Today is rung 1 of 4 on this topic
Trade, empires and the exchange of ideas
Can do: Explains how trade networks moved goods, ideas and disease, and how that reshaped societies.
Why it matters
It shows history as connection rather than as a sequence of separate countries, which is how the modern world actually works.
What it looks like when it's wobbly
Studies each civilisation in isolation with no sense of contact between them.
⏱️ Two-minute check
"Name three things that travelled along trade routes besides goods."
Solid looks like: Ideas, religion, technology, language, disease.
The full activity for this topic · 30 minutes
Follow One Trade Good
- 1Pick something with a long trade history: silk, spices, silver, sugar.
- 2Map its route from source to destination across a historic period.
- 3Note who profited at each stage, and who did the work.
- 4Find one idea or technology that travelled the same route.
- 5Compare with a modern equivalent — a phone's supply chain.
If it's too hard
One good, two stops on the route.
If it's too easy
Analyse the human cost of one trade and how it's remembered differently in different countries.
Say this
"Who got rich on this route, and who didn't? Trade is never neutral."