masters of the sea?”
- Describe women’s roles in Phoenician society.
- What’s the significance of Phoenician colonies?
- Where did the Phoenician script come from? What was special about it, and what were its benefits?
Evaluate
- How was Phoenician community organization unique compared to other states during this time? How was it similar?
- Phoenicia was a complex society, with a state structure, and it arguably even became an empire. But it had an unusual system of production and distribution. How does this fit with the narrative of most complex societies during this time?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What technologies helped Hittites travel across wide distances?
- Why were the Hittites “pioneers of the Iron Age,” and how did this help their empire grow?
- What was the Hittite political structure like?
- What evidence do historians have that the Hittites were linked to Mesopotamia?
- Why is the Battle of Kadesh an important “first” in human history?
Evaluate
- Historians use similarities between the Hittites, the Mesopotamians, and the Hattians as evidence that these communities were linked by trade, migration, or conquest. Do you find this analysis convincing? Why or why not? Can you think of one possible alternative explanation for these similarities?
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Supporting Materials
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Practice your claim-making skills as you make claims and counterclaims about the articles included in this lesson.
Download “Phoenicians: Masters of the Sea”
Download “The Iron Age”
Download “The Hittites and Ancient Anatolia”