Lesson video

Hello, this is Mr. Cooper, tuning in for your fourth and final lesson of this inquiry which has been looking at how was Baghdad connected to the wider world.

So I hope you've found the first three lessons interesting.

And we're going to be finishing off today, looking at why this period came to an end or why did it start to unravel, to fall apart.

So hopefully you've done the quiz already.

And what I would like you to do, same thing every time, piece of paper or your books, date of whatever day it is that you're doing this lesson on.

Title of the lesson which would appear in a moment.

And then we will get going.

And don't forget, you can pause the video at any point, you can mute me, I'll be fine, I'll get over it.

And also last thing, hide your phone.

My phone I've just realised is just beside me.

So I'm going to put it behind me now because then I'll won't know what's going on which is fine.

And actually a bit of a relief.

We don't need to be connected all the time.

So off we go.

So if you could please make sure that you have this title written down in your books or your notes.

Underline it, just to make sure your notes is tidy.

And put the date of whatever day you're doing this lesson on, that'd be great.

And then restart the lesson when you are done.

So just to recap what we've been doing in the last three lessons.

So on the screen we have a map of this part of Europe, North Africa and Asia.

The darker green area is the Abbasid Caliphate.

And the orange arrow is pointing roughly at the location of Baghdad.

And then in the far west we have a lighter green area, representing a smaller, independent caliphate.

So a caliphate that wasn't ruled from Baghdad.

So when we have this period known as the Islamic Golden Age, this period when Baghdad was booming, learning, lots of learning, lots of artwork, lots of building.

A big part of it is thanks to the fact that the Abbasid Caliphate, so the caliphate that we see on the screen here, the big green area had become very, very rich.

And it did become very, very rich because it was a peaceful place.

Overall it was a peaceful place for quite a long time.

So if you wanted to travel from one edge of the caliphate to another, stopping off in one of the many booming towns like Baghdad, you could do.

And you didn't need to worry too much about being attacked, it was generally a very safe, secure place to live.

And this meant that the Silk Road, the pink lines on the screen there, the Silk Road you could travel on this Silk Road with great ease.

And this kind of helps the Abbasid Califate become richer and richer and richer and that's why it then became known as the Golden Age.

So this is the period that we've been talking about.

For several hundred years it was like this.

So for a good 200 years, give or take a few years, we have this period when generally things are pretty stable, things are pretty calm.

Baghdad is the capital of this big, big empire, known as the caliphate.

Caliphs, the leaders of the caliphates, they rule from Baghdad and this world remains pretty calm, pretty stable.

Pause here, just very quick question.

Why did trade on the Silk Road increase during the Islamic Golden Age? So just think here about what I just told you, why do you think trade on the Silk Road increased, not decreased, increased during the Islamic Golden Age? Maybe write down a sentence, just answering that very quickly and then restart when you're done.

Well, the answer is of course, if you're a trader and you're carrying valuable goods like silk, you're going to be more likely to risk the journey, this very long, difficult journey, if it's peaceful.

So if the journey is not, is going to be an easy journey, an easy journey than you are going to trade more.

And that is what happened.

So when we have this green, this one unified area, the Abbasid Caliphate, more trade, because it was more peaceful.

And then just to remind you, so of course you see the pink line there.

It goes right through the caliphates.

So whilst in that part of the world, traders had a pretty easy time and this is why Baghdad became so rich and powerful.

Now something happens.

From the ninth century, so a few hundred years we've had Baghdad ruling, one united empire, one united caliphate.

And this starts to fall apart.

And on the screen we have sort of the different parts that the empire now falls into.

So on the far left we have the Spanish independent caliphate and that's free of Baghdad.

So it doesn't pay attention to what Baghdad does.

That had been free for a long time, actually.

So this had already broken away because it was so far away.

Then in the orange circle we have these different colours but actually all of the different colours inside the orange circle, they were part of another caliphate, the Fatimid Caliphate.

So that was another caliphate that broke away from Baghdad and then decided to rule itself free of the Abbasid Caliphates.

