My favorite lesson in Grade 7 History has probably got to be one during week 12 when we talked about Marco Polo, Kublai Khan, and the Mongolian Empire. I chose these lessons specifically because I’ve read a couple of books about the topics and so it was really interesting to learn more of the context behind that time.
Marco Polo was one of the most famous travelers in history. He was born in the town of Venice, Italy in 1254 A.D., and he was the first man from Europe to visit China in a very, very long time. He recorded nearly all of his travels in his book, The Travels of Marco Polo and that book influenced several explorers yet to come, including Christopher Columbus.
Marco Polo’s father and uncle had been away in China for fifteen years since Marco had been born, therefore Marco was 15 years old when he first met his father and his uncle. When they went back to China, they decided to take Marco Polo with them on their next trip.
Marco Polo did not just write about where he traveled to; rather, he wrote about nearly everything he saw, experienced, and learned about. He also wrote about all the customs of many of the tribes he visited. Again, he wrote about his long, long stay in the east and about his position in the court of Kublai Khan.
Marco Polo was the chief ambassador to Kublai Khan, so he got to travel all over the Orient communicating with the other tribe leaders, and witness the lives of all the people who lived under Kublai Khan in his great empire.
Marco Polo also got to learn a lot about the history of the new Mongolian Empire. He also learned how Genghis Khan began to unite the Mongols for the first time, before he started expanding the newly united Mongol Empire.
When Genghis Khan had passed away, Kublai, his grandson, took his place as the Khan of the Mongol Empire. Whereas Genghis Khan had been a warlike general, Kublai Khan was a peaceful ruler. He lived in his capital and Marco said that it was the most glorious palace in the world, outshining everything in Europe. It is also interesting to note that Kublai was tolerant of other religions.
I did not really like history a lot this year, but that is quite simply because I’ve been spoiled a lot by Mr. Livingston from the fourth and fifth grade history courses, as I believe that, other than the sixth grade math, those have been my favorite courses.
I would definitely recommend this course to anybody who would enjoy a much more traditional style history class, but it is no more than that. If I had to change one thing, I would definitely make the essays be assigned a lot less often, as the weekly essays can become quite taxing and stressful for the student at times, seeing as they also have at least 3 other classes to cope with.