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Syllabus
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History 1013 Honors World Civilization to 1660 Fall 2007 Arkansas State University
Instructor: Erik Gilbert
116 Wilson Hall
Phone: 972-2137
Email: egilbert@astate.edu
Web site: www.clt.astate.edu/egilbert
Required texts:
Felipe Fernandez Armesto, The World: A History
Andrea and Overfield, The Human Record, 5th ed., Vol. I: to 1700
Amitav Ghosh, In an Antique Land
Course Objectives
History 1013 will trace the broad patterns of global history from the agricultural revolution to the middle of the 17th century. When its all over you will know the basic outlines of the first 9500 years of human history, know the characteristics or "style" of the major civilizations, understand the ways in which these civilizations interacted and cross-fertilized each other, gain some understanding of the work historians do, and have some insight into the historical roots of the modern world.
Course Format
Each week we will have two lectures loosely based on the material in Bentley and Ziegler. On Fridays we will have discussion based on assigned readings in Andrea and Overfield.
Course Requirements
Essays: Each week you will write an essay. Topics for these essays are in the syllabus. You will hand in your essays at the end of each unit, usually a Friday, and they will be returned to you the next week. Essays may be handwritten, but it is preferable to use a computer. Each should be at least one page long. Each should be dated and given a title. Late essays will receive no credit. At the end of the semester you will turn in a portfolio containing all of your essays. Your portfolio will be graded in its entirety at the end of the semester.
Discussion: Most of our Friday class meeting will be devoted to discussion of the problems posed by the week's reading and lectures. You will come to class having done the reading and having written essays specifically tailored to the week's discussion topic. This way everyone will have something to contribute.
Tests, Quizzes, and such: There will be a map quiz, a mid-term, and a final exam.
Semester Essay: You will write an essay of 6-10 pages. Your paper will be an analysis and critique of Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land. I will provide you with a separate handout about this paper early in the semester.
Grades: Your final grade will be based on:
Essay Portfolio 30%
Tests and Quizzes 40%
Semester Essay 30%
Class Discussion will be worth a half a grade. Active contributors can expect to have their grades go up a half a grade (A- to A); the average contributors will find their grades holding steady; weak participants will have their grades lowered by a half grade.
Other Important Policies
Attendance: You must attend all class meetings, unless you have a medical excuse. Academic Honesty: All work you hand in must be your own. While you are encouraged to study in groups, every piece of written work you give to me to be graded must be work you did independently. While I will presume that each of you is honest and I will not be looking over your shoulders, if you are caught cheating you will, at the minimum, fail the course.
Course Schedule
Unit 1 (Aug. 20-31) Introduction to the concept of world history and the rise of agriculture.
Readings: Armesto, Chapters 1 and 2. A&0, Prologue, pp. P-1 to P-18, and source 7.
essay: question 7 page P-8.
First map quiz Aug 31.
Unit 2 (Sept. 5-14) Rivers and Civilization: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China
Readings: Armesto, Chapter 3 A&O, Sources 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8.
essay: page 8 question 4.
Unit 3 (Sept. 17-21) The Spread and Development of Civilizations Readings: Armesto, Chapter 4 A&O, Sources 6, 10, 11, 12, and 13
essay: page 58, question 4.
Unit 4(Sept. 24-28) Emergence of Classical Societies
Readings: Armesto: Chapter 5
essay: Armesto, page 134
Unit 5 (Oct 1-5) The Axial Age
Readings: Armesto, Chapters 6 A&O, Sources 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 25, 27
essay: page 116, question 8
Mid–term Exam: in class Oct. 3
Unit 6 (Oct. 15-19) The First Afro-Eurasian Ecumene and the Salvation Religions Readings: Armesto, Chapters 6 and 7. A&O, Sources A&O, Sources 29,30, 33,34, 38, 42, 45, 46, 52
essay: page 235, question 2.
Unit 7 (Oct. 22-26) On the Frontiers
Readings: Armesto, Chapter 10 A&O, Sources 67, 68, 69, 71, and 73.
essay: In source 72 do you see any evidence of foreign trade? What do you conclude from your answer?
Nomadic Fronteirs Unit 8 (Oct. 29-Nov. 2)
Readings: Armesto, Chapter 12
A&O, Sources 81, 82, 83, 84, 88, and 90.
essay: page 356, question 7.
Unit 9 (Nov. 5-9) Abraham Ben Yiju’s World of Compromise and Accommodation
Readings: Ghosh, all.
essay: Ghosh sometimes spells the word “history” with a lower case “h” and at other times with an upper case “H.” (No, I am not referring to situations where “history” is the first word in a sentence.) What does he mean by “History” as opposed to “history?”
Unit 10 (Nov. 12-16) The Pax Mongolica and the Indian Ocean
Readings: Armesto, 13 and 14 A&O, Sources 98, 99, 101, 102, 105, 107, and 108.
essay: page 424, question 2.
Unit 11 (Nov. 26-30) The New Sea Routes and the “New” Europe
Readings: Armesto, Chapter 15 A&, Sources 110, 111 and 112.
No essay
Dec. 3: In class review
Semester Essay due in class Dec. 3 Complete Essay portfolio due in class Nov. 30
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