Then we have that green slither between the orange circle and the blue splodge.

That was the area that was controlled by the Abbasid Caliph.

So Baghdad is in the middle of that light green area there.

So that was how much it had shrunk the control that the Abbasid Caliphs had.

The Abbasid Caliphate had shrunk from that big green area right down to that small area there.

And then we also have the larger green area, sorry, the larger blue area that was what was called the Buyid Empire.

So we have these different groups all challenging the power, the control of the caliph in Baghdad.

So what we see happening is the Muslim breaks into different parts.

The Abbasid Caliphate once was unified, once peaceful, once calm, breaks into these different areas.

Now there was still trade.

There will still trade.

It's not to say that trade stops but it became more complicated.

And the fighting became worse.

And Baghdad was actually the centre of this because as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, control of Baghdad meant control of a very important part of the caliphate.

Opposite question to what I just had.

So why did trade on the Silk Road decrease at the end of the Islamic Golden Age? So on the screen, what we have, if you remember the map before it was one green splodge.

Very technical term there.

And this just represents the fact that the Abbasid Caliphate was united, it was one area united with one single ruler.

This changes by the end of the Islamic Golden Age, this has changed dramatically.

We have the Abbasid Caliphate is broken up into different parts, lead by local rulers, have decided that they don't want to answer questions being asked by the Caliph in Baghdad.

They want to get on with themselves and so why do you think there's been a trade decreased, why would trade decrease? Thinking about why trade increased when it was one united caliphate? Why would it decrease now that it was broken up into these different parts? Well, the answer is very simple.

Again, imagine you're a trader travelling all the way from China, trying to get your silk onto the markets in Europe.

Suddenly you have different borders to cross.

You have different rulers to answer to, all of them asking different things, different rules potentially, also lots of fighting.

So the fighting that started between the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad and these different groups meant there was lots of chaos.

It was no longer calm, it was less secure.

And so this meant that trade went down at this time.

So this is why we see the Islamic world is starting to become less secure, less wealthy, less stable.

Stable is this really good word to use when things are calm, things aren't rocking about too much.

Then it gets even more serious.

So on the screen, I have three pink arrows pointing from the direction that different groups travels, aiming to Baghdad.

So again, this is the end of the Islamic Golden Age.

The Abbasid Caliphate is broken up into these different bits.

Things are much more chaotic.

There's much more fighting for control.

And then things get really serious.

So we have different groups, many of them from central Asia.

So starting with that first arrows on the right.

Central Asia, they know about Baghdad.

Baghdad has this reputation, it's known to be a very powerful, very rich city and so the different groups want to control it.

And this happens many times the different groups attack Baghdad many times.

The Buyids, we already mentioned, then we have the Seljuks and then we have the Mongols.

So we have three different tribes, three different groups who decide that they want to be in control of Baghdad.

And they come to Baghdad, they lay siege to Baghdad.

And on two occasions, they cause a huge amount of destruction to Baghdad especially when the Seljuks and the Mongols attack.

So we have another reason why the Abbasid Caliphate, what's left of it at least, starts to weaken.

Baghdad is losing it's position as this hugely powerful, beautiful place.

Remember Baghdad was not placed where it was because it was good for defending, it was placed there because its location on the Silk Road.

So when these different groups went to attack Baghdad, it wasn't really able to protect itself.

Now on the screen, we have images of the Mongols attacking Baghdad in 1258.

Now you may have done a separate unit or you may well do another inquiry on the Mongols.

Don't worry too much at this point, if you haven't.

The key thing is that we have Mongol soldiers so we see them along the bottom of the screen, they are using these different tactics to get into the walled city.

Remember that it was a circular city, a round city surrounded by these big walls and the Mongols, they use siege weapons, catapults and bridges to get into the walled city of Baghdad.

And then this is another image, made at a different times as the previous image.

But again, showing the moments that the Mongols get into Baghdad.

And we see again, along the bottom of the screen, Mongols on their horses.

So horses from were one of the things that made the Mongols such a terrifying force and they've got siege weapons and then they get into Baghdad and they cause a lot of destructions by that.

