← Four Muslim cities before 1500: Baghdad, Cordoba, Cairo and Timbuktu ·
Four Muslim cities before 1500: Baghdad, Cordoba, Cairo and Timbuktu
Grade 4 · Social Studies, Grade 4 (G4-SS) · Strand A · A1, A3 · 60 min
Mapped by the museum, not endorsed by the Ministry.
A Grade 4 lesson on four cities of societies before 1500: how people lived there, who governed, how they learned and traded, and what is like our life today and what is different.
Lesson goal
Students describe daily life and social organisation in a Muslim city before 1500 and compare it with their own community in Canada today.
What the lesson does, in the museum's words
The lesson covers early societies outside Canada through four Muslim cities before 1500: their political and social organisation, daily life, and relations with the environment and with other societies through trade, then asks students to compare them with their own community today. The teacher pairs it with a First Nation and an Inuit society, as the strand requires.
The Ontario Curriculum: Social Studies, Grades 1 to 6; History and Geography, Grades 7 and 8, 2023 (dcp.edu.gov.on.ca)
Sixty minutes: ten for the four cities on a projected map, thirty for the steps in groups (one city per group), twenty for the worksheet and the class comparison. Pair the lesson with a First Nation and an Inuit society, as the strand requires.
Lesson steps
- Baghdad: a new round city — How Baghdad was founded, who lived in it and why it grew so large. · Baghdad · The Founding of Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad)
- The House of Wisdom: the city's library — A place for books and translation: who worked there and what they did. · Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom
- Cordoba: a city in al-Andalus — A European city ruled by Muslims for centuries, where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived. · Cordoba
- The Great Mosque of Cordoba — A great building with its famous arches: how it was built and what it was used for. · Great Mosque of Córdoba
- Cairo and al-Azhar — A city on the Nile, and a mosque that became a school where people still study today. · Cairo · Al-Azhar Mosque
- Timbuktu and Mansa Musa — A city at the edge of the Sahara, and a famous king who travelled from it to Mecca. · Timbuktu · Mansa Musa
- Trade links the cities — Caravans, ships and markets: how paper, gold, salt and books travelled from city to city. · Trade in Islam
- The mosque at the heart of the city — A place for prayer, learning and meeting: what the mosques of the four cities share. · Mosque
Worksheet
Answer in your own words after each step; every question points back to a museum page.
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Choose one of the four cities. What river or desert is it near, and who governed it?
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What did people do in the House of Wisdom? Write two jobs.
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Which goods travelled between the cities? Draw a caravan and name three goods.
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Why did Mansa Musa travel from Timbuktu to Mecca?
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Write one thing in these cities that is like our life today, and one thing that is different.
Answer key
Each worksheet question is answered by one step; the number points to the step.
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Choose one of the four cities. What river or desert is it near, and who governed it?
1 Baghdad: a new round city — How Baghdad was founded, who lived in it and why it grew so large. · Baghdad · The Founding of Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad)
3 Cordoba: a city in al-Andalus — A European city ruled by Muslims for centuries, where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived. · Cordoba
5 Cairo and al-Azhar — A city on the Nile, and a mosque that became a school where people still study today. · Cairo · Al-Azhar Mosque
6 Timbuktu and Mansa Musa — A city at the edge of the Sahara, and a famous king who travelled from it to Mecca. · Timbuktu · Mansa Musa
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What did people do in the House of Wisdom? Write two jobs.
2 The House of Wisdom: the city's library — A place for books and translation: who worked there and what they did. · Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom
-
Which goods travelled between the cities? Draw a caravan and name three goods.
7 Trade links the cities — Caravans, ships and markets: how paper, gold, salt and books travelled from city to city. · Trade in Islam
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Why did Mansa Musa travel from Timbuktu to Mecca?
6 Timbuktu and Mansa Musa — A city at the edge of the Sahara, and a famous king who travelled from it to Mecca. · Timbuktu · Mansa Musa
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Write one thing in these cities that is like our life today, and one thing that is different.
8 The mosque at the heart of the city — A place for prayer, learning and meeting: what the mosques of the four cities share. · Mosque
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