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Grade 6 Social Studies Unit 6

Mediterranean World

Feudal Western Europe, The Byzantine Empire, and the Islamic Caliphates

Unit description: The Mediterranean world was reshaped with the fall of the Roman Empire. Three distinct cultural regions developed: feudal Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Islamic caliphates. These regions interacted with each other and clashed over control of holy lands. In this unit, students will study the overexpansion, corruption, invasions, civil wars, and discord that led to the fall of Rome and led to the rise of Feudalism. Students will examine the Byzantine Empire and how Islam spread within the Mediterranean region from southwest Asia to northern Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, students will investigate how competition and rivalry over religious, economic, and political control over holy lands led to conflict such as the Crusades.

Download the complete Social Studies Grade 6 Unit 6 framework to customize for your own planning.

Standards

Standards: 2, 3, 4, 5; MOV, TCC, GOV, CIV, EXCH

Essential Questions and Big Ideas

  • Big idea of the unit: The Mediterranean world was reshaped with the fall of the Roman Empire.
  • What conditions or happenings led to the rise of Feudalism in Western Europe?
    • Overexpansion, corruption, invasions, civil wars, and discord led to the fall of Rome. Feudalism developed in Western Europe in reaction to a need for order and to meet basic needs.
  • What effect did the rise of the Byzantine Empire have on Western Europe?
    • The Byzantine Empire preserved elements of the Roman Empire, controlled lands within the Mediterranean basin, and began to develop Orthodox Christianity.
  • How did the spread of Islam within the Mediterranean region change societies and cultures?
    • Islam spread within the Mediterranean region from southwest Asia to northern Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.
    • The introduction of Islam changed the societies and cultures each conquered, blending with those societies and cultures and creating dynamic new Islamic societies and cultures.
  • What led to conflicts such as the Crusades?
    • Competition and rivalry over religious, economic, and political control over holy lands led to conflict such as the Crusades.

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