Grade 7 Fall — The Medieval World c. 500-1500 CE: Byzantium, the Islamic Caliphates and Golden Age, Tang and Song China, West African Empires (Ghana/Mali/Songhai), Mesoamerica (Postclassic Toltec/Aztec) and the Inca, the Mongol Empire and Pax Mongolica, the Indian Ocean and Trans-Saharan Trade Networks, Medieval Europe as ONE Region Among Many — Whose Golden Age? Whose Crusade? Whose Trade Network?
History · ECO
G7
hist.g7.f.eco.trans_saharan_indian_ocean_trade
Map and analyze the trans-Saharan caravan trade and Indian Ocean monsoon trade networks c. 800-1500 CE — goods, routes, intermediaries, monsoon-wind-seasonal-timing, and the integration of African + Asian + Middle Eastern + European economies BEFORE 1492
Identify trans-Saharan goods (gold from Bambuk/Bure → Cairo + Mediterranean; salt from Taghaza → West Africa; ivory; slaves; copper; cloth; manuscripts), routes (Niani-Timbuktu-Sijilmasa-Fez OR Niani-Timbuktu-Taghaza-Tlemcen OR Gao-Aïr-Tripoli), camel-saddle innovation as enabler, oasis-town intermediaries. Identify Indian Ocean monsoon trade — Quanzhou-Malacca-Calicut-Cambay-Aden-Mombasa-Kilwa-Zanzibar with monsoon-wind seasonal directions (SW monsoon Apr-Sep blows westward, NE monsoon Nov-Mar blows eastward), goods (Chinese porcelain, silk, tea; Indian cotton, pepper, gems; Yemeni coffee, frankincense; East African ivory, gold, slaves), dhow + junk ship technology. Swahili coast city-states (Mark Horton + Middleton 2000).
Mastery threshold
90%
Min instances
12
Typical minutes
45
Spaced intervals (days)
1, 3, 7, 14, 30, 60
Prereqs
- 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
- Trace the Tang Dynasty 618-907 and Song Dynasty 960-1279 — civil-service examination system, technological innovations (printing/gunpowder/magnetic compass/paper currency/porcelain/forensic medicine), poetry (Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Li Qingzhao), and Neo-Confucianism (Zhu Xi 1130-1200)
Common misconceptions
- Believing the Indian Ocean was 'discovered' by Europeans — it was a major commercial system for 1500+ years before Vasco da Gama 1498
- Treating trans-Saharan trade as marginal — it was a primary integration mechanism linking sub-Saharan West Africa to the Mediterranean + Islamic world
- Underestimating monsoon-wind navigation sophistication — Arab + Indian + Chinese + Swahili sailors could time round-trips precisely to monsoon seasons