Traders+or+Raiders

Traders or Raiders? Your project is to create a wikispace on one of two societies with disputed reputations.

 Instructions  Rubric

Below are some starting places for your research.

The Mongolian Empire Have you ever wondered why some of the people, who are ethnically Chinese, practice the religion of Islam? Or whatever happened to the world's largest contiguous empire? In order to answer these two questions, and a number of others, it is necessary for us to study the Mongol Empire. Although short-lived (less than one hundred years) the empire created by the great Genghis Khan was the largest the world has ever known!Named "Temujin" Genghis Khan was born to a leader of a small tribe in northeastern Mongolia. His father was poisoned when he was about 10 years old. In 1206, Temujin united the warring Mongol tribes and was proclaimed Genghis Khan ("universal ruler") of the Mongol chieftains. In 1207, Genghis Khan led the Mongols on the first of the series of destructive, bloody invasions that would result in the conquest of much of the Asian mainland, occupying Beijing (Peking) in 1215. Extending their expeditions to the shores of the Caspian Sea, the Mongol warriors penetrated the steppes of Russia and totally defeated the Russian army by 1223. They did not, however, follow up their victory with a conquest of the cities to the west; instead they returned eastward. The empire established by Genghis Khan eventually extended from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Black Sea in the west. Genghis Khan will die in 1227, but the contributions made by his sons and his grandson, Kublai Khan will ensure a lasting legacy, documented in The Travels of Marco Polo.

 [|Mongols Introductory Reading]

[|Mongol Rule over China]

[|National Geographic: Genghis Khan]

[|Mongol Warriors to Silk Road Traders] Daily Mail article

[|History Today: Mongol Conquests]

[|History Today: Mongol Sack of Baghdad]

[|Mongol Reputation]

[|Mongol: Strategies and Tactics]

[|National Geographic: Lasting legacy? DNA]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> The Vikings <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Until recently, Continental historians tended to see the Fall of the Carolingian Empire as a re-run of the Fall of Rome, with the Vikings in the role of new barbarians, responsible for a new ninth-century Dark Age. The Vikings have continued to be regarded as fundamentally other - more violent, more barbaric, more 'primitive' - than those with whom they came into contact on both sides of the Channel. However, there are a number of historians who suggest a more complicated view of the Vikings – did they just “hit and run”, or were they settlers? Did they in fact discover America? They left little behind as clues to their real identity – see if you can discover more…..

[|Vikings Introductory Reading] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|Viking Denmark Webpage]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|Jorvik Centre in York]Downloadable resources on Viking way of life and settlement in York

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|BBC What happened to the Vikings?]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|History Today: Vikings as Town dwellers]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|Vikings at the British Museum]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|National Geographic: Vikings Bad rap beginning to fade]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|Smithsonian: Vikings Bad Boy Reputation]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|Spectator: The Vikings really were that bad!]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|Visit Norway: Viking Reputation]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|British Museum shows Vikings softer side]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|History Today: Who really discovered America?]