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Global History: Early Modern to Modern Transition (250-1-20)

Instructors

Rajeev Kumar Kinra
847/467-1241
Harris Hall - Room 307

Meeting Info

Harris Hall 107: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

This course will not pretend to cram thousands of years worth of world history into ten weeks, nor will it try to organize the history of the world into a coherent "system." Rather, the goal will be to prompt students to think critically about certain features of the modern world that we often take for granted as being quintessentially "Western" and/or "European," but which in fact have a much deeper history, and much more global provenance, than is usually acknowledged. To this end, we will focus on a series of key historical phases, ranging from roughly the years 600 CE - 1800 CE, in which forms of "globalization" (hardly a new phenomenon) played a critical part in shaping our world. We will center mainly, though not exclusively, on the Indian Ocean trading zone, a place where sophisticated ancient maritime passages converged with the overland trade routes of the Silk Road that ran from China across central and west Asia, dipped into India, and then continued all the way to Arabia and beyond to Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. The Indian Ocean was, it has been said, "on the way to everywhere else," and as such it was also a place where an amazingly multicultural cast of merchants, middlemen, artisans, religious pilgrims, intellectuals, mercenaries, and rival powers from all over the world combined to make it the undisputed hub of global commerce, exchange, and encounter from late antiquity right up to the nineteenth century.

Learning Objectives

Gain a foundational understanding of some of the key cultural, historical, and economic phases, phenomena, and interactions that set the stage for the emergence of global early modernity; improve our ability to express ourselves in writing

Evaluation Method

Mostly short essays and occasional quizzes

Class Notes

Concentration(s): European, Asia/Middle East, Africa/Middle East, Global

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity

Associated Classes

DIS - University Hall 418: Fri 10:00AM - 10:50AM

DIS - Harris Hall L04: Fri 10:00AM - 10:50AM

DIS - Harris Hall L05: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

DIS - University Hall 312: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

DIS - Harris Hall L28: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM

DIS - Harris Hall L04: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM

DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-325: Fri 2:00PM - 2:50PM

DIS - Harris Hall L28: Fri 3:00PM - 3:50PM

DIS - Harris Hall L04: Fri 3:00PM - 3:50PM

DIS - NO DATA: NO DATA