Era 4: Post Classical Period

Suggested time for instruction: nine weeks

• SOL Standards
• Macro View
• Focus Questions
• Global Themes
• Resources
• Benchmarks
• Legacies

World History and Geography Macro View

During this era classical societies developed independently in Mesoamerica and sub-Saharan Africa. In other parts of the world three main developments occurred following the collapse of classical societies. First, some classical societies reemerged under new leadership and spread classical ideas and institutions to new regions. The Byzantine Empire spread its culture to Kievan Russia, and China spread its culture to Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Second, the collapse of classical societies led to new cultures which blended classical and nomadic ways creating feudal systems. Examples of this type of development can be seen in Western Europe, Japan, and Russia. Third, one of the most dramatic developments in this time period was the rise of Islam as both a new world religion and a source of political and social authority. As a result, societies exchanged goods, ideas, and technologies across the Iberian Peninsula, northern and sub-Saharan Africa, Southwest Asia, and Southeast Asia. The nomads of Central Asia continually interacted with these postclassical civilizations of Eurasia, sometimes resulting in cooperative exchanges, and sometimes resulting in conflict.

^ back to top

---

Focus Questions for Era 3

1. What was the impact of the collapse of classical societies?
   
   
2. What were the characteristics of the societies which emerged in their place?
   
   
3. What were the similarities and differences in the expansion and spread of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism in Africa and Eurasia?
   
   
4. How did the development of trade routes, commercial ties and products link regions of Africa and Eurasia in an expanding long-distance network of exchange?
   
   
5. What are the enduring legacies that developed during this era?
   

^ back to top

---

Global Themes for Era 3

• Patterns of human population and migration: Migratory and military movements of pastoral nomadic people from Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula had important consequences for empires and agrarian societies of Eurasia and Africa. The migrations of the Bantus into east, central, and southern Africa formed the basis of new societies.
  
  
• Communication and exchange: Maritime and overland trade routes linked regions of Africa and Eurasia and were important for the expansion of interregional trade for African and Eurasian societies. The Islamic empire facilitated long-distance commercial, cultural, intellectual, and crop diffusion across Eurasia and parts of Africa.
  
  
• Belief systems: Due to the spread of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism, there were major changes in the religious map of Eurasia and Africa to 1000 A.D.
  
  
• Political legitimacy and authority: Classical societies weakened for a variety of reasons around 300 A.D. New political structures emerged after the collapse of these classical societies. In addition, "stateless" agricultural societies existed in Africa which endured through the early nineteenth century.

^ back to top

---

Benchmarks:

NOTE: Red Bolded content in the indicators is considered essential and must be taught in all classrooms. Content which is not bolded goes beyond the scope and sequence of the state standards.

Benchmark 4.0: The student will improve skills in historical research and geographic analysis during the Post Classical Period. (WHI.1)

4.0 Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Identify, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary sources to make generalizations about events and life in the Post Classical Period.
   
   
2. Use maps, globes, artifacts, and pictures to analyze the physical and cultural landscapes of the world and interpret the past during the Post Classical Period.
   
   
3. Identify major geographic features important to the study of world history during the Post Classical Period.
   
   
4. Identify and compare modern political boundaries with the location of Post Classical Civilizations.
   
   
5. Analyze trends in human migration and cultural interaction during the Post Classical Period.
   

Benchmark 4.1: The student understands the consolidation of the Byzantine empire. (WHI.7)

4.1: Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Explain the role of geography in the establishment of Constantinople as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (protected from Germanic invasions, trade crossroads, natural harbor, fortifiable peninsula).
   
   
2. Describe Byzantine art and architecture (Hagia Sophia, icons, mosaics, Christian and imperial influence).
   
   
3. Explain the conflicts that led to a split between the Roman Catholic (centered in Rome, farther from seat of power, Latin liturgy, authority of Pope, celibacy) and Greek Orthodox churches (centered in Constantinople, close to seat of power, Greek liturgy).
   
