Unit 1 Maps: The Global Tapestry, c. 1200 to c. 1450 (Topics 1.1–1.7)

Unit 1 asks the same question in every region: how did states get, keep, and expand power? These maps show where each state was and who its neighbors were.

1.1 East Asia: Song China ran a Confucian bureaucracy staffed through the civil service exam. Champa rice and the Grand Canal fed a growing, commercial economy. Chinese traditions and Buddhism shaped Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

1.2 Dar al-Islam: As the Abbasid Caliphate weakened, new Turkic Muslim states rose, including the Seljuks, the Mamluks of Egypt, and the Delhi Sultanate.

1.3 South and Southeast Asia: Hindu and Buddhist states such as Vijayanagara, the Chola, Srivijaya, Majapahit, and the Khmer Empire. Several of them were built on sea trade.

1.4 The Americas: Maya city-states, the Mexica (Aztec) tribute state, the Inca, and North American centers like Cahokia.

1.5 Africa: Great Zimbabwe, the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, and the Hausa kingdoms.

1.6 Europe: a decentralized patchwork of feudal kingdoms and manors, held together by the Catholic Church.

1.7 Comparison: put two regions side by side and explain how each one held power.

Study tip: for each region, name the state, find it on the map, and give one way it held power, such as bureaucracy, religion, tribute, trade, or military force. That's a ready-made piece of evidence for an SAQ or LEQ.

Teaching Unit 1? My complete Unit 1 lesson covers Topics 1.1–1.7 in 12 days, with a teacher guide and every handout.

Unit 1 complete lesson

Developments in East Asia from
c. 1200 to c. 1450

Feudal Japan

Developments in Dar Al-Islam from c. 1200 to c. 1450

Seljuk Empire

The Seljuk Empire (1050–1300 AD) was a medieval Turkish Empire based in central Anatolia. The pastoralist Turks overtook Asia Minor during the 1070’s and ruled until 1300. The Seljuks left a rich historical legacy. They brought Turkic culture and Islam into Anatolia, and later morphed into the Ottoman Empire.

Mamluk Sultanate

The Mongol leader Hulegu captured Baghdad in 1258, but his attempt to conquer Syria and Palestine was repelled by the Mamluk sultanate based in Egypt. Later rules of the ilkhanate founded by Hulegu converted to Islam, as did the Mongol chiefs of the Golden Horde in Russia. The disruptions caused by Mongol invasions eventually led to the rise of another Turkish warrior sultanate, the Ottomans, in the early 14th century.

Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526). Five dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290), the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). It covered large swathes of territory in modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh as well as some parts of southern Nepal.