Unit 5 Essential Questions

1. What impact do regional and global trade networks have on regional cultures?
2. How do physical and human geography affect people, places and regions?
3. How are the concepts of time and space vital to the understanding of history?

Unit 5 Focus Questions

1. What are the characteristics of a “golden age?”
2. Why is the Tang Dynasty referred to as a golden age?
3. In what ways did Chinese culture affect the cultures of Korea and Japan?
4. What role did women play in the Tang and Song dynasties? What leisure activities were available to upper-class women?
5. How have contributions from the Guptas impacted or improved our lives today?
6. What role did the caste system and the Hindu faith have on society in India?
7. What specific geographic factors led to the success of Constantinople as a center of trade activity, cultural diffusion, and military defense?
8. In what ways were the Roman and Byzantine Empires connected?
9. What role did the Byzantine Empire play in the preservation and transmission of Greek and Roman knowledge and culture? What was preserved? How was it preserved?
10. What impact did the Byzantine Empire have on neighboring Russia?
11. In what ways was the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 a turning point in world history?
12. How did Islam link Eastern and Western cultures?
13. During the Golden Age of Islam, what contributions were made to global history by Muslims?
14. What roles did trade, conquest, and missionaries play in the spread of Islam?