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Big Era Four: Landscape
Unit 4.3
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| Migration and Change in Africa South of the Sahara
1000 BCE - 200 BCE |
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Why This Unit? |
Africa is often presented to students as a place outside of history. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nonetheless, the myth of an Africa “without history” still carries much weight. In this Landscape Teaching Unit, students will find evidence to counter the myth. Africa, it turns out, contributed much more to the human race than simply its existence. Big Era Four saw a good deal of innovation in, among other things, ironworking technology and agriculture. Also, the era marked the linkage of East Africa to Indian Ocean trade networks.
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| Unit Objectives |
Upon completing this unit, students
will be able to:
1.) Use textual, archaeological, and linguistic evidence to draw conclusions about history.
2.) Chart patterns of diffusion of ironworking technology in Africa.
3.) Weigh the validity of historical arguments using evidence.
4.) Examine the broad contours of the spread of agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara in the last millennium BCE and the first millennium CE.
5.) Weigh the costs and benefits of a society’s transition to agriculture.
6.) Document the role of African cities in long-distance trade networks.
7.) Explore the relationship between economic diversity and social stability.
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Time and Materials |
4-8 class periods of 50 minutes, depending on balance between homework and class work.
Required materials are photocopies, writing materials, and overhead projector. The unit contains enough background material for students to complete the lessons. That said, there is nothing wrong with preparing students for the unit activities at hand by giving them supplemental historical materials to read. Teachers should be aware, however, that student textbooks might in some respects contradict the material included in this unit. Also, textbooks may draw different conclusions from those of the unit author. This unit is based on relatively recent scholarship, some of which may not have filtered down to middle or high school textbooks. Teachers should not, on the other hand, shy away from contradictory evidence and interpretation. Such differences between scholars and the reasons for these differences can make for great class discussion. |
Table of Contents |
Why this unit? |
2 |
Unit objectives |
2 |
Time and materials |
2 |
Authors |
2 |
The historical context |
3 |
This unit in the Big Era time line |
4 |
Lesson 1: Peoples Without History? |
5 |
Lesson 2: Ironworking: Innovation and Diffusion in Africa |
14 |
Lesson 3: Agriculture: Telling the Story of Settling Down |
19 |
Lesson 4: The Commercial Revolution in Africa |
24 |
This unit and the Three Essential Questions |
29 |
This unit and the Seven Key Themes |
29 |
This unit and the Standards in Historical Thinking |
29 |
Resources |
30 |
Correlations to National and State Standards and to Textbooks |
30 |
Conceptual links to other lessons |
31 |
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Complete
Teaching Unit in PDF Format |
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Note: documents in Portable Document Format (PDF) require Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or higher to view, download Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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