African Kingdoms of the 1400s

The continent of Africa remains home to much of the planet's wealth and in the 1400s significant African kingdoms and empires were built upon that immense wealth. Increasing our knowledge of these nations as they were before the devastating effects of the European initiated Trans Atlantic enslavement system is vital if we are going to understand our nation's early history.

After watching the video posted in google classroom, take a moment to list four details about these African kingdoms from the film that you were unaware of before viewing the film. One detail must come from the piece about Zimbabwe. 

Columbus' Diaries & Letters Offer Foreshadowing

   The landing of Christopher Columbus in the densely populated Taino Kingdom in 1492 initiates a series of catastrophic global events. It also ends a 10,000 year period of isolation of one half of the planet's population from the other.

  We've read excerpts from Columbus's writings. Based upon these brief pieces answer this question in the comment section below:

What can we predict about the future of the relationship between the Taino people and the Europeans from these writings by Columbus? 
(give a complete response and use quotes with your analysis)

Europeans See A Bigger World

 The peoples of Europe are largely provincial in the centuries following the collapse of their conquerors, the Roman Empire. The European people have held onto much of the cultural identity that was forced upon them by the Roman regime including their alphabet, the Middle Eastern religion of Christianity and even the imperial way of organizing a society which empowered a few to rule, and often oppress, the many.

Why and how these rather unsophisticated conquered people will come to build overseas empires that rival the largest ever in human history needs to be well understood if we are to know our own story.

Take a moment to consider what is needed by any people 
who wish to create an overseas empire.

In the Blogger space below write a comment that argues for one thing that a people will need to begin this process, defending your choice. 

Then, as is our pattern, reply to two of your classmates offering feedback. Write your comment before reading the comments of others. This will increase the likelihood of a wide variety of responses. Be as "obvious" or as "subtle" as you like, all responses that are defended will be given full credit.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

A large part in understanding our republic's history will come from our analysis of imagery. Take a moment to look over the image attached to the lesson that depicts our society in the late 20th century and respond to this question: 

Do Now: Based on this painting, what are the inferences that we can make about American society and culture? What appear to be the values of the society being depicted in the image? Use what we see in the image to support your points.

As we did on Monday, we are required to comment once and then we reply to two others.

Why History?

This piece, Why History?, lays out a number of arguments for studying our shared story. Identify one argument by the author that you found the most compelling/convincing. Briefly defend your choice below in the comments section as a complete response. 

Once you have completed your response, come back and read over the responses of your classmates. Then briefly reply to two comments with some feedback. We aren’t evaluating one another’s comments, only offering what we agree or disagree with in the comments of others.

This pattern of commenting once on the post and then replying twice to others will be our way of having virtual discussions, as if we are in an actual classroom. 

Welcome to our Virtual Discussion Space!

  Welcome to Room 104 On-Line!

    I have gotten almost everyone on to the Google Classroom. Sign up now if you have not already connected with you there. I believe only a few students have not responded. Pretty good start.

    I have also opened this online Discussion Room that will only be accessible to students in this particular section. This will begin to meet one of our course's most important needs, the processing of content and shared analysis. 

   We will also need to agree that our classroom norms  must be replicated here too. Respect and an open ear will allow us to engage one another while apart.

   To start our Beta test, please reply to this post with "Agree" as your response to the above stated discussion norms. 

Best,

M. Elinson