1.4 Africa’s Ancient Societies

Journey to Aksum: Interactive lesson & Skill Practice

EK 1.4.A.2 The Aksumite Empire emerged in eastern Africa around 100 BCE. The Red Sea connected the empire to major maritime trade networks…its strategic location contributed to its rise and expansion. Aksum developed its own currency and script (Ge’ez).

Objective: Students will practice their source analysis skills while exploring Aksum’s capital and experiencing the complexities of Aksum’s civilization, so that they are able to evaluate the extent to which Aksum was a major world power of its time.

Overview

In this lesson, students “explore” Aksum and analyze primary sources to both sharpen their source interpretation skills and learn more about the complexities of power in the empire of Aksum on Africa’s east coast. Students use a Google Slides presentation as a tour guide in which they journey to Aksum, use an interactive map to explore sites of Aksum, and also go beyond to examine sources about Aksum from Rome, Persia, and Constantinople.

Throughout the journey, students will practice S.P.Y. analysis (DBQ document practice) on a stele inscription about King Ezana, get writing and grading tips on which style of student example is best practice for the AP Exam, explore art from the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, and practice an AP-style multiple choice question that uses required sources for the stimuli.

This lesson can be completed in a 55-minute class period, if you get started on time. However, you might need to tell students to skip the second primary source toward the end of class and assign that part for homework or as the warm-up in the next lesson.

Lesson Plan

Before Class: Print the handout double-sided for each student and post the Google Slides presentation ahead of time.

I have the students pick up the packet on their way to their seats as they enter my classroom, and I have Slide 1 posted on the screen. I briefly explain that we will be continuing our investigation of historical African societies, but I don’t spend much time on the intro, as I want students to have as much time as possible to dive into Aksum and source investigation.

This is something that students can work on independently. However, I find that it is best practice to “start the journey” together through the first 8 slides (the answer for the first question about the impact of Aksum’s geography on its history is on Slide 4). This way, you can emphasize the importance of opening the slides in “full screen mode” and also model how to use the “button” to navigate the slides, rather than just clicking straight through them.

Slide 7 will show them a map of Aksum, and Slide 8 is their introduction to the King Ezana Stele that they will analyze. At this point, students can all start to work at their own pace.

Timing: As I mentioned above, this lesson can be completed in 55 minutes, but students might need to skip the second primary source analysis S.P.Y. practice (this is found in the second part of the lesson, as explained below).

There are two interactive maps in the lesson:

• Slide 14 is a map of Aksum’s capital and takes students on a tour to see sites in Aksum.

• Slide 24 is a map of the region in which students evaluate Aksum’s influence based on sources from outside of Aksum.

At the Constantinople stop (part 2, slide #33 - the full source is also printed in the handout), students read about Aksum through Byzantine records (a fascinating source!). However, I instruct my students to SKIP that document analysis practice for now. If they are prompted to try another S.P.Y., just move on. I’d rather have them do the multiple choice and thesis writing practice before the end of the 55-minute period. Then I assign that S.P.Y. practice for the next day’s warm-up activity.