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.
“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
Transportation Technology on the Trans-Saharan Trade Route
Camels and the Trans-Saharan Trade Network
“The Season in Which One is Compelled to Travel”: Teaching Knowledge of the Monsoons
Teaching the monsoons
“A Dozen Bamboo Fishing Nets”: Fishing Nets and Technological Transfer in the Indian Ocean
Teaching technological transfer in the Indian Ocean
“Merchants Came to Malabar”: Diasporic Communities in the Indian Ocean
Teaching diaspora communities in the Indian Ocean
