Cry Me a River
Smooth Operator
Holy Connections!
Mongols, Microbes & Markets
Historian’s Toolbox
100
The Huang He (Yellow River) in China earned the heartbreaking nickname "China’s Sorrow" because its violent, unpredictable flooding caused massive loss of human life and destroyed this crucial farming resource.
What is fertile soil / crops (or silt/loess deposits)
100
This major Chinese dynasty relied heavily on silk production to drive its domestic economy and fuel international trade.
What is the Song Dynasty?
100
Both Buddhism and Christianity spread rapidly across continents by traveling along these.
What are trade routes (e.g., the Silk Road, Roman roads, or sea lanes)?
100
Because the Mongol Empire made overland travel safe, merchants crossed Afro-Eurasia to trade high-value, lightweight luxury items like spices, porcelain, and this famous Chinese fabric.
What is silk?
100
A source written or created during the exact historical time period being studied.
What is a primary source?
200
While catastrophic floods brought endless tears to ancient farmers, these annual natural disasters were the only way river valleys got this liquid necessity to irrigate their crops.
What is water (or floodwater)?
200
Beyond looking good, name TWO political or economic ways the Chinese government flexed silk as a tool.
What is paying military troops, negotiating peace treaties/tributes, trading for luxury goods, or using it as currency?
200
Long before modern religions spread along trade routes, this ancient Mesopotamian king created one of the world's earliest written legal codes featuring "an eye for an eye."
What is the Code of Hammurabi?
200
What period of relative peace across Asia under Mongol rule made Silk Road trade safe enough for merchants to travel long distances?
What is Pax Mongolica?
200
The "E" in CER.
What is Evidence?
300
To stop the tears and prevent floodwaters from wiping out entire villages, early societies had to organize huge work crews to build dams and dikes, which directly led to the creation of this powerful institution.
What is a formal government (or state/laws)?
300
This group of workers performed the essential domestic labor in silk houses required to supply global trade routes.
Who are women?
300
Christianity and Buddhism both gained millions of followers among women, peasants, and poor citizens because both faiths taught this radical idea about human souls.
What is spiritual equality (or universal salvation regardless of wealth/status)?
300
Mediterranean port cities were hit especially hard by the plague because incoming trade ships brought in these two hitchhikers.
What are infected rats and fleas?
300
When historians compare multiple primary sources, they are using this historical skill.
What is corroboration?
400
When rivers dried up or flooded too violently, it caused agricultural failure and famine, leaving specialized non-farming workers with this tragic problem.
What is food shortages / job loss (or starvation)?
400
To prevent costly military invasions on their northern borders, Song Dynasty emperors often gave huge payments of silk to neighboring groups as a political tactic known as paying this.
What is tribute (or a peace treaty payment)?
400
This is what Jews call their holy text (Christians call it the first 5 books of the Bible).
What is the Torah?
400
This trade network primarily connected East Asia to the Mediterranean Basin, facilitating the exchange of silk, spices, and luxury goods.
What is the Silk Road?
400
In historical writing and the CER framework, writers must directly reference where they got their facts by providing a quote or paraphrase. This practice of giving credit to your evidence is called ________ your source.
What is citing?
500
The ultimate cause for tears in any ancient empire: when far-off border regions rebel because oppressed people feel mistreated by the central government, leading to this total disaster.
What is the collapse / fall of the empire?
500
In Song Dynasty China, fine silk clothing was not just worn for warmth or style—it was used as a powerful visual symbol to show off this.
What is social class (or government official / elite status)?
500
Two religions originated in India.
What is Buddhism and Hinduism?
500
In Western Europe, the massive labor shortage caused by the plague allowed surviving workers to demand this.
What are higher wages?
500
When analyzing a document, historians investigate WHO created it, WHEN it was made, and HOW the author's background, wealth, or bias influenced their perspective. Historians call this essential skill ________.
What is sourcing?