National History Education Clearinghouse

AL.1. Standard: World History to 1500

• 1.1. Objective: Geography/History

  Explain how artifacts and other archaeological findings provide evidence of the nature and movement of prehistoric groups of people.

  • 1.1.1. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying the founding of Rome as the basis of the calendar established by Julius Caesar, which was used in early Western civilization for well over a thousand years.

  • 1.1.2. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying the birth of Christ as the basis of the Gregorian calendar as used in the United States since its beginning and in most countries of the world today, as signified by B.C (before Christ) and A.D (Anno Domini, Latin for 'in the year of our Lord')

  • 1.1.3. Grade Level Example:

    Using vocabulary terms other than B.C. and A.D. to describe time.

  • 1.1.4. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying terms used to describe characteristics of early societies and family structures.

• 1.2. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Analyze the characteristics of early civilizations in respect to technology, division of labor, government, calendar, and writings.

  • 1.2.1. Grade Level Example:

    Comparing the significant features of civilizations that developed in the Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Indus, and Huang He River valleys.

  • 1.2.2. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying on maps the locations of cultural hearths of early civilizations.

• 1.3. Objective: History

  Compare the development of early world religions, philosophies, and their key tenets.

  • 1.3.1. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying the cultural contributions of early world religions and philosophies.

• 1.4. Objective: History/Political Science

  Identify the cultural contributions of Classical Greece, including politics, intellectual life, arts, literature, architecture, and science.

• 1.5. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Describe the role of Alexander the Great in the Hellenistic world.

  • 1.5.1. Grade Level Example:

    Defining the boundaries of Alexander the Great's empire and its economic impact.

  • 1.5.2. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying reasons for the breakup of Alexander the Great's empire into successor kingdoms.

  • 1.5.3. Grade Level Example:

    Evaluating major contributions of Hellenistic art, philosophy, science, and political thought.

• 1.6. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Trace the expansion of the Roman Republic and its transformation into an empire, including key geographic, political, and economic elements.

  • 1.6.1. Grade Level Example:

    Interpreting spatial distributions and patterns of the Roman Republic using geographic tools and technologies.

• 1.7. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Describe the widespread impact of the Roman Empire.

  • 1.7.1. Grade Level Example:

    Tracing important aspects of the diffusion of Christianity, including its relationship to Judaism, missionary impulse, organizational development, transition from persecution to acceptance in the Roman Empire, and church doctrine.

  • 1.7.2. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining the role of economics, societal changes, Christianity, political and military problems, external factors, and the size and diversity of the Roman Empire in its decline and fall.

• 1.8. Objective: Geography/History

  Describe the development of a classical civilization in India and China.

  • 1.8.1. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying the effect of the monsoons on India.

  • 1.8.2. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying landforms and climate regions of China.

• 1.9. Objective: History/Political Science

  Describe the rise of the Byzantine Empire, its institutions, and its legacy, including the influence of the Emperors Constantine and Justinian, and the effect of the Byzantine Empire upon art, religion, architecture, and law.

  • 1.9.1. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying factors leading to the establishment of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

• 1.10. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Trace the development of the early Russian state and the expansion of its trade systems.

• 1.11. Objective: Geography/History/Political Science

  Describe early Islamic civilizations, including the development of religious, social, and political systems.

  • 1.11.1. Grade Level Example:

    Tracing the spread of Islamic ideas through invasion and conquest throughout the Middle East, northern Africa, and western Europe.

• 1.12. Objective: Economics/History/Political Science

  Describe China's influence on culture, politics, and economics in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.

• 1.13. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/ Political Science

  Compare the African civilizations of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai to include their geography, religions, slave trade, economic systems, empires, and cultures.

  • 1.13.1. Grade Level Example:

    Tracing the spread of language, religion, and customs from one African civilization to another.

  • 1.13.2. Grade Level Example:

    Illustrating the impact of trade among Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

• 1.14. Objective: Geography/History

  Describe key aspects of pre-Columbian cultures in the Americas including the Olmecs, Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, and North American tribes.

  • 1.14.1. Grade Level Example:

    Locating on a map the pre-Columbian cultures.

• 1.15. Objective: Economics/History/Political Science

  Describe the military and governmental events that shaped Europe in the early Middle Ages (600-1000).

  • 1.15.1. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the role of the early medieval church.

  • 1.15.2. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the impact of new agricultural methods on manorialism and feudalism.

• 1.16. Objective: Economics/History/Political Science

  Describe the major cultural changes in Western Europe in the High Middle Ages (1000-1350).

  • 1.16.1. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the changing roles of church and governmental leadership.

  • 1.16.2. Grade Level Example:

    Comparing political developments in France, England, and the Holy Roman Empire, including the signing of the Magna Carta.

  • 1.16.3. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the growth of trade and towns resulting in the rise of the middle class.

• 1.17. Objective: Economics/History/Political Science

  Explain how events and conditions fostered political and economic changes in the late Middle Ages and led to the origins of the Renaissance.

  • 1.17.1. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying changes in the arts, architecture, literature, and science in the late Middle Ages.