NY Social Studies 6.6d
The Standard
Competition and rivalry over religious, economic, and political control over holy lands led to conflict such as the Crusades.
New York State K–12 Social Studies Framework
Key Idea 6.6
MEDITERRANEAN WORLD: FEUDAL WESTERN EUROPE, THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE, AND THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATES (ca. 600 C.E. – ca. 1450): The Mediterranean world was reshaped with the fall of the Roman Empire. Three distinct cultural regions developed: feudal Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Islamic caliphates. These regions interacted with each other and clashed over control of holy lands.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students locate feudal Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Islamic caliphates on maps. They explain how religious goals, trade interests, and political power contributed to the Crusades. They compare how people in each region viewed the conflict.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students accurately map the three regions and describe their interactions. They use evidence to explain several causes of the Crusades and distinguish European, Byzantine, and Islamic perspectives.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat the Crusades as one war caused only by religion. They may assume Western Christians, Byzantines, and Muslims each acted as one united group. They may also confuse the Byzantine Empire with feudal Western Europe.
How to Assess It
- Give students an unlabeled Mediterranean map and ask them to identify the three regions. Then have them explain one Crusade motive and describe two different perspectives.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Build a floor map with region cards, trade goods, pilgrimage routes, and arrows showing military movement across the Mediterranean.
Write three short accounts of Jerusalem’s capture, one each from a European, Byzantine, and Islamic perspective.
Sort cause cards into religious, economic, and political groups, then defend any card that could fit more than one group.
Examine a modern Jerusalem tourism map and identify sites that still draw Jewish, Christian, and Muslim visitors.
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