The World 300 CE
Map highlighting major centers of book use and production presented in the exhibition Traversing the Globe through Illuminated Manuscripts. Designed by Elie Glyn
Introduction: The medieval and early modern periods provide students with opportunities to study the rise and fall of empires, the diffusion of religions and languages, and significant movements of people, ideas, and products. During these periods, the regions of the world became more and more interconnected. Although societies were quite distinct from each other, there were more exchanges of people, products, and ideas in each century. For this reason, world history during the medieval and early modern periods can be a bewildering catalog of names, places, and events that impacted individual societies, while the larger patterns that affected the world are lost. So, teachers must focus on questions that get at the larger geographic, historical, economic, and civic patterns of the world. To answer these questions, students study content rich examples and case studies, rather than superficially survey all places, names, and events. Students approach history not only as a body of content (such as events, people, ideas, or historical accounts) to be encountered or mastered, but also as an investigative discipline. They analyze evidence from written and visual primary sources, supplemented by secondary sources, to form historical interpretations. Both in writing and speaking, they cite evidence from textual sources to support their arguments.
"Students in grade seven study the social, cultural, and technological changes that oc curred in Europe, Africa, and Asia in the years A.D. 500–1789. After reviewing the an cient world and the ways in which archaeologists and historians uncover the past, students study the history and geography of great civilizations that were developing concurrently throughout the world during medieval and early modern times. They examine the growing economic interaction among civilizations as well as the exchange of ideas, beliefs, technologies, and commodities. They learn about the resulting growth of Enlightenment philosophy and the new examination of the concepts of reason and authority, the natural rights of human beings and the divine right of kings, experimen talism in science, and the dogma of belief. Finally, students assess the political forces let loose by the Enlightenment, particularly the rise of democratic ideas, and they learn about the continuing influence of these ideas in the world today."
Source: [California Department of Education Created May 18, 2000]
California History–Social Science Framework | Chapter 11
"Students in grade seven study the social, cultural, and technological changes that oc curred in Europe, Africa, and Asia in the years A.D. 500–1789. After reviewing the an cient world and the ways in which archaeologists and historians uncover the past, students study the history and geography of great civilizations that were developing concurrently throughout the world during medieval and early modern times. They examine the growing economic interaction among civilizations as well as the exchange of ideas, beliefs, technologies, and commodities. They learn about the resulting growth of Enlightenment philosophy and the new examination of the concepts of reason and authority, the natural rights of human beings and the divine right of kings, experimen talism in science, and the dogma of belief. Finally, students assess the political forces let loose by the Enlightenment, particularly the rise of democratic ideas, and they learn about the continuing influence of these ideas in the world today."
Source: [California Department of Education Created May 18, 2000]
California History–Social Science Framework | Chapter 11
- Interconnections
- Afroeurasia
- Americas
- Long-term growth, despite some temporary dips, in the world’s population beyond any level reached in ancient times. A great increase in agricultural and city-dwelling populations in the world compared with hunters and gatherers, whose numbers steadily declined.
- Technological advances that gave humans power to produce greater amounts of food and manufactured items, allowing the global population to keep rising.
- An increase in the interconnection and encounters between distant regions of the world. Expansion of long-distance seagoing trade, as well as commercial, technological, and cultural exchanges. By the first millennium BCE (Before Common Era), these networks spanned most of Afroeurasia (the huge interconnected landmass that includes Africa, Europe, and Asia).
- In the Americas, the largest networks were in Mesoamerica and the Andes region of South America. A er 1500 CE (Common Era), a global network of intercommunication emerged.
- The rise of more numerous and powerful kingdoms and empires, especially after 1450 CE, when gunpowder weapons became available to rulers.
- Increasing human impact on the natural and physical environment, including the diffusion of plants, animals, and microorganisms to parts of the world where they had previously been unknown.
AmericasThis unit serves an introduction to world regions and interconnections as of the year 300 CE. The teacher explains that a central question of the seventh-grade world history course is How did the distant regions of the world become more interconnected through medieval and early modern times? In this unit, students will study the interconnections of world cultures in 300 CE. The world’s people were fundamentally divided into two regions: Afroeurasia (or the Eastern Hemisphere) and the Americas (or the Western Hemisphere).
In the Americas, there were many different cultures. In two areas, Mesoamerica and the area along the Andean mountain spine, states and empires with large cities were supported by advanced agricultural techniques and widespread regional trade. In 300 CE, the Maya were building a powerful culture of city-states, and Teotihuacán in central Mexico was one of the largest cities in the world. These two centers traded with each other. In the Andes region, the state of Tiahuanaco extended its trade networks from modern-day Peru to Chile. While these two regions were probably not in contact with each other, trade routes crossed much of North and South America. Source: California History–Social Science Framework | Chapter 11 |
AfroeurasiaIn Afroeurasia, there were many distinct cultures that spoke their own languages, followed distinct customs, and had little contact with other cultures. However, across the center of Afroeurasia, many cultures were connected by trade routes. These trade routes were across land, such as the Silk Road between Central Asia and China, and across seas, such as the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Luxury goods, such as silk from China or frankincense from the Horn of Africa, traveled from merchant to merchant across Afroeurasia from the Atlantic to Pacific Coasts, but the merchants themselves did not travel that far.
A small group of elite people (wealthy, land-owning, ruling, noble, religious leaders) in each of those cultures bought imported luxury products. Besides trade goods, travelers on the trade routes carried ideas and technologies from one culture to other cultures. Missionaries of Buddhism and Christianity spread their religious ideas. In 300 CE, the regions of Afroeurasia were much more connected to each other than ever before. However, they were not as connected and intertwined as they are today. In 300 CE, the most important in uences in each culture came from within that culture, rather than from contacts with the outside world. Source: California History–Social Science Framework | Chapter 11 |
Guiding questions
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Religion Study GuideThe role of religion in the curriculum, the observance of holidays, and the selection of instructional materials in public schools are some of the most challenging and controversial aspects of teaching history–social science.
Source: California History–Social Science Framework | Appendix F |