You can actually see the dirt.

You can see the domes actually inside the walls.

These represent these different mosques.

So we have an image of what Baghdad looked too.

So Baghdad never really recovered.

So having been founded in 750AD to this, the image this represents, which is about 500 years later, the first two 300 years of Baghdad's existence, when it was expanding, when it was booming, when it was doing really well, we have the markets, the bazaars bustling and silk coming in from China, furs coming in from Europe.

We have the House of Wisdom, the libraries that we were looking at in the last lesson.

After a few hundred years, however, Baghdad's position starts to decline and it declined because we have the caliphate as a whole starting to fall apart.

But then we also have individual groups attacking Baghdad, threatening its position and causing a lot of destruction to it.

And so by the time you get to 1258, when the Mongols successfully attack and destroy Baghdad, Baghdad is in decline.

So just very quickly before we go to the reading part of this lesson, pause here.

Which group did not lay siege to mediaeval Baghdad.

So four different options, three of them laid siege mediaeval Baghdad, and one of them didn't, lay siege to mediaeval Baghdad.

See if you could just quickly write down the group that did not lay siege to mediaeval Baghdad.

And there we go.

So the one group that didn't lay siege to mediaeval Baghdad, the Romans.

So the Buyids first, then the Seljuks, we'll just go back to this one actually.

So we have the Buyids attacking.

Then we have the Seljuks, then we have the Mongols.

So these three different groups, did lay siege to mediaeval Baghdad, the Romans didn't.

The Romans didn't at this point anyway, so Baghdad founded in 750, they were not attached to this point.

So from this kind of task several times before hopefully what you're going to do now is to pause the video, minimise this video.

You're going to click next to the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Then you're going to go to some reading slides.

You're going to read through the slides and then you're going to answer these five questions in full sentences, must be full sentences otherwise it's a wasted activity.

So please, please, please have a go at writing these in full sentences.

And when you've done restart a video, so here we go.

Pause the video, read the slides, answer the questions.

And then when you've done that resume, once you're finished.

So first question, what did two brothers do that cause problems for the caliphate? Acceptable answer, they fought each other.

Good answer, two brothers fought for control of the Abbasid Caliphate because they both wanted to be in charge.

Clear difference between the acceptable answer and the good answer.

One is simply giving more information and giving a fuller answer.

Two, what did the caliphs in Baghdad do to control their empire? Acceptable answer, gave power away.

Good answer, the caliphs in Baghdad controlled their empire by giving power to local leaders who were loyal to them.

So there's something a bit confusing here that in order to keep control, the caliphs gave control away.

Or this does make sense because one man, one caliph in Baghdad is going to really struggle to be able to run an empire, run a caliphate as big as the Abbasid Caliphate.

And so what did the caliphs do? Well, they gave individual local leaders power to run particular areas.

Now what happens as time passed? These local leaders decided actually, why are we paying attention to what these caliphs want? So this is the situation.

The Abbasid Caliphate found itself at after a few hundred years.

Three, which was the first region to break away from the Abbasid Caliphate? Acceptable answer, North Africa.

The good answer, the first region to break away from the Abbasid Caliphate was North Africa were a family called the Fatimids took power.

So the Abbasid Caliphate had been in charge of North Africa and then a family called the Fatimids, they decided actually we don't want to be governed.

We don't want to be controlled by people living far away in the city of Baghdad, therefore we are going to take control ourselves.

And that is exactly what they did.

So North Africa really important part of the Abbasid Caliphate broke away, causing a lot of damage to Baghdad and to the Abbasid Caliphate.

Four, who attacked Baghdad in 1157? Acceptable answer, the Seljuks.

Good answer, a tribe from central Asia called the Seljuks attacked Baghdad in 1157.

So this is the second of these big tribes to really go for Baghdad, cause a lot of disruption and trouble for the people of Baghdad, the caliphs of Baghdad.

Five, who attacked Baghdad in 1258? So about a hundred years later.

Acceptable answer, the Mongols.

