Units 1 and 2:

The World Before Columbus

Units 1 and 2 begin just before the dawn of European Exploration, and the voyages of Christopher Columbus in the year 1492. We take a flying overview of the world in the two centuries before Columbus, to see how various regions established political power, became economic powerhouses, and fostered the great faiths of the world. In Unit 2, we see how intricately connected these regions become under three major trade networks: the Silk Road, an overland route across Asia; the Indian Ocean Trade Routes, water passageways that connected Africa, Asia and Oceania; and the Trans-Saharan Trade Routes, that connected North and Sub-Saharan Africa to one another and to Europe and Southwest Asia.