Syllabus

** HIST 160 - West and the World, Part I ** ** Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00 - 3:20PM ** ** Union College – Fall 2014 ** ** DB 003 ** Professor Benjamin Tyner Email: betyner@ucollege.edu Office: DB 408B, 486-2000 ext. 2324 Office Hours: 10:30 to 1:15PM MWF; and by appointment Becca O'Hare, Faculty Assistant – Email: rlohare92@hotmail.com


 * SUMMARY:**

This course introduces western history in a global context from the dawn of civilization to around 1600. Topics include Eurasian, African, American, and Greco-Roman civilizations and Christian, Islamic and Byzantine cultures. Upon completion, students should be able to recognize and analyze significant political, socioeconomic, and cultural developments in pre-modern world civilizations and distinguish between primary and secondary sources. In addition, students will learn to quickly extract and organize information from large reading assignments and analyze historical arguments and causation.

There is one required text for this course: //Voyages in World History//, Volume I, Brief, 1st Edition by Valerie Hansen; Kenneth R. Curtis. ISBN-10: 1-111-35234-8. This book is available in the Union College bookstore. Other required readings will be made available by the instructor online at westworld160.wikispaces.com/Syllabus.
 * COURSE REQUIREMENTS: **

Please keep your email address current as updates will often be sent there. Quizzes over the required material must be submitted to Moodle no later than 1:45pm on the date the assignment is due. Any date no quiz is due will be noted by email and/or in class previously. The quizzes will be online and timed – texts should be reviewed and your notes in front of you when you begin the quiz. Group studying is an excellent idea BUT - all answers must be in your own words (unless you use quotes and note the source).

 **G** **RADE** **W** **EIGHT** **:** • Participation = 20% of your grade (coming to class, staying until the end, and participating in discussion or coming to my office to discuss history!) • Quizzes = 20% • Midterm Exam = 20% • Final Exam = 25% • Short Review/Research Paper = 15% (See Paper Guidelines)

**COURSE SCHEDULE:** August 26: Introduction Tyner: History's Meaning

August 28: History Through the Long Lens **Read:** Rael, “'Predatory' Reading.” **Watch:** National Geographic’s "Guns, Germs and Steel,” Episode 1: Out of Eden; OR Read the Transcript //W// //ARNING// : brief comments on specific dates of the development of agriculture as understood by Jared Diamond and expressed in this film may not necessarily reflect your own understanding of the origins and/or timing of the first humans: please watch anyway, none of the main points require you to suspend your beliefs. Tyner: GGS and the Universe

September 2: Early Complex Societies: Mesopotamia Tyner: Mesopotamia
 * Read**: Hansen, Ch. 2 (H2)

September 4: Egypt Tyner: Egypt
 * Read:** Rael, "How to Read a Primary Source"; Ch. 125 from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, "The Negative Confessions"
 * Watch:** //National Geographic,// "Egypt Wants Its Treasures Back"

September 9: India and Buddhism
 * Read:** H3
 * In Class:** "The Life of the Buddha" BBC
 * Recommended:** Rajeesh Rao, TED Talk, "A Rosetta Stone for the Indus Script"

September 11: NO CLASS - PROJECT IMPACT

September 16: China
 * Read:** H4
 * In Class:** "China's Terracotta Warriors"

September 18: The Ancient Americas
 * Read:** H5

September 23: Greece, part 1
 * Read:** H6

September 25: Greece, part 2; Rome, part 1 In class: Playdoh's Allegory
 * Read:** Plato, "The Allegory of the Cave" (be prepared for in-class quiz)

September 30: Rome, part 2
 * Read:** H7

October 2: No Class, Instructor Absent **Recommended**: Think about your paper topic!

October 7: Hindu and Buddhist States __**Due: Paper Topic (one paragraph summary of your expected paper topic) **__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H8

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">October 9: Exam Review <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Recommended**: Bring questions from quizzes and from class <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Exam Review ppt

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">October 14: Midterm Exam, In Class **__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">October 16: Islam <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H9

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">October 21: Islam, part 2 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Watch**: "When the Moors Ruled in Europe" (be prepared for in-class quiz)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">October 23: The European Middle Ages, part 1 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H10

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">October 28: Africa and India <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H11

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">October 30: China, cont. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H12

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">November 4: The European Middle Ages, part 2 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H13

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">November 6: Comparative Artistic Expression (and the Mongols) __**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Due: Paper Outline (a detailed outline of your paper and a bibliography of all of your sources) **__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H14

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">November 11: Renaissance <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: Mirandola, "Oration on the Dignity of Man" and Petrarch, "Ascent of Mount Ventoux" (be prepared for in-class quiz)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">November 13: 1491 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H15

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">November 18: The Atlantic Slave Trade <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: H16


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">November 20: No Class - Instructor On Field Trip **

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">November 25, 27: No Class, Happy Thanksgiving **__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">December 2: Reformation <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: Luther, "On the Peasants" and "On the Jews" (be prepared for in-class quiz)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">December 4: The Great European Witch Hunt __**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Due: Final Paper **__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: Excerpts from Witchcraft Trials - pay special attention to Suzanne Gaudry (be prepared for in-class quiz)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">December 9: The Future <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Read**: None

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">December 11: Exam Review Exam Review Presentation

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tuesday, December 16, 10AM - FINAL EXAM **__

//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thanks for being a part of this class and Happy Christmas! //