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History Standards for Grades 5-12
World History
Era 4
Expanding
Zones of Exchange and Encounter, 300-1000 CE
Standard 1 Imperial crises and their aftermath, 300-700 CE
Standard 2 Causes and consequences of the rise of Islamic
civilization in the 7th-10th centuries
Standard 3 Major developments in East Asia and Southeast Asia in the era of the Tang dynasty,
600-900 CE
Standard 4 The search for political, social, and cultural
redefinition in Europe, 500-1000
CE
Standard 5 The development of agricultural societies and
new states in tropical Africa and Oceania
Standard 6 The rise of centers of civilization in Mesoamerica and Andean South America in the first
millennium CE
Standard 7 Major global trends from 300-1000 CE
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Overview
Beginning about 300 CE
almost the entire region of Eurasia and northern Africa
experienced severe disturbances. By the 7th century, however, peoples of
Eurasia and Africa entered a new period
of more intensive interchange and cultural creativity. Underlying these
developments was the growing sophistication of systems for moving people
and goods here and there throughout the hemisphere--China’s canals, trans-Saharan camel
caravans, high-masted ships plying the Indian Ocean.
These networks tied diverse peoples together across great distances. In
Eurasia and Africa a single region of intercommunication was taking shape
that ran from the Mediterranean to the China seas. A widening zone
of interchange also characterized Mesoamerica.
A sweeping view of
world history reveals three broad patterns of change that are
particularly conspicuous in this era.
Islamic Civilization: One of the most dramatic
developments of this 700-year period was the rise of Islam as both a new world
religion and a civilized tradition encompassing an immense part of the Eastern Hemisphere. Commanding the central region
of Afro-Eurasia, the Islamic empire of the Abbasid dynasty became in the
8th-10th-century period the principal intermediary for the exchange of
goods, ideas, and technologies across the hemisphere.
Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu Traditions: Not only Islam but other major
religions also spread widely during this 700-year era. Wherever these
faiths were introduced, they carried with them a variety of cultural
traditions, aesthetic ideas, and ways of organizing human endeavor. Each
of them also embraced peoples of all classes and diverse languages in
common worship and moral commitment. Buddhism declined in India but took root in East and Southeast Asia. Christianity became the cultural
foundation of a new civilization in western Europe. Hinduism flowered in India under the Gupta Empire and also
exerted growing influence in the princely courts of Southeast
Asia.
New Patterns of Society in East Asia, Europe, West
Africa, Oceania, and Mesoamerica: The third conspicuous pattern,
continuing from the previous era, was the process of population growth,
urbanization, and flowering of culture in new areas. The 4th to 6th
centuries witnessed serious upheavals in Eurasia
in connection with the breakup of the Roman and Han empires and the
aggressive movements of pastoral peoples to the east, west, and south. By
the 7th century, however, China
was finding new unity and rising economic prosperity under the Tang. Japan
emerged as a distinctive civilization. At the other end of the hemisphere
Europe laid new foundations for
political and social order. In West Africa towns flourished amid the rise
of Ghana
and the trans-Saharan gold trade. In both lower Africa
and the Pacific basin migrant pioneers laid new foundations of
agricultural societies. Finally, this era saw a remarkable growth of
urban life in Mesoamerica in the age of
the Maya.
Why
Study This Era?
v
In these seven centuries Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and
Islam spread far and wide beyond their lands of origin. These religions
became established in regions where today they command the faith of
millions.
v
In this era the configuration of empires and kingdoms in the world
changed dramatically. Why giant empires have fallen and others risen
rapidly to take their place is an enduring question for all eras.
v
In the early centuries of this era Christian Europe was marginal
to the dense centers of population, production, and urban life of Eurasia
and northern Africa. Students should
understand this perspective but at the same time investigate the
developments that made possible the rise of a new civilization in Europe after 1000 CE.
v
In this era no sustained contact existed between the Eastern
Hemisphere and the Americas.
Peoples of the Americas
did not share in the exchange and borrowing that stimulated innovations
of all kinds in Eurasia and Africa.
