Conditions and Connections:
Choosing Locations in the Ancient World
Author: Phil Gersmehl
Lesson Overview: Students will understand the
importance of (and the difference between)
geographic conditions and geographic
connections.
Essential Questions:
 What conditions make a location
desirable?
 What connections are important for a
location to be desirable?
Objectives: Students will be able to:
 List examples of geographic conditions
and geographic connections
 Describe advantages and disadvantages
of geographic conditions and
connections to people living at different
times in history
Subject/ Target Grade: World History, Grades
6-8
Duration: 1-2 Class Periods
Student Materials: Assessment Materials
Student Activity Form (Simple); optional:
Student Activity Form (Complex);
Teacher Materials: Choosing Location
Background
Map with Modern names
Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations
 7-H1.4.2: Describe and use themes of
history to study patterns of change and
continuity.
 7-W1.2.1: Explain the importance of
the natural environment in the
development of agricultural settlements
in different locations
 7-W2.1.2: Use historical and modern
maps and other sources to locate,
describe, and analyze major river
systems and discuss the ways these
physical settings supported permanent
settlements and development of early
civilizations.
 7-G1.2.6: Apply the skills of
geographic inquiry to analyze a
problem or issue of importance to a
region of the Eastern Hemisphere.
National Geography Standards
 Standard 1 - How to use maps and
other geographic representations,
geospatial technologies, and spatial
thinking to understand and
communicate information.
 Standard 17 - How to use geography
to interpret the past
National World History Standards
 Era 2: Standard 1A: The student
understands how Mesopotamia, Egypt,
and the Indus valley became centers of
dense population, urbanization, and
cultural innovation in the fourth and
third millennia BCE.
Student Activity Form clickable layers
Geographic Conditions and Connections PPT
Michigan Geographic Alliance
Conditions and Connections
2013
Procedure (This lesson follows the slides in the PPT):
Note: Student Activity Form Clickable Layers may be used to print maps with different characteristics.
 Introduction: (Slides 1-10) End with a question for discussion “What else would you like to
know?” Allow students to share ideas and make a list of characteristics that might be important to
help decide where to live.
 Content: Slides 11-18 teach the difference between conditions and connections. Students may add
to their lists of characteristics.
 Guided Discussion: Show slide 19 and have students follow directions (write down reasons) and
then share answers (or count votes). Slide 20 gives students a bit more information (weather) –
discuss whether or not that changes the voting. Use same procedure for Slide 21.
 Guided Practice: Pass out Student Activity Form (Simple). Slides 22 through 28 give students
additional information. Allow discussion, and use activity sheet to vote after each slide.
 Additional Content: Slide 29 shows the names of each location. Have students check which ones
they chose at different times, and review why it might have been a good choice at that time. Use
background information (Teacher Materials) to review importance of each. Option: give each
group of students information about a location and have them report out to the class about both
conditions and connections for each.
 Conclusion: Slides 30 and 31 show a modern version of the area with some locations labeled.
Discuss the conditions and connections for Cairo and Alexandria. Slides 32-34 summarize the
lesson..
Assessment Option: (Student material)
Scenario: You have been given the task of deciding on the location of your new city. You and
another scout have explored the region in question. However, you cannot come up with a
unanimous decision. You have decided to write a (paragraph, essay) to the monarch, outlining
your choice.
Task: You must write a minimum five sentence (paragraph/essay) outlining your choice for
location. Your paragraph must include the following:

Introduction sentence/paragraph (your opinion)

Two pieces of information from the map that support your opinion
(sentences/paragraphs 2-3)

Counter-claim - give your co-scouter’s opinion and tell why the opinion is wrong!
(sentence/paragraph 4)

Conclusion (sentence/paragraph 5)
Use the attached Graphic Organizer to organize your thoughts. Read over the rubric so you
know how your paragraph/essay will be graded.
Michigan Geographic Alliance
Conditions and Connections
2013
Student Assessment
Choosing a Location
Student Assessment
Scenario: You have been given the task of deciding on the location of your new city. You and
another scout have explored the region in question. However, you cannot come up with a
unanimous decision. You have decided to write a (paragraph, essay) to the monarch, outlining
your choice.
Task: You must write a minimum five sentence (paragraph/essay) outlining your choice for
location. Your paragraph must include the following:

Introduction sentence/paragraph (your opinion)

Two pieces of information from the map that support your opinion
(sentences/paragraphs 2-3)

Counter-claim - give your co-scouter’s opinion and tell why the opinion is wrong!
(sentence/paragraph 4)

Conclusion (sentence/paragraph 5)
Use the attached Graphic Organizer to organize your thoughts. Read over the rubric so you
know how your paragraph/essay will be graded.
Michigan Geographic Alliance
Conditions and Connections
2013
Student Assessment Rubric
Name: ___________________
Choosing a Location – Argumentative Essay
Content and Ideas –Where should this civilization locate the capital city?

