Trace medieval West African empires — Ghana c. 300-1200 CE, Mali c. 1235-1670 CE (Sundiata + Mansa Musa 1324 hajj + Timbuktu Sankore complex), Songhai c. 1464-1591 CE (Sunni Ali + Askia Muhammad I) — refusing the 'tribal/primitive' Orientalist framing absolutely
Exercise Difficulty 4 ~12 min hist.g7.f.ex_22

Source Card Analysis

MG-7 Diagram
MG-7 SEVEN-QUESTION SOURCE CARD — primary instructional scaffold for ALL source analysis in the unit. 8.5x11 inch double

MG-7 SEVEN-QUESTION SOURCE CARD — primary instructional scaffold for ALL source analysis in the unit. 8.5x11 inch double-sided laminated card. Front: Seven questions with sentence-frame scaffolds. (1) WHO created this source? (Wineburg sourcing) (2) WHEN was it created and where? (Wineburg contextualization) (3) WHY was it created and for whom? (Wineburg sourcing — purpose + audience) (4) WHAT does it say + show + leave out? (Wineburg close reading) (5) WHAT do OTHER sources say? (Wineburg corroboration) (6) WHOSE living descendants connect to this source today? (NMAI 5th — present-tense protocol) (7) WHOSE GOLDEN AGE does this source name — and whose golden age does it occlude? (NEW G7-Fall 7th — Banks Level-3 transformative move; refuses single-narrative golden-age framing). Back: scaffolded sentence frames for each question.

Prompt

Apply MG-7 Q1-7 to al-'Umari's 'Masalik al-Absar' 1342 excerpt (300 words) on Mansa Musa's Cairo visit. Focus on Q4 (close reading) + Q5 (corroboration with ibn Khaldun + ibn Battuta).

How it's presented
mode text
Answer criteria
type structured response rubric
rubric
Q1-7 each 0-2. Total 14. Q4 + Q5 emphasized requiring detailed comparison with ibn Khaldun + ibn Battuta + Catalan Atlas 1375 confirmation. 12+ = mastery.
Hints
  1. Q4 close reading: al-'Umari interviewed Cairenes who remembered the 1324 visit.
  2. Q5 corroboration: ibn Khaldun's 1377 Muqaddimah account + Catalan Atlas 1375 Mansa Musa portrait + ibn Battuta's 1352-3 visit to Mali.
Misconceptions to watch
  • Missing Q5 multi-source corroboration