Therefore, students need to explore the conditions under which weighty
urban civilizations arose in Mesoamerica
in the first millennium CE.
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STANDARD 1
Imperial crises and
their aftermath, 300-700 CE.
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Standard 1A
The
student understands the decline of the Roman and Han empires.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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5-12
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Analyze
various causes that historians have proposed to account for the decline
of the Han and Roman empires. [Evaluate
major debates among historians]
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5-12
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Trace
the migrations and military movements of major pastoral nomadic groups
into both the Roman Empire and China. [Reconstruct patterns of historical succession and duration]
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7-12
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Compare
the consequences of these movements in China
and the western part of the Roman Empire.
[Analyze cause-and-effect
relationships]
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9-12
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Analyze
comparatively the collapse of the western part of the classical Roman Empire and the survival of the eastern part.
[Compare and contrast differing
sets of ideas]
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9-12
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Describe
the consolidation of the Byzantine state after the breakup of the Roman
Empire and assess how Byzantium
transmitted ancient traditions and created a new Christian civilization.
[Reconstruct patterns of
historical succession and duration]
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Standard 1B
The
student understands the expansion of Christianity and Buddhism beyond the
lands of their origin.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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5-12
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Assess
how Christianity and Buddhism won converts among culturally diverse
peoples across wide areas of Afro-Eurasia. [Demonstrate and explain the influence of ideas]
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7-12
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Analyze
the spread of Christianity and Buddhism in the context of change and
crisis in the Roman and Han empires. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
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7-12
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Analyze
the importance of monasticism in the growth of Christianity and Buddhism
and the participation of both men and women in monastic life and
missionary activity. [Compare and
contrast differing values, behaviors, and institutions]
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Standard 1C
The
student understands the synthesis of Hindu civilization in India
in the era of the Gupta Empire.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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5-12
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Describe
fundamental features of the Hindu belief system as they emerged in the
early first millennium CE. [Appreciate
historical perspectives]
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7-12
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Explain
the rise of the Gupta Empire and analyze factors that contributed to the
empire’s stability and economic prosperity. [Analyze multiple causation]
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7-12
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Analyze
how Hinduism responded to the challenges of Buddhism and prevailed as the
dominant faith in India.
[Reconstruct patterns of
historical succession and duration]
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7-12
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Analyze
the basis of social relationships in India and compare the social
and legal position of women and men during the Gupta era. [Interrogate historical data]
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5-12
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Evaluate
Gupta achievements in art, literature, and mathematics. [Appreciate historical perspective]
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9-12
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Analyze
the Gupta decline and the importance of Hun invasions in the
empire’s disintegration. [Analyze
multiple causation]
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Standard 1D
The
student understands the expansion of Hindu and Buddhist traditions in Southeast Asia in the first millennium CE.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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5-12
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Assess
the relationship between long-distance trade of Indian and Malay peoples and
the introduction of Hindu and Buddhist traditions in Southeast
Asia. [Analyze
cause-and-effect relationships]
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7-12
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Explain
the impact of Indian civilization on state-building in mainland Southeast Asia and the Indonesian archipelago. [Analyze cause-and-effect
relationships]
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7-12
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Evaluate
monumental religious architecture exemplifying the spread of Buddhist and
Hindu belief and practice in Southeast Asia.
[Draw upon visual sources]
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9-12
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Explain
how aspects of Buddhism and Hinduism were combined in Southeast Asian
religious life. [Interrogate
historical data]
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STANDARD 2
Causes and
consequences of the rise of Islamic civilization in the 7th-10th centuries.
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Standard 2A
The student understands
the emergence of Islam and how it spread in Southwest Asia, North Africa,
and Europe.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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9-12
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Analyze
the political, social, and religious problems confronting the Byzantine
and Sassanid Persian empires in the 7th century and the commercial role
of Arabia in the Southwest Asian
economy. [Analyze multiple
causation]
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5-12
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Describe
the life of Muhammad, the development of the early Muslim community, and the
basic teachings and practices of Islam. [Assess the importance of the individual]
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7-12
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Explain
how Muslim forces overthrew the Byzantines in Syria
and Egypt and the
Sassanids in Persia
and Iraq.
