Bananas in Africa Constructing & Evaluating Arguments SWBAT:  Develop arguments to explain the spread of food crops in Africa in the first millennium CE.  Explore connections among regions and themes, using foursquare organizer.  Show the existence of other exchanges parallel to the Columbian Exchange  Show economic connections among peoples all across the African continent, including in areas without large states.

Explanation:  The content of this lesson focuses on an aspect of agricultural exchange not commonly discussed in detail in world history textbooks; however, it is potentially important for determining how African societies were connected to each other and to other parts of the world in the Foundations era.  Bananas (and plantains) arrived on the Indian Ocean coast of Africa from Southeast Asia and spread through much of sub-Saharan Africa, especially during the first millennium CE.

Task #1:  Working individually, study Handout 1A, including the map, and acquaint yourself with the history of the spread of the banana throughout Africa  Read, code, underline vocab, etc.  You have minutes!

Task #2:  Now that you are familiar with the information on bananas in first-millennium Africa, begin your analysis using your foursquare, Handout A2.  In the center of your foursquare, write the main point: that bananas spread from the Indian Ocean coast to many parts of sub-Saharan Africa in the course of the period from the year 1 to the year 1000 CE.  Politics, economy, culture, and biology appear in the four corners of the graphic-a completed sample of a foursquare is provided on the last page of your packet.

More on the foursquare…  In the space provided between the center and each of the four sides, list your ideas about: How the movement of bananas affected politics, the economy, culture, and biological patterns; How politics, the economy, culture, and biology each affected the spread of banana cultivation You may use text, arrows, or other graphic devices to represent the relationships you envision. You have minutes!

Task #3:  Use your completed foursquare to construct a one-sentence historical argument for each of the following points on a separate sheet of paper: Show how bananas might have spread across the African continent. Argue that the spread of bananas shows African participation in world history processes. Argue that this change in agriculture led to changes in the size and location of population. Argue that this change in technology of agriculture led to changes in African social structure.

Task #4:  To conclude your work, you should select the best of your arguments and summarize it in 3 sentences, written on the same sheet: The statement of the argument The side of the foursquare on which the argument is centered The connections among sections of the foursquare indicated in the argument (e.g., politics OR culture at the local or global level)

Task #5:  Review: Time to share! How does your foursquare reveal your arguments?  What will it take to prove or disprove the arguments?  Submit your foursquare and argument sheets to the inbox for your class