Digital Library for International Research
 
Mapping Mediterranean Lands (MEDMAPS)

 Teacher Resources 

Using Maps as Primary Sources 

Mapmakers, at their best, demonstrate special gifts that enable them to perceive, to frame, and to present the world in a powerful way. Once a map is drawn it becomes a cultural and political text to be read and used in various ways, possessing latent powers to inform, stimulate, provoke, and enrich readers. When students study maps, they look at the cultural, social, economic, and political messages, as well as the geographic message. They also endeavor to decipher the mapmakers code or vision. Through this process they may catch new angles of perception that can in turn spark their imaginations. In their highest function, maps deepen our understanding of the earth, its people, places, and times, and what it means for us to call the earth our home.

Integrate Lesson Plans from this Resource into your Curriculum

Use the curriculum ideas noted in the grid below to create your own unique lesson or download a free lesson plan and any of the sixteen maps by clicking on the links. Maps make great class handouts and on each map page you will find a link to a larger Adobe Acrobat Reader PDF file. Lesson plans are aligned with National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) standards.

Share your lesson plans of these maps with other educators. To have your lesson added to this website contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

Helpful Hints

Find maps and facts to support your lesson at the CIA World Factbook.

Find map and geography resources includeing state and world maps, satellite images, lesson plans, classroom activities, projects and much more for elementary, secondary, middle school, and university students at http://geology.com/teacher/map.shtml.

Download Acrobat Reader at:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.


Map

Curriculum Ideas

Lesson Plans

Peutinger Table, ca. 250 CE

• The Roman Empire
• Roman civilization; Engineering and administration
• Transportation networks and political rule

A Road Map for the Roman Empire
Grades: 9-12
NCSS Standards: I, II, III

Caravan Route: Morocco to Mecca, 1683

• Pilgrimage to Mecca
• The Pillars of Islam
• Sacred places and spaces

A Pilgrimage Through Time and Space
Grades: 9-12
NCSS Standards: I, II, III, V, VI, VII, IX

Gibraltar, ca. 1706

• Sea-borne Empires
• Strategic places
• The Rock of Gibraltar between 1706-2006

Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators. Contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

Port of Goletta (La Goulette), 1764

• Bellin's The World Ocean in five volumes
• World trade
• Globalism

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Nautical Chart -- Eastern Mediterranean, 1818


• A Sea Chart for the New Republic
• Nationalism and maps; concept of a new nation
• How do maps reflect nationalism?

Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators. Contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

European Turkey, 1829

• Use in conjunction with the map of Sardinia below Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators.

Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators. Contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

Sardinia (Sardegna), 1845

• The New Science and Maps
• Importance of measurement and depiction in science
• Geometry, geology and maps

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Rome, 1852


• Use in conjunction with map Archaeological Zone in Athens

Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators. Contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

Eastern Palestine, ca. 1881

• Use in conjunction with the map of Sardinia above

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Thera, 1899

• Site of a Minoan Center
• Location: site and situation
• The spread of civilization in the ancient world

Hotel Development on a Greek Island
Grades: 11, 12
NCSS Standards: I, III, IV, VII

The Port of Bizerto (Bizerte), 1920

• Use in conjunction with the nautical chart of the Eastern Mediterranean or the map of the Port of Goletta above

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Greece, 1929

• Use in conjunction with the nautical chart of the Eastern Mediterranean or the map of the Sardinia above and also as a reference for the map of Thera

Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators. Contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

Archaeological Zone in Athens, 1936

• An urban neighborhood
• Urbanism as a way of life
• Living and getting around in a city

An Archaeological Adventure in Athens
Grades: 4, 5, 6
NCSS Standards: II, III, VIII

Turkey 1941-1953


• Use in conjunction with map of the Archaeological Zone in Athens and/or the map of Sardinia above

Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators. Contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

Trans-Jordan Goat Tracks, 1945

• Use in conjuction with the Peutinger Table or the map of Caravan Routes above

Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators. Contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

Cyprus, 1953-1957

• Use in conjunction with the map of Sardinia above

Share your lesson plan for this map with other educators. Contact the DLIR Project Coordinator for more information.

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