[Interrogate historical data]
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5-12
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Analyze
how Islam spread in Southwest Asia and
the Mediterranean region. [Analyze
the influence of ideas]
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9-12
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Analyze
how the Arab Caliphate became transformed into a Southwest Asian and
Mediterranean empire under the Umayyad dynasty and explain how the Muslim
community became divided into Sunnis and Shi’ites. [Reconstruct patterns of historical
succession and duration]
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7-12
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Analyze
Arab Muslim success in founding an empire stretching from western Europe
to India and China
and describe the diverse religious, cultural, and geographic factors that
influenced the ability of the Muslim government to rule. [Analyze cause-and-effect
relationships]
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Standard 2B
The student
understands the significance of the Abbasid Caliphate as a center of
cultural innovation and hub of interregional trade in the 8th-10th
centuries.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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9-12
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Compare
Abbasid government and military institutions with those of Sassanid
Persia and Byzantium.
[Compare and contrast differing
values and institutions]
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7-12
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Describe
sources of Abbasid wealth, including taxation, and analyze the economic
and political importance of domestic, military, and gang slavery. [Employ quantitative data]
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7-12
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Analyze
why the Abbasid state became a center of Afro-Eurasian commercial and
cultural exchange. [Analyze
cause-and-effect relationships]
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5-12
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Analyze
the sources and development of Islamic law and the influence of law and
religious practice on such areas as family life, moral behavior,
marriage, inheritance, and slavery. [Examine
the influence of ideas]
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7-12
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Describe
the emergence of a center of Islamic civilization in Iberia and evaluate its
economic and cultural achievements. [Appreciate
historical perspectives]
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9-12
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Describe
the cultural and social contributions of various ethnic and religious
communities, particularly the Christian and Jewish, in the Abbasid lands
and Iberia.
[Appreciate historical
perspectives]
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7-12
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Evaluate
Abbasid contributions to mathematics, science, medicine, literature, and
the preservation of Greek learning. [Interrogate
historical data]
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5-12
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Assess
how Islam won converts among culturally diverse peoples across wide areas
of Afro-Eurasia. [Analyze
cause-and-effect relationships]
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Standard 2C
The student
understands the consolidation of the Byzantine state in the context of
expanding Islamic civilization.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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5-12
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Explain
how the Byzantine state withstood Arab Muslim attacks between the 7th and
10th centuries. [Analyze
cause-and-effect relationships]
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9-12
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Compare
Byzantium’s
imperial political system with that of the Abbasid state. [Compare and contrast differing values
and institutions]
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7-12
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Evaluate
the Byzantine role in preserving and transmitting ancient Greek learning.
[Reconstruct patterns of
historical succession and duration]
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9-12
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Analyze
the expansion of Greek Orthodox Christianity into the Balkans and Kievan Russia
between the 9th and 11th centuries. [Analyze
multiple causation]
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STANDARD 3
Major developments in
East Asia and Southeast Asia in the era of
the Tang dynasty, 600-900 CE.
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Standard 3A
The student
understands China’s
sustained political and cultural expansion in the Tang period.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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7-12
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Explain
how relations between China
and pastoral peoples of Inner Asia in the Tang period reflect long-term
patterns of interaction along China’s grassland
frontier. [Explain historical
continuity and change]
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9-12
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Describe
political centralization and economic reforms that marked China’s
reunification under the Sui and Tang dynasties. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
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5-12
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Describe
Tang imperial conquests in Southeast and Central
Asia. [Reconstruct
patterns of historical succession and duration]
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5-12
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Describe
the cosmopolitan diversity of peoples and religions in Chinese cities of
the early- and mid-Tang period. [Appreciate
historical perspectives]
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7-12
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Assess
explanations for the spread and power of Buddhism in Tang China, Korea,
and Japan.
