INSTRUCTIONS:

This paper should represent a position that you are taking on a controversial historical topic until 1500. Your grade will depend on how well you make your argument with the evidence that you cite. Use the Thinking through Sources text for some good primary source leads. The textbook typically includes an edited version of the entire source. Search for and find original sources for this paper. While your personal knowledge may be extensive, you must support any statement of fact with a source and an appropriate citation. I do not want a comprehensive narrative of a historical time period, person, or event. Start with a question that has both a “Yes” or “No” and answer and then choose one side to defend with your arguments. Controversy can be described as having some hidden agenda or goes against the social norm of the time, but the controversy that I am looking for is some person, event, document, etc. that has more than one explanation. It is being interpreted in a particular way, or some new evidence questions an accepted "truth" about the topic.

HERE IS MY TOPIC: Silk roads: exchange across Eurasia.

Explore the cultural, economic, and political exchanges that occurred along the silk road and how these interactions shaped the civilization of the East and West.