Unit One: Why Study Africa?

Module Four: Examining Africa’s History and Global Connections

Student's Edition

Overview

Module Four is meant to provide a brief introduction to two of our themes: the richness and diversity of African history, and Africa’s global connections. Through a series of four map images, students will be exposed to African history from ancient times to the present. In addition, students will see the various and important ways that Africa is connected to the rest of the world through trade networks and the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and beliefs. It should be noted that the information presented in this module is a smattering of events to give the students a sense of a few things that were occurring in Africa during broad periods of history. A more comprehensive study of African history will be done in a later module. For now, the emphasis should be on introducing the students to the diversity, richness, and global connections of the African continent.

This module is meant to be a computer lab exercise. Students should work on their own in the computer lab. Two worksheets accompany each map activity: a timeline and a graphic organizer, which the students should fill in as they explore the maps. Afterwards, students should return to the classroom, where a class discussion with the teacher can be held. If it is not possible to do these activities as a class in the computer lab, the maps and texts can be printed as handouts or overhead projections and used in the classroom. The worksheets can be compiled in the Exploring Africa Workbook.

In this module, the teacher discussion is included as a separate section. Click below to find the teacher discussion for each activity.

Please note that the following abbreviations are used throughout the activity:

• BCE "Before the Common Era" (sometimes also called BC)
• CE "Common Era" (sometimes also called AD)

Begin the module with Map 1, "Ancient History to the 1400s," or select from the other activities in the lesson plan below:

Activities 1-4

1. Map 1: Ancient History to the 1400s
2. Map 2: African History 1400s to 1800s
3. Map 3: African History 1800s to 1960s
4. Map 4: African History 1960s to Present