World History

HIST 110: World History to 1500

Prof. Jeffrey Auerbach
History Department
Fall 2003
TTh 11-12:15 (Sierra Hall 186)
W 4:20-6:50 (Sierra Hall 198)

Description: World history is an effort to view the past with a wide angle lens. This involves exploring history not on a local level (e.g., the history of Los Angeles), nor on a national basis (e.g., US history), nor even by focusing a specific part of the world (e.g, Africa or the Middle East), but rather by taking a truly global approach. This means examining processes of change that affected large numbers of people over long periods of time: the emergence of complex societies (civilizations), the rise of religions that have endured for thousands of years, the development and transfer of technologies that have influenced everyday life, and the establishment of systems of government that continue to serve as models up to the present day. To do this we will compare and contrast developments in different parts of the world, and analyze how various peoples and regions of the world influenced one another and became interconnected. In the interest of providing some structure, this course will focus on the theme of cross-cultural encounters, as we discuss (1) the creation and expansion of cities and empires in the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia; (2) the movement of religious ideas (especially Buddhism) from India to China along the silk road; (3) the rapid emergence and spread of Christianity from its origins in the Levant; (4) the rise of Islam and relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in the Indian Ocean, Africa, and Iberia; and (5) the expansion of long-distance contact and trade across not just Eurasia but the Atlantic as well, with the rise of the Mongol Empire and the Spanish encounter with the Aztecs.

Required Readings: (Available at Matador Bookstore)

Bentley and Ziegler, Traditions & Encounters , Vol I., 2nd ed. (McGraw Hill, 2003)
Andrea and Overfeld, The Human Record , Vol. I, 4th ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 2001)

Aug. 26	Introduction
Aug. 28	Before History	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 1
Sept. 2	Mesopotamia	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 2 The Human Record, pp. 1-16, 53-61
Sept. 4	Egypt	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 3 The Human Record, pp. 16-24, 31-8
Sept. 9	Persia	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 7 The Human Record, pp. 85-92
Sept. 11	Greece and the Hellenistic World	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 10 The Human Record, pp. 48-52, 109-38

Sept. 16	The Brahman Tradition and Hinduism	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 4 and pp. 213-26 The Human Record, pp. 42-8, 64-85, 155-64
Sept. 18	Buddhism	Traditions & Encounters, pp. 226-36 The Human Record, pp. 164-92 First Paper Due
Sept. 23	China in the Age of Confucius	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 5, 8 The Human Record, pp. 25-31, 93-109, 146-55
Sept. 25	Mapping the Silk Road	Group Presentations
Sept. 30	Cultural Exchange along the Silk Road	Traditions & Encounters, pp. 295-304, 310-13 The Human Record, pp. 164-76

Oct. 2	The Roman Republic and Empire	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 11 The Human Record, pp. 139-45 Second Paper Due
Oct. 7	The Crisis of Judaism	Traditions and Encounters, pp. 48-51, 289-90 The Human Record, pp. 58-63, 89-92, 192-6
Oct. 9	The Rise and Spread of Christianity	Traditions and Encounters, pp. 305-6 The Human Record, pp. 201-28
Oct. 14	“From Jesus to Christ”	No additional reading
Oct. 16	From Rome to Byzantium	Traditions and Encounters, ch. 13 The Human Record, pp. 331-43
Oct. 21	Mid-Term Exam

Oct. 23	The Life of Mohammed	Traditions & Encounters, pp. 355-62 The Human Record, pp. 229-54
Oct. 28	The Age of the Caliphates	Traditions & Encounters, pp. 362-80
Oct. 30	The Indian Ocean Basin	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 16 The Human Record, pp. 254-64, 315-30
Nov. 4	Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 19 The Human Record, pp. 376-92, 445-50
Nov. 6	Christian Europe and the Crusades	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 17, 20 The Human Record, pp. 344-75

Nov. 11	East Asia c. 1000 CE	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 15 The Human Record, pp. 265-307 Third Paper Due
Nov. 13	The Mongol Empire	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 18 The Human Record, pp. 426-30
Nov. 18	Merchants, Missionaries, and the Plague	Traditions & Encounters, pp. 573-93 The Human Record, pp. 432-44
Nov. 20	A Tale of Two Explorers	Traditions & Encounters, pp. 593-9 The Human Record, pp. 411-24, 450-6
Nov. 25	The Americas Before Columbus	Traditions & Encounters, ch. 6, 21 The Human Record, pp. 38-41, 392-409
Nov. 27	No Class (Thanksgiving)
Dec. 2	The Columbian Exchange	The Human Record, pp. 457-470 Fourth Paper Due
Dec. 4	Conclusion and Review
Dec. 9	Final Exam (10:15 a.m.)