Unit Plan 30 (Grade 6 Social Studies): Early Empires of Africa
Explore how Kush, Aksum, and early West African kingdoms used geography, resources, and trade networks to become powerful centers of exchange, culture, and innovation across Africa.
Focus: Study Kush, Aksum (Axum), and early West African kingdoms as hubs of trade, culture, and innovation.
Grade Level: 6
Subject Area: Social Studies (History • Economics • Geography)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students investigate how African empires leveraged location, resources, and networks to become centers of exchange. They compare Kush/Nubia on the Nile, Aksum on Red Sea–Indian Ocean routes, and early West African kingdoms (e.g., Ghana/Wagadou) on trans-Saharan corridors. The week culminates in a “Trade & Culture Centers” brief: a comparative map + evidence paragraph.
Essential Questions
- How did geography and resources position Kush, Aksum, and West African kingdoms for prosperity?
- In what ways did trade spread ideas, technology, and beliefs across these regions?
- Which choices about resource use brought benefits—and what were the costs?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Locate and annotate Kush, Aksum, and an early West African kingdom on regional maps with key routes and resources.
- Explain how access to gold, salt, iron, ivory, and strategic ports/caravan hubs shaped economy and culture.
- Compare perspectives using multiple sources (inscriptions, travelers’ accounts, artifacts) to describe daily life and power.
- Identify turning points/legacies (ironworking, Christianity at Aksum, caravan trade systems) and their impacts.
- Evaluate benefits/costs of resource extraction and trade decisions using concrete examples.
Standards Alignment — 6th Grade (C3-based custom)
- 6.C3.Hist.3 — Describe diverse perspectives/experiences (gender, class, status; neighboring peoples) using multiple sources. Example: Compare a royal inscription with a laborer’s record.
- 6.C3.Hist.4 — Identify turning points and big ideas (law codes, democracy, republics, monotheism, trade empires) and their legacies. Example: Connect Roman roads to later European trade and governance.
- 6.C3.Econ.5 — Identify natural, human, and capital resources behind major regional products; weigh benefits/costs of resource use. Example: Evaluate timber/stone extraction for monuments vs. environmental impact.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can map each empire and label routes/resources that explain its growth.
- I can use at least two sources to describe how people worked, traded, and believed.
- I can argue a legacy or turning point and support it with evidence (benefits and costs).