Organization of the Website

The site is intended for use by middle and high school teachers and students in connection with the surveys of world history, geography and cultures that are required by nearly every state's academic standards in social studies. Map pages and primary sources cover the following eras of world history:

• Prehistoric Era, 90,000 B.C.E. to 5000 B.C.E.
• Ancient Era 5000 B.C.E. to 1000 B.C.E.
• Classical Era, 1000 B.C.E to 300 C.E.
• Medieval Era, 300 C.E. to 1450 C.E.
• First Global Era, 1450 C.E. to 1770 C.E.
• Industrial and Imperial Era, 1770 C.E. to 1914 C.E.
• Twentieth Century and Globalization, 1914 C.E. to the present

For each of these world eras, the site provides a collection of primary sources on the Indian Ocean Basin. The resources illustrated and described on the maps for each era fall into eight categories, each represented by an icon:

• Documents
• Technologies
• Places
• Goods
• Geographies
• Routes
• Travelers
• Objects

There is a key on the bottom left hand side of each era map in the form of a scroll. You can click on these individual icons in the map key to find skill lessons on how to read and analyze the different types of primary sources represented by the these icons. For each era, a set of icons is arranged on a physical map of the Indian Ocean, illustrating cultural interactions and historical processes during that era. The icons are identified at mouse-over, and upon clicking the icon, a brief, illustrated text opens in a pop-up box. The skill lessons provide a set of questions to ask about the objects, documents and other features on the map, and explain the importance of the questions for understanding the map content. These skills lessons are adapted from the expert lessons on historical evidence located at the web site 'World History Sources' at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

A model lesson plan is provided in the Learning Plan drop down menu that suggests ways of interacting with the web site for individual, small group and whole class engagement. Note-taking organizers can be downloaded for recording information from the site. Whatever the era or method chosen, however, students will benefit from familiarizing themselves with the icons that appear on each map, and taking time to do the skills lessons for each type of resource represented by the icons.