Tools to Organize and Analyze
the Past – Using Spatial Scales
Unit 1 Lesson 9
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales
#1
THINK about the following problems:
• What challenges do historians face in using maps
created in the present time to study the past?
• What challenges do historians face in using old
maps to study the past?
DO NOT ANSWER YET.
YOU WILL BE INVESTIGATING THESE QUESTIONS IN
THE LESSON.
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #2
HANDOUT & HAVE STUDENTS ANSWER
THE QUESTIONS IN WRITING:
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #2
REVIEW ANSWERS WITH THE CLASS:
The idea of a “continent” is a man-made construct.
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #3
Is Europe a continent? Discuss
The definition of continent:
A continuous mass or extent of land.
• Does Europe fit this definition?
• Given that Europe is only continuous if
Asia is included, why is Europe
commonly called a continent?
• Why aren’t North and South America
one continent?
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #3
This may have something to do with who writes
history.
Remember who is between the earth and its
representation – a cartographer with all her
knowledge, experiences, points of view, etc.
Discuss the factors that contribute to modern world maps
(political, historical, and cultural).
See additional information in background reading entitled,
“the Architecture of Continents:…”
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales
See Supplements for MORE information
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #3
Additional Information
• The original continental distinction was devised by ancient Greek
mariners, who gave the names Europe and Asia to the lands on
either side of the waterways.
• They later added Africa to form a three-continent scheme.
• They used to divide Asia and Africa along the Nile River.
• In the early sixteenth century maps began to show the Americas as
a single continent. This idea remained common until World War II.
• Since the early eighteenth century, one of the most problematic
issues for global geographers was how to categorize Southeast
Asia, Australia, and the islands of the Pacific. (Oceania = Australia
and New Zealand)
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #4
In this topography, the elevations of different physical features are
highlighted in different colors. The darkest blue represents the lowest
points. The orange and red represent the highest points. In the past sea
levels were much lower than today. The features in light blue were
actually once above sea level. The light blue areas are also known as
continental shelves.
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What if I were to draw a line around the map areas,
making all the light blue areas part of the existing
continents?
Consider the
following
questions.:
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1. According to this way of looking at the world, how
many continents are there?
2. How might people have moved from Asia to the
Americas?
3. Where else on the map does ice provide a
connection to other land masses?
4. Could the Mediterranean Sea be considered a lake
from this view? Why or why not? (LAKE: Inland body
of water: a large body of water surrounded by land)
5. Think about modern political maps you have seen.
How does this new map compare with those maps?
6. What reasons might historians have for thinking
about the Earth in this way?
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #6
Dissect this word and identify
Familiar word roots:
(Africa, Euro, and Asia)
This is a term that historians and geographers use to study large scale human
activities that span the three continents: Africa, Europe, and Asia.
What human activities could take place in such a large area?
Examples: Migration, trade, foraging
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STUDENT RESPONSES:
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REGION: A region is an area that is held together by
common characteristics.
• A region can be big (a continent) or smaller (the Great
Lakes Region);
• Or even smaller (metropolitan Detroit)
The region is defined by the common characteristic(s)
used to hold an area together.
Historians studying issues such as migration, trade, and
foraging might use a regional map such as the one
entitled Afroeurasia.
Why might this map be preferable to one of just Africa?
The larger geographic container allows them to see
movement in and out of a place and the location to
where those people, things, and ideas are moving to and
from.
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #6
(Picture on next slide)
What types of things could you
explore using a big geographic
container of “The Americas”
rather than just the United States?
DISCUSS
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #6
TURN & TALK:
What types of things
could you explore using
a big geographic
container of
“The Americas” rather
than just the United States?
DISCUSS
Remember that geographic containers historians and geographers use
can limit or expand their view of history or of the world.
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #7
In groups of three:
DISCUSS and answer the questions on the handout.
When finished -We will review this together in a class discussion
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Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #7
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #7
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #7
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #8
Display: Analyzing Historical Maps
• The maps show the trade routes in
Afroeurasia in the 1300-1400’s and the
route of the Black Death (Bubonic
Plague).
Investigate the maps
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #8
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial
Scales #8
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #8
Answer the following questions in your SS Notebook:
1. Compare the two maps and the patterns of
movement shown on each. What do you notice?
2. Looking at the two maps together, how do you
think the Bubonic Plague spread?
3. Looking at the maps, where might the Black
Death have started?
4. What might be one consequence of increased
trade and increased human interactions?
FIRST: Turn & Talk
NEXT: Form geographic groups of 4 by combining
pairs to share and check your answers. (Stay seated)
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CLASS DISCUSSION:
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #8
Consider this:
• Using large regions like Afroeurasia can benefit our
understanding of history.
• Large spatial and temporal scales are often used
together.
• Historians look at maps of large geographic regions
like Afroeurasia in order to identify patterns in human
activity over large periods of time over great expanses
of land.
• Understanding how humans populated the Earth
during the foraging era requires us to use broader
classifications to study human activity on a global
scale.
Tools to Organize and Analyze the Past – Using Spatial Scales #9
EXIT SLIP
On a sheet of paper answer the following questions
proposed at the beginning of the lesson:
1. What challenges do historians face
in using maps created in the present
time to study the past?
2. What challenges do historians face
in using old maps to study the past?
Tools to Organize and Analyze the
Past – Using Spatial Scales #9
BONUS QUESTION - ANSWER:
Evaluate the use of regions like
Afroeurasia:
What are the benefits?
What are the limitations?
Vocabulary Quiz