Big Era Three: Landscape Unit 3.4


		Complete Teaching Unit in PDF format

Migrations and Militarism across Afroeurasia:
2000 - 1000 BCE

Why This Unit?

This unit examines what caused large numbers of peoples whose way of life was based on animal herding to migrate into settled regions of Afroeurasia in the second millennium BCE. The unit also investigates what resulted from this epic interaction between pastoral groups and settled agrarian peoples. The interaction of these two groups was a constant theme in world history for several thousand years. Students will examine the relationship between these migrations and the development of several states and empires during the second millennium BCE.

Unit Objectives

Upon completing this unit, students will be able to:

1. Compare key differences between the way of life and values of pastoral nomads and settled peoples.

2. Examine the reasons for and consequences of the interactions between these groups.

3. Infer characteristics of kingdoms that developed in the second millennium BCE.

4. Describe the effects of migration and settlement on the development of languages.

Time and Materials

Time:
This unit is divided into four lessons. Each lesson should take a class day or more, although the actual time will vary depending on classroom circumstances. If time is limited, each lesson may be taught as a stand-alone investigation.

Materials:

Student Handouts, pencils, and paper.
Complete Teaching Unit in PDF format

Table of Contents

Why This Unit?	2
Time and Materials	2
Unit Objectives	2
Author	2
The Historical Context	2
This Unit in the Big Era Timeline	4
Lesson One: Differences between settled agriculturalists and pastoral nomads	5
Lesson Two: Interaction between pastoral nomads and settled peoples	11
Lesson Three: Characteristics of Eurasian kingdoms in the second millennium	19
Lesson Four: Word detectives on the case of the Indo-European language family	25
This Unit and the Three Essential Questions	36
This Unit and the Seven Key Themes	36
This Unit and the Standards in Historical Thinking	36
Resources	37
Correlations to National and State Standards and to Textbooks	38
Conceptual Link to Other Teaching Units	39
Complete Teaching Unit in PDF Format

Note: documents in Portable Document Format (PDF) require Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or higher to view, download Adobe Acrobat Reader.