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Four Muslim cities before 1500: Baghdad, Cordoba, Cairo and Timbuktu

Grade 4 · Social Studies, Grade 4 · 60 min · intro

Mapped by the museum, not endorsed by the Ministry.

A Grade 4 lesson on four cities of societies before 1500: how people lived there, who governed, how they learned and traded, and what is like our life today and what is different.

Curriculum mapping

Ontario, Canada
Social Studies, Grade 4 G4-SS
Grade
4
Strand
A · Heritage and Identity: Early Societies to 1500 CE
Overall expectations
A1, A3
What the lesson does, in the museum's words
The lesson covers early societies outside Canada through four Muslim cities before 1500: their political and social organisation, daily life, and relations with the environment and with other societies through trade, then asks students to compare them with their own community today. The teacher pairs it with a First Nation and an Inuit society, as the strand requires.
Curriculum document consulted
The Ontario Curriculum: Social Studies, Grades 1 to 6; History and Geography, Grades 7 and 8, 2023 (dcp.edu.gov.on.ca)
Codes checked on
23 October 2026 CE · 12 Jumada I 1448 AH†

Mapped by the museum, not endorsed by the Ministry.

Lesson goal

Students describe daily life and social organisation in a Muslim city before 1500 and compare it with their own community in Canada today.

Sixty minutes: ten for the four cities on a projected map, thirty for the steps in groups (one city per group), twenty for the worksheet and the class comparison. Pair the lesson with a First Nation and an Inuit society, as the strand requires.

Print the pack: teacher page, worksheet and answer key Classroom quiz Walk this pathway

Lesson steps

Walk this pathway

8steps · 60min · teacher · student · intro

  1. Baghdad: a new round city

    How Baghdad was founded, who lived in it and why it grew so large.

    Baghdad · The Founding of Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad)

  2. The House of Wisdom: the city's library

    A place for books and translation: who worked there and what they did.

    Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom

  3. Cordoba: a city in al-Andalus

    A European city ruled by Muslims for centuries, where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived.

    Cordoba

  4. The Great Mosque of Cordoba

    A great building with its famous arches: how it was built and what it was used for.

    Great Mosque of Córdoba

  5. Cairo and al-Azhar

    A city on the Nile, and a mosque that became a school where people still study today.

    Cairo · Al-Azhar Mosque

  6. Timbuktu and Mansa Musa

    A city at the edge of the Sahara, and a famous king who travelled from it to Mecca.

    Timbuktu · Mansa Musa

  7. Trade links the cities

    Caravans, ships and markets: how paper, gold, salt and books travelled from city to city.

    Trade in Islam

  8. The mosque at the heart of the city

    A place for prayer, learning and meeting: what the mosques of the four cities share.

    Mosque

islam.museum/en/exhibits/pathway-g4-social-studies-four-cities/ Scan the code to open this page

What you now know

  • I can name four Muslim cities before 1500 and place them on a map. — 1, 3, 5, 6
  • I can describe how people learned and traded in these cities. — 2, 7
  • I can compare life in an old city with my community today. — 8

Mastery check

Five questions on what you walked through. Marked on your device; nothing is kept but the stamp in your passport when you pass.

Marking needs JavaScript; the questions and their key read and print without it.

Question 1 of 5
On which river does Baghdad stand?

Question 2 of 5
What work was done at the House of Wisdom?

Question 3 of 5
In which country is Cordoba today?

Question 4 of 5
Where did Mansa Musa travel from Timbuktu?

Question 5 of 5
What linked the four cities?

Answer key (for the teacher)
  1. On which river does Baghdad stand? — The Tigris(Learn it at step 1: Baghdad: a new round city)
  2. What work was done at the House of Wisdom? — Translation and copying(Learn it at step 2: The House of Wisdom: the city's library)
  3. In which country is Cordoba today? — Spain(Learn it at step 3: Cordoba: a city in al-Andalus)
  4. Where did Mansa Musa travel from Timbuktu? — To Mecca(Learn it at step 6: Timbuktu and Mansa Musa)
  5. What linked the four cities? — Trade, mosques and learning(Learn it at step 7: Trade links the cities)

Tell it back

Tell what you learned in your own words. What you write stays on this device only, and no one else reads it.

  1. I can name four Muslim cities before 1500 and place them on a map.
  2. I can describe how people learned and traded in these cities.
  3. I can compare life in an old city with my community today.

Writing here needs JavaScript; the prompts read and print without it.

Write at least two sentences, or tick that you told it, to earn the stamp in your passport.

Worksheet

Answer in your own words after each step; every question points back to a museum page.

  1. Choose one of the four cities. What river or desert is it near, and who governed it?

  2. What did people do in the House of Wisdom? Write two jobs.

  3. Which goods travelled between the cities? Draw a caravan and name three goods.

  4. Why did Mansa Musa travel from Timbuktu to Mecca?

  5. Write one thing in these cities that is like our life today, and one thing that is different.

Free and open: print, quote and adapt, with no account and no student data.

islam.museum/en/learn/teachers/pathways/g4-social-studies-four-cities/ Scan the code to open this page