One of the many realities the coronavirus laid bare is just how fickle modern-day supply chains can be. But even accounting for Amazon’s spotty, one-day shipping and the runs on toilet paper that marked the early days of the pandemic, it turns out we’ve got it pretty good here in the 21st Century.
Over the past few weeks, freshmen in Mrs. Emily Schroeder’s global history classes have been learning just how good while working on research projects on ancient trade networks.
As part of the project, Schroeder last week organized an extension activity in the High School Library meant to mimic the trials and travails of ancient trade along the Silk Road, a sprawling network of sea and land trade routes responsible for the exchange of goods, culture, language and ideas among countries and kingdoms in Europe, Africa and Asia.
To start, Schroeder split her classes into four different cities - Xi’an in the Han Dynasty of China, Samarkand in central Asia, Baghdad in the Middle East and Rome in the Roman Empire.
Within each city, students took on roles as merchants, shopkeepers or bankers.
“Merchants were responsible for traveling to different towns to trade for the best products and bring them back to their home city,” Schroeder explained. “Shopkeepers were responsible for trading with foreign merchants to make the best deals and gain more wealth and bankers were responsible for making sure the best products were coming into their city, providing money from the bank for merchants to travel and advising shopkeepers on the best trade options.”
As city representatives traded with one another, Schroeder would throw out obstacles and advantages of the kind traders may indeed have encountered along the Silk Road when it was active.
“Throughout the simulation, groups were faced with challenges such as disease or war that could prevent trading for a certain length of time,” she said. “They may have also been given a pass for invasion of another city or conversion to a new religion which would grant them access to a location that was otherwise out of their reach.”
At the end of the simulation, each city tallied up the value of their goods and cash to determine which city had accumulated the most wealth.
In most of her classes, Schroeder said the cities of Samarkand and Baghdad had the most wealth as they had the most access to different trade options.
“This simulation helped enhance student understanding of trade networks, their positive and negative outcomes, and their impact on global society,” she said.
Photos courtesy of Gavin R.
Mrs. Emily Schroeder’s global history students assumed the role of merchant, shopkeeper or banker in four ancient cities during an extension activity in the High School Library last week. After being assigned their roles, Schroeder’s students engaged in trade with other cities with the goal of accumulating as much wealth as possible before time expired.