Short Post
Weekly posts (published on Monday or Tuesday) highlighting a primary source (either textual or visual) that aligns with the AP Modern World History Curriculum.
“Restore China to the Chinese”: Teaching the 1911 Chinese Xinhai Revolution
Teaching the 1911 Chinese Revolution
“These People Have the Cream of the Trade”: Gujaratis’ Continued Influence after the Arrival of Europeans
The Portuguese acknowledged the continued dominance of Gujarati traders
“We Decreed by Law”: Regulating the Slave Trade in Sixteenth-Century Kongo
Teaching how the rulers of Kongo regulated the slave trade
“Walk by the Ancient Customs of the Port”: Limits on English Trade in India in the 1600s
In the 1600s, the English EIC adapted more than conquered
“An Acre of Potatoes”: Crops from the Americas in Afroeurasia
The Colombian Exchange and why the Irish adopted potatoes
“Pleased with the Gujarati pilot”: Muslim Knowledge Facilitating European Navigation
The Gujarati Pilot who helped Vasco da Gama reach India
The Spread of Crops in Afroeurasia Before 1450
How rice reached Spain
“The Bridge Has Fallen into Ruin”: The Rise and Decline of Cities Before 1450
Teaching world history often means teaching about historic trading cities (entrepôts). While some cities flourished as trade centers over centuries, others experienced brief periods of rise and decline. Constantinople/Istanbul is a unique example of a city that has flourished for centuries, but also has gone through multiple phases of
Afroeurasian Exchange Networks and the Spread of Religions before 1450
Extensive trade networks crisscrossed Afroeurasia before 1500. These networks facilitated more than the movement of goods; cultural traditions and technologies also spread through the networks. We can easily see this through the spread of the four most popular universal religions. The Source
“When Mali Conquered the Region of Walata”: Trade and the Expansion of the Empire of Mali
Discussion of how the expansion of Mali facilitated trans-Saharan trade
