Think As Historian: THINK AS A HISTORIAN: IDENTIfY HISTORICAL CONCEPTS, DEvELOPMENTS, AND PROCESSES

Unit 1 is called “The Global Tapestry” to suggest that world history is a complex interweaving of different threads from different parts of the world at different times. However, to fully appreciate the whole, historians try to unravel the tapestry thread by thread to see just how each fits in. As they do, they use such historical concepts as change, continuity, perspective, cause and effect, significance, and empathy. Applying these concepts, they come to understand historical developments— patterns of changes or growth over time. To see these patterns, they look at subjects in historical context—how did they start out, and what did they become over time? Historians also try to understand the historical processes that made certain developments possible, such as migration, industrialization, conquest, and state building.

Practice identifying historical concepts, developments, and pro- cesses by completing the activities below.

1. Read the paragraph labeled Economic Competition on page 14. Explain the historical concept of cause and effect and how it applies to the decline of Baghdad.

2. Explain the historical concept of continuities and how Muhammad’s advice to “go in quest of knowledge even unto China” resulted in historical continuities. (See page 16.)

3. Explain the historical process of knowledge transfers that began with the Jews, Muslims, and Christians living in al-Andalus and laid the groundwork for the Scientific Revolution and Renaissance in Europe. (See page 19.)