Good answer, in 1250 another tribe from central Asia called the Mongols, attacked Baghdad.

So within a hundred years, we have two major attacks launched on Baghdad and Baghdad, as we said, it never really fully recovers from the damage caused by these invasions.

So we are now going to have a go at answering this question which is also the inquiry questions.

So bringing together everything that we've looked at in the last few lessons, how was Baghdad connected to the wider world? So that is our question.

And we're going to have a go at answering it together.

So what I want you to do, pause here, look at this map of the location of Baghdad on the world map, write down all the things you can think of that connected Baghdad to the wider world.

So that image, we've used this image a few times in the last few lessons, how was Baghdad connected to the wider world? Who lived there? What was it the centre of? Who travelled there? Who tried to take control of it? We have all of these different ways that Baghdad was connected to the wider world.

So just spend a few minutes now, thinking about all these different bits of knowledge that you've gained in the last few lessons, bring it all together.

Baghdad, it was a hugely important city.

Why, what made it so important? What was going on there? Who was going there? Who lived there? What was being sold there? So have a go now and then restart when you're done.

So here we go.

I've got four big sort of groups of ideas.

You might have individual facts.

That's absolutely fine.

But what we need to do is kind of group them together.

So I came up with four different types of connections of how Baghdad was connected to the wider world.

So we have religious connections, political connections, trade connections and cultural connections.

So we have four different types of connections.

So we have religious connections.

So as I put in the brackets there, Baghdad was not the capitol of the religion of Islam.

It wasn't the centre of Islam, but it was very much part of the Muslim world.

It was the capital of the Muslim world.

So one way that we can describe Baghdad as connected to the wider world, was through religion.

In a similar way, actually that we could talk about Rome being connected to the wider world through the church, the Catholic Church, headquartered in Rome, the Roman church then have controlling, will be part of a much bigger area.

We have Baghdad which was really a hugely important centre of the religion of Islam.

We then have political connections.

So that as Baghdad, it was the capital city of the caliphates, of the Abbasid Caliphate.

So this is where the caliphs lived.

This is where the big decisions were taken.

This is where all of these, yeah.

the decisions that the caliphs made, they were all happening in Baghdad in a similar way to how in this country, London is the capital city of the country, the United Kingdom.

So all the big decisions or many of the big decisions are taken in London.

We say that London is politically connected to all these different parts of the UK.

Baghdad similarly was the capital city of the Abbasid Caliphates and was therefore connected politically to a very big part of the world.

Then we have trade connections and this is really all about the Silk Road.

So Baghdad was connected to the wider world through its location on the Silk Road.

So we've talked about how good a location it was in terms of trade.

So on the way from China, merchants and traders would buy and sell their silk in the markets of Baghdad and then from the West, you'd have furs and all these other luxury goods going in the opposite direction.

Baghdad was in the middle of that.

So when we talk about how Baghdad was connected to the wider world, we can say that it was connected through trade.

And then the last one which is a really important one, culture, cultural connection.

So culture is the word that we use to describe how people interact with each other or how they talk to each other, the kind of things they produce, the language they speak to each other, the poetry they write, the buildings they live in the sort of the common language, if you like of how people live with each other.

And when we talk about Baghdad, we can say that Baghdad was connected to the wider world because through its learning, through its libraries, through the House of Wisdom, through the kind of buildings it was producing, that the fashions and the styles of how people dress and how people lived, those different styles became common all the way through the caliphates So we see a common culture if you like, all the way through the caliphate.

So again, we have these four different types of connection, four different types of connection.

What I'd like you to do is to put these down into your book.

So make sure you've got these four different types of connections written down and then when you've done that, restart the video and we'll go into the last part of the lesson.

So, here we go.

What I'd like you to do is have a go at filling in this table.

So you can write this table down.

Type of connection and then description.

So what you might like to do, actually, if you've already written down the four different types of connection, put a little dash and then write a description of what each is about.

So I've already done religion.

And so you might want to put, now have a go at doing it for politics, trade and culture.

So I've just described these different areas.

