Course Description
This course will examine the peoples, societies, and cultures of the world from approximately 1500 to the present. It provides a chronological and geographical framework for understanding how global civilizations have developed and declined, how they have interacted with, dominated, and shaped each other over time. Through themes such as empire building, trade, society, politics, war, and genocide, the class will assess the extent to which the last half-millenium can be defined by concepts such as “progress,” “democracy,” and “modernity.” By looking closely at developments in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, this course will ask how the world has changed over the last 500 years, and we will examine the implications of these changes.

Student Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students should be able to:

(a) place major historical events of World History
(after 1500 C.E.) in a chronological and geographical framework;
(b) apply this chronological framework to understand cause and effect relationships when analyzing World History (after 1500 C.E.);
(c) demonstrate an appreciation of the diversity of cultures that have been shaped by global interaction in the world (after 1500 C.E.); and
(d) express an understanding of this history in clear written work.

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