HIST101

Origins and diffusion of the world’s great religions; cultural contact along overland trade routes; emergence of civilizations such as the Inca, Chinese, and Christian European; ordering of societies and their political development. This World History course is helpful to the Medieval Studies student by providing a world context to the European Middle Ages. It emphasizes the development of conscious communities and civilizations around the globe and how encounters between them shaped history from the first written records to the fifteenth century. Through the study of primary and secondary sources, students: explore various civilizations’ cultural wealth and diversity as well as their problems and study and discuss the controversial issues arising from various interpretations of World History in this period. Topics to be covered include the emergence and diffusion of the world’s great religions, cultural contact along trade routes and on military frontiers, the ordering of societies and their political development. The course consists of lectures twice a week and discussion sections once a week both terms.