KS1 & KS2 history curriculum

This unit uses and builds on knowledge about the significance of the River Tigris that they developed in the year 3 unit about Sumer and the area of Mesopotamia. It also enriches pupils' understanding of the idea of tribes that they encountered in earlier units such as the year 3 unit on Bronze and Iron Age Britain. This unit prepares pupils for the following unit about Baghdad's connections to the wider world. This unit provides the knowledge of Islam's rise and the growth of Baghdad that pupils need in order to contextualise Baghdad's position as a centre of trade, learning and knowledge.

1. Muhammad, the Qur'an and the rise of Islam
2. The early success of Islam
3. The early caliphates and the spread of Islam
4. The geography of the Umayyad Caliphate
5. Baghdad, the ‘City of Peace'
6. How Baghdad became the ‘City of Peace'

• Pupils need to know that different societies and cultures have developed throughout human history around the world.
• Pupils need to know that as societies develop and disappear from history, they leave a legacy behind them that impacts future generations.
• Pupils need to understand that different cultures and societies have different beliefs and cultures that are equally valid.
• Pupils need to know that the Roman Empire was divided in 395 CE, creating the Byzantine Empire in the east.