Enter a seminar across five thousand years
No account required. Choose an era, speak with a period scholar, and examine contested sources — as you would in a university seminar, not a game.
5000–3000 BCE
Ancient Mesopotamia
Sumer — between the Tigris and Euphrates
SHULGI OF UR — King and Mathematician, 2094–2047 BCE
What you will study
- Sumerians developed cuneiform, one of the earliest writing systems, pressed into wet clay with a reed stylus.
- They used a base-60 number system — which is why we still have 60 minutes in an hour and 360 degrees in a circle.
- Ur and other city-states built ziggurats as temple platforms for gods and priests.
Sources: Cuneiform tablets, Herodotus, Al-Maqrizi
3000–500 BCE
Ancient Egypt
Nile Valley — Kemet
AMENHOTEP SON OF HAPU — Royal Architect and Administrator
What you will study
- Amenhotep son of Hapu served as a royal architect and high administrator under Amenhotep III, overseeing major building and logistical projects.
- Egyptian surveyors used geometry and the 3-4-5 right triangle to lay out fields and monuments after the Nile flood.
- Hieroglyphic writing mixed pictures and sounds; scribes trained for years in temple schools.
Sources: Herodotus Book II, temple inscriptions, medical papyri
500–300 BCE
Greek and Persian Golden Age
Athens, Persia, and the wider Mediterranean
ARISTOTLE — Philosopher of the Lyceum, 384–322 BCE
What you will study
- Aristotle taught at the Lyceum in Athens and wrote on logic, biology, ethics, and politics.
- Persian royal inscriptions (e.g. Behistun) present the Achaemenid view of empire and justice.
- Greek historians such as Thucydides tried to explain war through human choices, not only gods.
Sources: Thucydides, Persian royal inscriptions, Aristotle, Al-Biruni
800–1200 CE
Islamic Golden Age — Bayt al-Hikma
Baghdad and the wider Islamic world
IBN KHALDUN — Historian of Civilizations, guide to Bayt al-Hikma
What you will study
- Al-Khwarizmi's work on al-jabr (algebra) and algorithms shaped mathematics worldwide; his name lives in the word algorithm.
- The House of Wisdom in Baghdad supported translation and research across cultures.
- Muslim astronomers refined planetary tables and instruments used for centuries.
Sources: Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah, Al-Tabari, Al-Masudi, Al-Biruni; Al-Khwarizmi among the era's mathematicians
1200–1400 CE
Mongol Era and Silk Road
From Tangier to China along the trade roads
IBN BATTUTA — Scholar and Traveler, 1304–1368 CE
What you will study
- Ibn Battuta's Rihla describes decades of travel across Africa, the Middle East, India, and beyond.
- The Mongol Empire created unusually wide connections — and also devastation in many cities.
- Silk Road trade moved goods and technologies; paper and gunpowder traveled west along these routes.
Sources: Ibn Battuta's Rihla, Marco Polo, Yuan records, Persian chronicles
1526–1700 CE
Mughal Empire and Renaissance
South Asia and linked European worlds
ABU'L-FAZL — Historian and Administrator to Emperor Akbar
What you will study
- Abu'l-Fazl wrote the Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari, major sources for Akbar's reign, administration, and court culture.
- The Ain-i-Akbari and Baburnama record administration, culture, and royal self-presentation.
- Akbar's policies of debate and patronage included multiple religious communities — contested then and now.
Sources: Baburnama, Ain-i-Akbari, European traveler accounts
1700–1947 CE
Colonial Era and Independence
South Asia under and against empire
A STUDENT OF THE REFORM ERA — 1857–1947
What you will study
- In the early twentieth century, students and educators across South Asia debated language, science, and self-rule in colleges, newspapers, and associations.
- Colonial records often framed South Asians as subjects; resistance literature told other stories.
- The industrial revolution powered empire — factories in Britain linked to raw materials abroad.
Sources: Colonial records, resistance literature, oral histories
1947–present
Modern Pakistan / Canada Diaspora
Pakistan, Canada, and the spaces between
A COMMUNITY ELDER — Witness to Migration and Belonging, 1947–present
What you will study
- 1947 independence and Partition reshaped millions of lives through borders, migration, and memory.
- Pakistani and Canadian communities have built mosques, schools, businesses, and civic organizations across generations.
- Diaspora families often hold multiple languages — Urdu, English, Punjabi, Arabic learning, and more.
Sources: Oral family history, national archives, diaspora studies