Claim/Position is clear and focused (sentence/paragraph 1)


_____/1
Details/Facts are relevant, accurate, credible, and in a logical order (sentence/paragraphs _____/4
2,3)
_____/2
Acknowledges counterclaim(s) and explains in detail (sentence/paragraph 4)
_____/7 total
Comments:
Organization (The way I plan, organize, and arrange my writing)

There is a strong thesis statement to begin the writing, which creates interest (in
sentence/paragraph 1)
_____/1


The counterclaim is stated and explained (in sentences/paragraphs 1,4)
_____/1
The conclusion clearly restates and supports claim (in sentence/paragraph 5)
_____/1
_____/ 3 total
Comments:
Voice (The style of my writing)

The writer has a sense of his/her audience (This is a formal essay, so use professional voice)
Comments:
_____/1
_____/1 total
Word Choice (The words I use in my writing)

Precise language is used (emphasize a point, conclude or summarize, to add or clarify
information)

Social Studies vocabulary is used (correct words for people, places, events, etc.)
Comments:
____/1
____/1
_____/2 total
Sentence Fluency (The sentences flow and make sense)

There are no fragments or run-ons unless used purposely for effect
Comments:
_____/1
_____/1 total
Conventions (Correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar)

Words are spelled correctly, and sentences use correct punctuation and correct grammar, _____/1
including use of pronouns
Comments:
_____/1 total
_____/15 Pts
Michigan Geographic Alliance
Conditions and Connections
2013
Student Activity
ARGUMENT WRITING ORGANIZER
Name: ___________________________________ Date: ______________
Where should this civilization locate the capital city?
Sentence/Paragraph 1: Topic Sentence (Claim/Position):
Sentence/Paragraph 2:
Reason #1:
Supporting Facts/Details:
Sentence/Paragraph 3:
Reason #2:
Supporting Facts/Details:
Sentence/Paragraph 4:
Counterclaim:
Supporting Facts/Details:
Sentence/Paragraph 5: Conclusion (Restate claim/position):
Michigan Geographic Alliance
Conditions and Connections
2013
Teacher Resource
Background on the choices in the Locating a Capital simulation
A. Omo Valley is one of the places where archaeologists have found fossil evidence of very early human settlement.
Students often choose this site early in the simulation, because it has hills, lakes, and plenty of rain - in short, a
good place for subsistence living by hunting and gathering.
B. Highlands of Ethiopia are mentioned several times in the Bible. This area was occupied as long as the Nile
Valley. It is remote and somewhat rugged, better for subsistence than for amassing great wealth and military
power, although the capitals of several regional empires were located in this area at times when the Nile Valley
was weak or divided.
C. Khartoum is the capital of modern-day North Sudan. It has a strategic location at the junction of the two main
branches of the Nile, with a modest amount of productive land nearby. As a result, it was always regionally
important, but it was too far from the centers of population to be a real power.
D. The Second Cataract is a major barrier to river travel, and therefore this place had some importance as a place to
portage around the rapids and waterfalls. It had gold mines but little cropland, which made it a poor choice for
even a regional capital throughout much of its history.
E. The cataracts at Aswan were another barrier, but this area had more productive land and a higher population. In
modern times, this is the site of one of the major hydroelectric dams in the world, which also diverts millions of
gallons of water to irrigation projects on both sides of the Nile.
F. Thebes (the Valley of the Kings) was well located for protection and local economic growth. At times, a capital in
this area ruled the entire Nile Valley, but it could not really compete with any well organized group that chose a
more favorable location closer to the Mediterranean.
G. On the blank map, this place looks really out of the way, and in fact it was until trans-Sahara caravans became
important thousands of years after the first Egyptian kings. To caravaners, a stopping place with water in the
middle of the desert was really important, even if it could not grow very large.
H. This out-of-the-way place looks better on the first map � a place in the desert with a lake nearby. Desert lakes,
however, tend to accumulate salt and become unusable for drinking or even irrigation. The particular lake was
fresh many thousands of years ago, but was already salty in Egyptian times.
I.
Students are likely to choose this strategic location at the head of the Nile Delta during the eras of valley farming
and river trade. Perhaps best known as Memphis, this was the capital of several powerful Egyptian kingdoms. Not
surprisingly, it is also the site of the Sphinx and Great Pyramids. Interestingly, Memphis, Tennessee, has a similar
position with respect to the Mississippi Delta - it is the last hilly area before the river enters the flat floodplain that
stretches to the Gulf of Mexico.