   
4. Evaluate the Byzantine role in preserving and transmitting ancient Greco-Roman culture and codification of law (Greek language, Byzantine libraries, Justinian’s Code).
   
   
5. Analyze the expansion of Byzantine culture including Justinian’s reconquest of former Roman territories and the spread of Greek Orthodox Christianity (Saint Cyril, Slavic languages into Cyrillic alphabet) into the Balkans and Kievan Russia (trade routes between Black and Baltic Seas, church art and architecture).

Benchmark 4.2: The student understands the emergence and spread of Islam. (WHI.8)

4.2: Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Describe the life of Muhammad (Prophet) and the basic teachings and practices of Islam (Quran/Koran, Five pillars of Islam, Allah, mosque).
   
   
2. Analyze the factors that contributed to the spread of Islam throughout Afro-Eurasia (Mecca, Medina, Arabian Peninsula, Jerusalem, Damascus, Baghdad, Fertile Crescent, Iran, Central Asia, Spain) in winning converts among culturally diverse peoples, including pastoral nomads and urban peoples (caravan trading, trans-Saharan trade, Indian Ocean trade, slavery, weak Byzantine and Persian Empires, jihad, jizya tax, mystical appeal of Sufism).
   
   
3. Explain the short-lived political unity of the first Muslim empire and why the Muslim community divided into Sunnis and Shiites.
   
   
4. Evaluate Muslim contributions in mathematics, science, medicine, literature, architecture, and the translation and preservation of Greco-Roman learning (Dome of the Rock, mosaics, mosques, universities, Arabic numerals from India, zero, algebra, geographic knowledge, diffusion of paper/China, crops/India, waterwheels, windmills).
   
   
5. Analyze the importance of Islamic law (shariah) and Arabic language in promoting trade and providing a unified way of life.
   
   
6. Recognize the similarities and differences between the three major monotheistic faiths (prophets, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, holy books).

Benchmark 4.3: The student understands the foundations of a new society in Western Christendom and the reorganization of political and social order in Europe following the breakup of the Western Roman Empire. (WHI.9)

4.3: Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Explain the development of a European civilization that resulted from the classical heritage of Rome, Christian beliefs, and the customs of Germanic tribes.
   
   
2. Explain the development of the Merovingian and Carolingian states and assess their success at maintaining public order and local defense in Western Europe (Franks, Battle of Tours, Charlemagne).
   
   
3. Assess the impact of migrations and invasions on the emergence of feudalism (Angles/Saxons to England, Magyars to Hungary, and Norse/Vikings to Russia, west Europe, North America, castles, disruption of trade).
   
   
4. Explain the political, economic, and social role of the Roman Catholic Church in the lives of everyday people (unifying force in Western Europe, moral authority, spread Christianity and Latin to Germanic tribes, parish priests served religious and social needs).
   
   
5. Analyze how the preservation and revival of Greco-Roman culture and early Christian learning in monasteries, convents, and Charlemagne’s royal court contributed to the emergence of European civilization.
   
   
6. Analyze the growth of papal power during this era (Pope anointed Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor, 800 A.D., Church power was established in political life).
7. Describe the manorial system as an economic system giving attention to the legal, social, and economic position of peasants (rigid class structure, self-sufficient manors, declining towns).
   
   
8. Explain the foundations of feudalism as an economic, social, and political system (protection from invasion, fief, vassals, serfs, feudal obligations).

Benchmark 4.4: The student understands the exchange of elements of Indian culture throughout Asia. (WHI.10)

4.4: Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Describe maritime trade in the Indian Ocean (lateen sail, spices, sugar cane, porcelain, textiles).
   
   
2. Describe the impact of elements of Buddhism and Indian culture on overland trade routes (Silk Road).
   
   
3. Assess the relationship between the long distance trade of Indian and Malay people and the introduction of Hindu and Buddhist traditions in Southeast Asia (South China Sea, lands of Southeast Asia).
   