[Analyze cause-and-effect
relationships]
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7-12
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Evaluate
creative achievements in painting and poetry in relation to the values of
Tang society. [Appreciate
historical perspectives]
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Standard 3B
The student
understands developments in Japan,
Korea, and Southeast Asia in an era of Chinese ascendancy.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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7-12
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Explain
how Korea
assimilated Chinese ideas and institutions yet preserved its political
independence. [Compare and
contrast different sets of ideas]
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5-12
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Describe
the indigenous development of Japanese society up to the 7th century. [Interrogate historical data]
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7-12
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Assess
the patterns of borrowing and adaptation of Chinese culture in Japanese
society from the 7th to the 11th century. [Analyze the influence of ideas]
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5-12
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Describe
the establishment of the imperial state in Japan and assess the role of the
emperor in government. [Reconstruct
patterns of historical succession and duration]
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5-12
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Assess
the political, social, and cultural contributions of aristocratic women
of the Japanese imperial court. [Appreciate
historical perspectives]
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5-12
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Describe
the indigenous development of Japanese society up to the 7th century CE.
[Reconstruct patterns of
historical succession and duration]
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7-12
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Explain
China’s
colonization of Vietnam
and analyze the effects of Chinese rule on Vietnamese society, including
resistance to Chinese domination. [Evaluate
alternative courses of action]
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5-12
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Explain
the commercial importance of the Straits of Melaka and the significance
of the empire of Srivijaya for maritime trade between China and the Indian
Ocean. [Draw upon
data in historical maps]
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STANDARD 4
The search for
political, social, and cultural redefinition in Europe,
500-1000 CE.
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Standard 4A
The
student understands the foundations of a new civilization in Western Christendom
in the 500 years following the breakup of the western Roman Empire.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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5-12
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Assess
the importance of monasteries, convents, the Latin Church, and
missionaries from Britain
and Ireland in the
Christianizing of western and central Europe.
[Analyze cause-and-effect
relationships]
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5-12
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Explain
the development of the Merovingian and Carolingian states and assess
their success at maintaining public order and local defense in western Europe.
[Reconstruct patterns of
historical succession and duration]
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7-12
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Analyze
how the preservation of Greco-Roman and early Christian learning in
monasteries and convents and in Charlemagne’s royal court
contributed to the emergence of European civilization. [Reconstruct patterns of historical
succession and duration]
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7-12
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Analyze
the growth of papal power and the changing political relations between
the popes and the secular rulers of Europe.
[Identify issues and problems of
the past]
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9-12
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Compare
the successes of the Latin and Greek churches in introducing Christianity
and Christian culture to eastern Europe. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas]
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Standard 4B
The student
understands the coalescence of political and social order in Europe.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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5-12
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Assess
the impact of Norse (Viking) and Magyar migrations and invasions, as well
as internal conflicts, on the emergence of independent lords and the
knightly class. [Analyze
cause-and-effect relationships]
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7-12
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Assess
changes in the legal, social, and economic status of peasants in the 9th
and 10th centuries. [Interrogate
historical data]
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7-12
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Analyze
the importance of monasteries and convents as centers of political power,
economic productivity, and communal life. [Examine the influence of ideas]
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9-12
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Explain
how royal officials such as counts and dukes transformed delegated powers
into hereditary, autonomous power over land and people in the 9th and
10th centuries. [Reconstruct
patterns of historical succession and duration]
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STANDARD 5
The development of
agricultural societies and new states in tropical Africa and Oceania.
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Standard 5A
The
student understands state-building in Northeast and West
Africa and the southward migrations of Bantu-speaking
peoples.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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7-12
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Explain
how the contrasting natural environments of West Africa defined
agricultural production, and analyze the importance of the Niger River in promoting agriculture, commerce, and
state-building. [Analyze cause-and-effect
relationships]
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7-12
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Explain
how Ghana became West Africa’s first large-scale empire.