J. The site of Alexandria was out of the way, flood-prone, and unimportant during much of Egyptian history. It
gained strategic significance when the Greek and Roman empires relied on merchant ships to carry food, wine,
cloth, tools, and salt to and from ports all around the Mediterranean. Later, Alexandria became a center of
learning and one of the ten largest cities in the world, although it was never the capital of a great empire.
K. The hills of Judea/{alestine are often called part of the Fertile Crescent. Although the hilly land is rocky and not
particularly fertile, it has more rain than many other places and therefore students may choose it as a good place to
live in the early stages of the simulation. Later, of course, this area became a kind of battleground between many
political entities � Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Persia, Rome, Byzantium, European Crusaders, the Ottoman
Empire, and now Palestine/Israel.
L. The tip of Sinai, by contrast, is a barren desert, of little importance to land-based powers. People trying to use the
seas, however, call this a strategic location, a chokepoint along the route from the oilfields of Southwest Asia
through the Suez Canal to the oil-hungry cities of Europe.
Teacher Resource
Michigan Geographic Alliance
Conditions and Connections
2013
Geographic Conditions and Connections in the Valley of the Nile
The 12 places in this simulation are all real places, each with a long and sometimes complicated history. The main “takehome message” for students is that different locations were considered important at different times in history, for reasons
that reflect the technological development and economic and social conditions of each era:
Prehistory. During this time, humans lived primarily by hunting and gathering. They did best in places with mild
climate and somewhat complex terrain (which can support a variety of plants and animals). Proximity to a lake or
river added another potential source of food as well as water. If students see only a map of rainfall, they are likely
to choose places A (Rift highlands), B (Ethiopia) and K (Canaan/Judea/Palestine) more frequently than other
lettered places on the map. Knowledge of the locations of lakes and rivers may encourage votes for other locations
– a teacher might caution students that a lake in a desert (place H) is likely to be salty (though this one was fresh
back when the Sahara was rainier).
Era 1: Beginnings. During this era, people began to rely on agriculture, which was especially successful on river
floodplains with soft and easy-to-work soil. Armed with a map that shows areas with fertile soil, students are
likely to choose places C (at the junction of the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers) and I (at the head of the Nile
Delta). Meanwhile, it is important to emphasize that the places occupied by hunters and gatherers (A, B, and K)
could continue with that lifestyle, though their relative importance declined as farming regions gained population
and wealth.
Era 2a: Traders. As population and wealth continued to grow, people invented better boats, wagons, and other
technologies for transporting goods and people. Locations along trade routes became important; places near
shallow rapids and waterfalls became especially important, because river traffic had to portage around the
obstacles. Places near D (the gold mines of Nubia near the second cataract of the Nile) and E (Aswan, near the first
cataract) had periods of considerable importance at various times during this era.
Era 2b: Early cities. In a dry climate, people must add water to the soil in order to be successful farmers. The result
is a tremendous increase in food production per square mile of land. This allowed some people to choose other
occupations, including education and government, which in turn aided agriculture by developing engineering and
political infrastructures to support increasingly complex irrigation systems. Places I (Memphis/ Giza) and F
(Thebes/Karnak) were able to support rapid growth of urban populations – place C lagged behind, because it had
less cropland and a more isolated location.
Era 3: Empires. The Nile Valley was a great place to start urban civilization, but growth was sharply limited by the
relatively small amount of fertile soil and irrigation water in the valley. Control of a larger territory was hindered
by distance across hostile climate and terrain. Places like Persia and Rome eventually became powerful empires
that conquered Egypt and made it a colony. Place J (Alexandria) emerged as a center of colonial trade and
government during Greek and Roman times – it is effectively on the border between agricultural Egypt and the
trade-based empires around the Mediterranean Sea.
Later eras: When the British divided this region, places I and C became the capitals of newly independent Egypt and
the Sudan – I (Cairo) across the river from Memphis, the Old Kingdom capital of Egypt, and C (Khartoum) near a
regional capital of ancient Meroe.
Michigan Geographic Alliance
Conditions and Connections
2013