   
4. Explain the impact of classical Indian culture on state-building in mainland Southeast Asia (Khmer Empire).
   

Benchmark 4.5: The student understands China’s sustained political and cultural expansion during the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties. (WHI.10)

4.5: Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Describe political centralization, imperial expansion, and economic reforms that marked China’s reunification under the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties.
   
   
2. Evaluate the creative achievements in architecture, painting, poetry, and technology during the Tang and Song dynasties (paper, compass, block printing, paper money, porcelain, textiles, gunpowder, maritime technology, iron and steel production).
   
   
3. Describe the causes and effects of a flourishing Chinese economy under Song rule, including the growth of a powerful merchant class (maritime trade in the Indian Ocean).
   

Benchmark 4.6: The student understands developments in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam during, and after, an era of Chinese ascendancy. (WHI.10)

4.6 Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Describe how East Asian geography influenced the development of Vietnam, Korea, and Japan (archipelago, Sea of Japan/East Sea, four main islands, proximity to China and Korea).
   
   
2. Describe the development of Japanese society including the state religion of Shintoism up to the seventh century (ethnic religion, forces of nature, ancestor worship, coexistence with Buddhism, emperor worship).
   
   
3. Assess the patterns of borrowing and adaptation of Chinese culture in the formation of Korean (Buddhism, tributary state, Silla Dynasty), Vietnamese (resistance to Chinese dominance, Trinh sisters), and Japanese society (including the establishment of a Japanese imperial state, writing, architecture, and Buddhism).
   
   
4. Analyze the rise of a powerful samurai class and its effects on art and aesthetic values in Japan.
   
   
5. Analyze the similarities and differences between Japanese and European feudalism.

Benchmark 4.7: The student understands the state-building in East and West Africa, the Bantu migrations, and growth of states, towns, and trade in sub-Saharan Africa. (WHI.10)

4.7 Performance Indicators
Students reach this benchmark when they are able to:

1. Identify and describe the location and characteristics of Axum (Ethiopian Highlands, Nile River, Christianity).
   
   
2. Analyze the causes and consequences of the settling of East, Central, and Southern Africa by Bantu-speaking farmers and cattle herders (animism).
   
   
3. Analyze the importance of the Niger River in promoting agriculture, commerce, and state-building and explain how Ghana became West Africa’s first large-scale empire.
   
4. Analyze the importance of salt, gold production, and the trans-Saharan caravan trade in the growth of the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires (gold and salt trade, Timbuktu as a center of trade and learning).
   
   
5. Explain the impact of Islam on the political and cultural life of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.
   
   
6. Describe the significance of Swahili city-states on the east African coast to Indian Ocean trade (spread of Islam).
   
   
7. Explain the rise of Zimbabwe (Great Zimbabwe as a major trading center, Limpopo River, Zambezi River).
   
   
8. Assess the role of trading systems in expanding the slave trade of East and West Africa.

^ back to top

---

Legacies

• Africa and Eurasia moved toward forming a single world of human interchange facilitated by economic advances including the use of coinage, the diffusion of Indian numerals, and the use of zero.
  
  
• A decentralized feudal Europe united under Christendom.
  
  
• Islam and the Byzantine Empire preserved the knowledge of the western world.
  
  
• The Byzantine Empire opposed Islamic advance and formed the basis of Kievan Russia.
  
  
• Chinese culture spread to Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
  
  
• Efficient transportation systems improved by camel caravans and large ships increased the number and pace of cross-cultural encounters.
  
  
• The spread of classical Indian culture led to the rise of complex urban societies in Cambodia.
  
  
• While Hinduism remained dominant in India, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam expanded beyond the region of their origin.
  
  
• The Bantu migrations shaped the language and culture of later societies in sub-Saharan Africa.

^ back to top