This is a difficult task because it's bringing together lots of stuff that we've looked at in the last few lessons.

Don't worry if you find it difficult but have a go.

So put a little dash by political connections, trade connections, cultural connections and then describe what do we mean by those things? So I've just talked you through, don't worry too much because we'll go through it together in a moment.

Sorry and just pause now and then restart when you're done.

So here we go.

If you've got something like this, fantastic.

If you don't, that's fine.

That's also fine.

Make sure you copy these things down because when we talk about the descriptions of the different types of connection.

On the screen now are the key bits of stuff that you really ought to have down in your books, your notes.

So get this stuff down.

Again, don't worry if it seems a bit confusing, this is a different way.

You might not have done it in this way before.

That's absolutely fine.

Copy this down.

And then we will go to the last, last bit.

I've already said that my apologies, we'll go to the last, last bit of the lesson on the inquiry when you've got this stuff down.

So pause the video, copy this down, make sure you complete what you put already.

And then when you've done that, we'll get to the very end of this lesson.

So here we go.

Now this might look like it's going to take you a long time.

It should not.

What I want you to do is simply turn what you've written already into some sentences.

So in history, we read and we write and part of what we're doing is practising our writing.

So this should not take you more than 10 minutes.

I don't want it to be taking you more than 10 minutes.

What I want you to do is answer the question.

How was Baghdad connected to the wider world? So the first sentence, the city of Baghdad was connected to the wider world in many ways.

So that's a clear first sentence.

And then, all we're going to do is turn the four different types of connection that we've talked about into sentences.

So, first one, one way that Baghdad was connected to the wider world was through religion.

So what do we mean by that? Why was Baghdad connected to the wider world trough religion? Well, we need to talk about Islam.

We need to talk about the caliphate.

We need to talk about what role Baghdad played in religious terms. Then having done that, we then go to the next one.

Another way that Baghdad was connected to the wider world was through politics.

There we talk about Baghdad is the capital city of the Abbasid Caliphate.

What was happening in Baghdad? Who lived in Baghdad? What decisions were taken in Baghdad? Then we do a third way that Baghdad was connected to the wider world and this was through trade.

There very simple there, we just talk about the Silk Road.

Why was Baghdad in such a good location in terms of the Silk Road? What was traded on the Silk Road? What was being bought and sold on the Silk Road? Why did this make Baghdad such a rich city? And then the last point, a final way that Baghdad was connected to the wider world was through culture.

And here we talk about the learning that happened in Baghdad, the universities, the libraries, the building, the science, the beautiful calligraphy, the way things were written, the poetry, the art and therefor we have the last chunk of this answer.

So don't take more than 10 minutes.

Really have a good go though 'cause this is really bringing together everything that we've done in this inquiry so far.

How was Baghdad connected to the wider world? Well, as we've seen, it was connected to the wider world in many different ways.

And then all we want to do now is turn all of that really interesting stuff that we've learned into sentences.

Do not worry if you find this hard, it is a difficult task, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have a go.

We should always have a go.

And then as the more we have a go, the better we get and the more practise we make.

So the more progress we make.

So have a go now, pause the video.

And then when you're done, restart the video and that will bring us to the end of the lesson.

So if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tag it @OakNational and #LearnwithOak, not compulsory but I'd love to see the work you're producing.

So please do, if you can.

So that brings us to the end of this four lesson inquiry on how mediaeval Baghdad was connected to the wider world.

I hope you found these four lessons interesting and you've got something out to them.

And that most importantly, you've got some insight, some stuff in your head that wasn't there before, which is of course the goal.

So last part, always the case, short quiz, don't stress, get it done.

And that's just to make sure that what we've covered in today's lesson is then brought back and is lodged in your brain.

I have to do the same thing.

I don't remember everything, I have to practise.

So if I don't see you again, have a lovely day.

And if I do see you again, well that's great.

Enjoy the weather.

I was going to say, I don't know what the weather is, where you are because he might be watching this.

We're not watching it when I'm recording this but basically just have a good day.

Okay, bye.