HIST /GLST 208: The World to 1500 (Rev. 1/2) Report a Broken Link

The World to 1500 is a three-credit first-year (junior) course that introduces students to the study of Global History. It surveys the early human past, from its spread around the world during the last Ice Age, through the rise of early and classical civilizations and the growing communication in the post-classical period, up to the chance connection of global networks by European explorers at the start of the modern age.

Unit 1: Introduction


Unit 1: Introduction Video. Professor Marc Cels

Unit 2: Prehistory to the Beginning of Agriculture


Noah Harari, Yuval. “A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve,” in Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind, 40–62 (Canada: Signal/McClelland and Stewart, 2014).

Unit 3: Prehistory to the Beginning of Agriculture


“China: Heritage of the Wild Dragon.” Messages from the Past: Reassessing Ancient China. Mico International, 2001. [Video]
“‘Indus: The Unvoiced Civilization.’ Messages from the Past: Reassessing Ancient Civilizations” (TV series). Insight Media, 200. [Video]
"Mesopotamia: I Have Conquered the River.” Messages from the Past: Reassessing Ancient China, Mico International, 2001. [Video]
“Thebes, Part 1: Life on the West Bank of the Nile.” Living Stones 2: Uncovering Ancient History (TV series). Alpha Line Productions, 2005. [Video]
"The Pyramids." The Egypt Detectives (TV series), episode. Fulcrum TV and Exploration/Southern Star, 2004. [Video]

Unit 4: Classical Empires of Eurasia and North Africa, c. 500 B.C.E. to c. 500 C.E.


Unit 4 Video. Professor Marc Cels

Whately, Conor. “The Roman Army.” In Themes in Roman Society and Culture: An Introduction to Ancient Rome. Edited by Matt Gibbs, Milorad Nikolic, and Pauline Ripat, 285–306. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014

Unit 8: Post-Classical Trade Networks


Unit 8 Video. Professor Marc Cels

Unit 9: Post-Classical China and East Asia, c. 600 to c. 1300


Foreman, Amanda. “Separation” (TV episode). The Ascent of Woman: A 10,000 Year Story. UK: BBC, 2015. Streaming video with transcript through Films on Demand/Films Media Group.

Unit 10: Islam: An Afro-Eurasian Civilization


MacGregor, Neil. “46. Gold Coins of Abd al-Malik.” In A History of the World in 100 Objects. 294–300, 674. London: Allen Lane/Penguin, 2010.

Unit 13: The World at the End of the Post-Classical Age


Fernández-Armesto, Felipe. (1998). “Exploration and Discovery,” in The New Cambridge Medieval History: Vol. 7: c. 1415 to 1500, ed. by Christopher Allmand (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 175–201.