Grade 7 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 6, Lesson 2

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
Across the Centuries

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 6, Lesson 2: The Rise of Coastal Trading States (pp. 141-144)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Interdependence and Conflict Trade between Arab seafaring merchants and coastal East Africans led to the rise of prosperous Swahili city-states and, eventually, to efforts by the Portuguese to control them.

Work with students to create a cause-and-effect chart on the board that describes the major events of this lesson. You might start with causes like the Bantu speakers migrate to the coast of East Africa, Arab sea traders meet the Bantu, Arab merchants learn to use the monsoons to sail the Indian Ocean, city-states prosper, and so on. Help students see that each effect is also the cause of some other event.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Ibn Battuta, who visited the city-state of Kilwa in 1331, admired many of its accomplishments. Assign students to write and illustrate a short, imaginative travel brochure, noting the prosperity and achievements of one of the East African city-states.
Have students create an illustrated story map showing the interrelationship of the many groups who encountered each other during the rise of the Coastal Trading States.

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