[Interrogate historical data]
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7-12
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Assess
the importance of labor specialization, regional commerce, trans-Saharan
camel trade, and Islam in the development of states and cities in West Africa. [Analyze multiple causation]
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9-12
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Infer
from archaeological evidence the importance of Jenné-jeno or Kumbi-Saleh
as early West African commercial cities. [Interrogate historical data]
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9-12
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Analyze
causes and consequences of the settling of East, Central, and Southern Africa by Bantu-speaking farmers and
cattle herders up to 1000 CE. [Analyze
cause-and-effect relationships]
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Standard 5B
The
student understands the peopling of Oceania
and the establishment of agricultural societies and states.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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9-12
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Analyze
various theories drawing on linguistic, biological, and cultural evidence
to explain when and how humans migrated to the Pacific
Islands and New Zealand. [Evaluate major debates among
historians]
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5-12
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Describe
the routes by which migrants settled the Pacific
Islands and New Zealand and the
navigational techniques they used on long-distance voyages. [Draw upon data in historical maps]
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7-12
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Describe
the plants and animals that early migrants carried with them and analyze
how agricultural societies were established on the Pacific
Islands and New Zealand. [Clarify information on the geographic
setting]
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9-12
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Analyze
how complex social structures, religions, and states developed in Oceania. [Analyze
multiple causation]
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STANDARD 6
The rise of centers
of civilization in Mesoamerica and Andean South
America in the first millennium CE.
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Standard 6A
The
student understands the origins, expansion, and achievements of Maya
civilization.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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5-12
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Describe
the natural environment of southern Mesoamerica
and its relationship to the development of Maya urban society. [Analyze cause-and-effect
relationships]
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7-12
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Analyze
the Maya system of agricultural production and trade and its relationship
to the rise of city-states. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
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9-12
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Interpret
the Maya cosmic world view as evidenced in art and architecture and
evaluate Maya achievements in astronomy, mathematics, and the development
of a calendar. [Appreciate historical perspectives]
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5-12
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Analyze
how monumental architecture and other evidence portrays the lives of
elite men and women. [Draw upon
visual sources]
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7-12
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Assess
interpretations of how and why Maya civilization declined. [Evaluate major debates among
historians]
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Standard 6B
The
student understands the rise of the Teotihuacán, Zapotec/Mixtec, and Moche
civilizations.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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7-12
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Analyze
the character of the Zapotec state in the valley of Oaxaca
as reflected in the art and architecture of Monte Albán. [Draw upon visual sources]
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9-12
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Explain
the growth of the urban society centered on Teotihuacán and the
importance of this city as a transmitter of Mesoamerican cultural
traditions to later societies. [Examine
the influence of ideas]
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5-12
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Analyze
how the diverse natural environment of the Andes
region shaped systems of agriculture and animal herding. [Analyze cause-and-effect
relationships]
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7-12
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Describe
how archaeological discoveries have led to greater understanding of the
character of Moche society. [Hold
interpretations of history as tentative]
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STANDARD 7
Major global trends
from 300-1000 CE.
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Standard 7A
The
student understands major global trends from 300 to 1000 CE.
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Grade Level
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Therefore, the student is able
to
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7-12
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Analyze
factors contributing to the weakening of empires or civilized traditions
in world history up to 1000 CE and compare causes of the decline or
collapse of various empires. [Draw
comparisons across eras and regions]
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7-12
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Trace
the migratory and military movements of pastoral nomadic peoples from
Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula between the 4th and 11th centuries
and analyze the consequences of these movements for empires and agrarian
civilizations of Eurasia and Africa. [Interrogate historical data]
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5-12
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Trace
major changes in the religious map of Eurasia and Africa
between 300 and 1000 and account for the success of Christianity,
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam in making converts among peoples of
differing ethnic and cultural traditions. [Analyze the influence of ideas]
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5-12
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Describe
maritime and overland trade routes linking regions of Afro-Eurasia and analyze
the importance of international trade for African and Eurasian societies.
[Draw evidence from historical
maps]
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7-12
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Explain
the importance of Muslims and Muslim civilization in mediating
long-distance commercial, cultural, intellectual, and food crop exchange
across Eurasia and parts of Africa. [Analyze the influence of ideas]
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7-12
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Trace
migrations of farming peoples to new regions of Europe, Sub-Saharan
Africa, China,
Oceania, and Mesoamerica and analyze
connections between new settlement and the development of towns, trade,
and greater cultural complexity in these regions. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
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NEXT:
Era 5: Intensified Hemispheric
Interactions, 1000-1500 CE
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