Video History of the Western World

Here's a neat YouTube video. It features a map of the "Old World" (Europe, northeastern Africa, and southwestern Asia) and the region's changing boundaries between the year 1000 C.E. and 2000 C.E. (roughly the past thousand years). It's just shy of nine minutes in length.





Watched on its own by students, it's not particularly useful. And it would work a lot better if the changing dates appeared in a large font, perhaps on top of some of the unneeded blue space. But when used by teachers, this video has great educative value. "What empire dominated southwestern Asia in the 1300s?" "Where was the 'Golden Horde' dominant in the 1400s?" "What empire was waning as Portugal and Spain became independent kingdoms?" It's a great opportunity to show students what was going on elsewhere (outside of a particular country or area being studied), and how these 'outside' events impact events within nations.