What caused the change?
Labs / History
Gold for Salt
A caravan sets out from Sijilmasa loaded with salt, worthless in the north but precious in the gold-rich Sahel. Tap the oases to plan where you'll refill water, then load water against cargo and pick a caravan size & route against the risk of sandstorms — every camel that dies of thirst takes its salt with it.
Labs / History / Gold for Salt
Gold for Salt
A caravan sets out from Sijilmasa loaded with salt, worthless in the north but precious in the gold-rich Sahel. Tap the oases to plan where you'll refill water, then load water against cargo and pick a caravan size & route against the risk of sandstorms — every camel that dies of thirst takes its salt with it.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
History is about change over time and the choices that shape it. This model helps you compare causes, consequences, and patterns without treating the past as a list of dates.
Explore
Try the model
Water 100%Day 0Lost 0Profit +0
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- Skip an oasis to shave off days. Does travelling faster leave you with more profit, or do the camels run dry first?
- Push the water load down to 20%. How much extra salt can you carry — and does any of it survive the crossing?
- Send a caravan of 200 camels. Why does each kilogram of salt suddenly fetch less gold in the Sahel?
- Take the Direct Desert route versus the Oasis Chain. Which loses more camels, and which one actually pays better?
- Turn on night travel. If camels drink less by night, why didn't every caravan simply do this?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Build an explanation with a cause, a change, and a consequence. Then identify evidence from the model and one limitation of what the model can show.
Check
Before you leave
Who or what was affected?
What can this model not tell us?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.