Think As Historian: THINK AS A HISTORIAN: IDENTIfY HISTORICAL PROCESSES BY ASKING “HOW”

One way to identify historical processes is to ask the question, “How?” How did Islam spread? How did trade grow between Southwest Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa? How did small clan-based kingdoms become empires? In each of these questions, you can substitute the words “By what process” in the place of “How.” Identifying processes—how things came to be what they are—can give you a basis for understanding different times and different places in history. For example, if you know the process China followed in its proto-industrialization, you can determine what stages of the process in other industrializing regions may be the same or different.

Which of the following identifies a historical process? Explain your answers. Your explanation is as important as your answer.

1. The government of Mali’s power grew as it taxed nearly all trade entering West Africa.

2. Trans-Saharan trade followed seven north-south and two east- west routes.

3. In East Africa, a large variety of imports and exports overlapped.

4. Mansa Musa’s reign deepened the support for Islam in Mali.