Communities in West Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Teacher Resources
Driving Question: What commonalities linked societies in diverse and different regions during this period?
In this lesson, you will encounter societies in three very different regions. You’ll begin on the far western edge of Afro-Eurasia, in the Sahel region of West Africa. The Sahel is a transitional zone that lies between the Sahara Desert to the north and savannahs to the south. Amidst lucrative trade routes, empires like the Ghana Empire, Mali Empire, and Songhai Empire were able to maintain control and accumulate wealth, all while serving as centers of Islamic culture. You’ll compare these communities with those in the world’s largest ocean, the Pacific, where the island communities of Oceania were connected by vast networks of exchange and migration. In the Americas, you’ll read about diverse communities stretching from Canada in the north to the Andes Mountains in the south.
- Evaluate how communities were structured in West Africa, the Americas, and Oceania, identifying similarities and differences.
- Use graphic biographies as microhistories to support, extend, or challenge the overarching narratives from this time period.
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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
- Who was Mansa Musa, and why might he have had a problem with his portrayal in the first photo?
- Examine the map shown in the article. What does it tell us about settlements of communities in the Sahel?
- What is the Sahelian state model? What is its significance?
- What is religious pluralism? How does it relate to studying West African communities?
- What are some of the arguments for and against considering Mali an empire?
Evaluate
- Can you think of other societies you’ve learned about in which the state supported religious pluralism? Which societies, and when?
- How does this article support, extend, or challenge your understanding of the “state” when viewed through the filter of the communities frame?
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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 believe that humans ended up settling the islands of Oceania? What debate surrounds this question?
- What were the most important innovations that allowed migrations across Oceania?
- In general, how did communities in this region organize themselves?
- How does the article describe gender relations in societies in Oceania?
- What evidence do the authors use to argue that Oceania was not separated from the rest of the world?
Evaluate
- The production and distribution frame narrative asserts that humans have grown more sophisticated in the way we make and use the things we need over time. Does the evidence presented in this chapter support, extend, or challenge this narrative? How?
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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 type of state was Haudenosaunee, and how was it governed?
- What type of state was the Aztec state? How was its diverse population ruled?
- What evidence is there of connections between the Aztec society and Mayapan?
- What kind of a state was the Inca state, and how was it governed?
Evaluate
- What factors stand out to you as particularly distinct and important in the way communities were organized in the Americas in this period?
- How do these seem similar or different to other parts of the world you have studied for this period?
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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 for Graphic Bios – Introduction activity.
Observe
Skim the full comic, paying attention to things like prominent colors, shapes, and types of text and fonts. How do you know where to start and which direction to read? What’s in the gutters (the space between panels)? Who is the focus of the comic? What big questions do you have?
Understand
- Who was Kupe?
- How is the story of Kupe normally told in Polynesian society? How have European historians tried to tell it?
- How does the author argue that the Māori make this story a usable past? What meanings do they take from it?
- How does the artist use art and design to demonstrate the theme of connectedness?
Connect
- How does this biography of Kupe support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about networks and connections in this historical era?
- In what ways does this biography lead you to think differently about what it means for a history to be “usable”?
Inca Empire
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!
While you watch
- Who was Pachacuti?
- What did the Inca call themselves? What did Inca mean?
- What made the Inca an empire?
- How many people were living in the Inca Empire prior to its decline?
- What was the Mit’a system?
After you watch
- How does the Mit’a system compare or contrast to systems of production and distribution in Afro-Eurasia during this era?
Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire was formed through an alliance of Tenochtitlan with other city-states in Mesoamerica. A complex system of tribute and conquest allowed this empire to dominate and build impressive architecture.
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!
While you watch
- What did Aztec society have in common with ancient Greece?
- What was the Triple Alliance, and in what context did it develop?
- How did the system of city-states help Hernando Cortes conquer the Aztec Empire?
- The author of the video describes the Aztec Empire as advanced. What evidence does the author give for this claim and is the author’s argument convincing?
- How did Aztec political communities differ from Maya political communities?
After you watch
- How does the Aztec state compare or contrast to different types of states and communities you have learned about in Afro-Eurasia?
Pre-Colonial Caribbean
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!
While you watch
- What were the first two major moments of migrations to the Caribbean islands and when did these take place?
- Dr. Hofman states that the soil has to be opened like a book in order to learn about these early Caribbean peoples. What types of information can archaeologists learn by doing this?
- What were belief systems like in the early period of migration? How did this change in the later periods?
- How do we know that there were continued contacts and exchanges between islands and between the Caribbean islands and the mainland of Central and South America in the pre-colonial period?
- How did the Indigenous Caribbean peoples help the Spanish and what occurred as a result of this help?
- Who were the Kalinago and where did they settle after the arrival of the Spanish?
After you watch
- In the video, Dr. Hofman states that 1492 marks “the beginning of the true globalizing world.” What evidence does she give to support this statement, and do you agree with her? Explain your reasoning.
- How does the history of the pre-colonial Caribbean support, extend, or challenge what you’ve learned about networks and communities in this unit?