HIS 112: WORLD HISTORY to 1500 - Sec. 54770

HIS 112: WORLD HISTORY TO 1500 - Sec. 54770 Spring 2006 Mon. & and Wed., 10:30-11:45 a.m.; CM 108 Professor Linda Bregstein Scherr Office: LA 121; phone: 609-586-4800 ext. 3839 Office Hours: Mon. & Wed., 9:30-10:30 a.m. Tues., & Thurs., 1:30-3:00 p.m. Mailbox: Division of Liberal Arts Office, LA 170 Email: [email protected]

This course surveys World History from prehistory to 1500 examining the development of ancient societies in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. The course will chart the development of individual societies focusing on interactions between peoples of different societies including ancient Egypt and Nubia, India, classical Greece and Rome, the Islamic states, Han China, early Korea and Japan and Andean and Mesoamerican societies.

How does World History differ from Western Civilization? This course will give you a strong sense of the history of human communities throughout the globe, following a particular trajectory: from sparse and disconnected communities reacting creatively to their individual circumstances; through ever more intensive states of contact, cultural expansion and amalgamation; to a 21st century world situation in which people increasingly visualize a single global community. The course will chart the development of individual societies in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania and examines the widely varying forms of political, social, and economic organization adopted by human communities of the past and their diverse cultural, religious, and philosophical legacies. To help bring order to the entire human past, an enormous subject, the course will focus attention on some of the most important features of human experience, including the development of technology, humanity’s relation to the environment, the creation and dissemination of cultural traditions, and interactions that link individual societies to their neighbors and the larger world.

In more specific terms, by the end of the course, students will be able to:  read primary and secondary historical sources critically, with an understanding of their validity, perspective bias, audience, and context.  construct an historical essay that presents a clear thesis, a persuasive argument, and well-researched supporting data.  identify major personalities of world history.  describe major movements, trends, and developments of world history.  use information technologies in acquiring new knowledge and perspective.  discuss with authority, either in writing or verbally, the historical forces (e.g., religion, economics, politics, social stratification, gender, individual actors, technology, nature, intellectual and aesthetic thought, etc.) behind the major movements, trends, and developments of world history.  analyze other time periods and cultures with little or no ethnocentrism, thus displaying a sense of informed perspective and a deeper appreciation of the common threads of human nature.

The course counts in the General Education curriculum as either HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE or GLOBAL DIVERSITY.

REQUIRED TEXTS: Page 2

Bentley, Jerry, and Herb Ziegler, Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past. Vol. I: From the Beginning to 1500. 3rd Edition. NY: McGraw-Hill, 2006. ISBN 007-299827-X The book comes with a CD inside, Primary Source Investigator (abbreviated PSI). The CD, which you will need for the course contains over 100 primary source documents, images, videos, interactive maps, and an interactive glossary with pronunciation guide. The CD requires that you have Macromedia Flash Player 7. If you do not have access to a computer at home, you will need to use a computer in a campus computer lab. There is also a textbook website, the Online Learning Center, available at www.mhhe.com/bentley3. A card inside the textbook gives directions for how to access the online resources and provides the password you will need. Do not lose this information as you will need to access the website and PowerWeb resources during the course.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Students will be evaluated through:  two non-cumulative 50-minute exams (each is 20% of the final grade)  five 2-4 page writing assignments (each is 5% of the final grade) o two of these writing assignments will be the basis of short group presentations  a semi-cumulative final exam (25% of the final grade)  attendance and active participation (10%)

TESTS and FINAL EXAM The two 50-minute tests will consist of identifications and short essays. Students will get study guides for each chapter that list the terms for identification and study questions to help prepare for the tests. Identifications should be 2-3 sentences long and specify the relevant civilization and the approximate date, importance, identity, contribution, and description of the term/person/place/period, as appropriate. The well-organized essays should be 1-2 paragraphs in length. You will be required to answer 2 out of a choice of 5-6 essays. Short study guides for the exams will be handed out in class. Test 1 covers the lectures and readings from weeks 1-5. Test 2 covers the lectures and readings from weeks 6 - 10. The final exam is a semi-cumulative, two hour exam consisting of identifications and essays. The identifications will cover only weeks 11-14; of the essays, two will relate to the last part of the course and two will cover all the material of the class. Exams 1 and 2 will each be available in the Testing Center for 6 days. You must take the exam during the specified period (see the schedule below). If you are unable to take any of the exams as scheduled, you must contact me before the exam deadline passes. In certain cases, I will allow you to take the exam late, but I will deduct 10 points (the equivalent of 1 letter grade) from your score.

ASSIGNMENTS The best way to study history is to read about it, write about it, talk about it and do it. Thus you will have 5 (2-4 page) writing assignments. Two assignments will have a written and group presentation component. Three writing assignments will be individual essays based on primary and secondary sources on the PowerWeb textbook website. Over the course of the semester, everyone will choose 3 articles to read (the eligible articles are listed in the assigned readings) and prepare a short written assignment that addresses the following parts:  Explain the main point of the article.  List a minimum of three important facts that the author(s) uses to support the main idea. Page 3

 What information or ideas discussed in the article are also discussed in your textbook or other readings? Are the information and ideas treated similarly or does the author of the article have a different emphasis or interpretation?  Discuss any examples of examples of bias, exaggeration, or persuasion that you found in the article. That is, does the author use and rhetorical devices to convince you or his or her point?  List any new terms or concepts that were discussed in the article and write a short definition.

The first written assignment is due by September 23; the second written assignment is due by November 11, and the final written assignment is due by December 5. All assignments and due dates are noted on the schedule below in bold face.

CHEATING and PLAGIARISM As stated in the College Policy, cheating or plagiarism will result in failure for the course. If you are unsure whether something is plagiarism, you are responsible for asking your professor. All quotations must be set off by quotation marks, with the source listed. Downloading and copying passages without attribution from the Internet is plagiarism. You are encouraged to use the Internet as a tool, but all Internet information must be properly cited according to MLA or APA rules, with web page and date of access listed.

Semester Schedule:

DATES TOPICS & DUE DATES READINGS Aug. 29 Introduction: The Study of the Global Past; Before None History – the First 4 Million Years

Aug. 31 Origins and Prehistory Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 1, pp. 5-19 PowerWeb Article: 1. Stand and Deliver: Why Did Early Hominids Begin to Walk on Two Feet?, Ian Tattersall, Natural History, November 2003

Sept. 2 Later Prehistory Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 1, pp. 19-28 PowerWeb Article: 10. New Clues Show Where People Made the Great Leap to Agriculture, John Noble Wilford, The New York Times, November 18, 1997 Sept. 5 Labor Day – No Classes

Sept. 7 Mesopotamian Civilization Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 2, pp. 31-45

Sept. 9 Ancient Mesopotamia, continued; Hebrews, Israelites, and Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 2, pp. 45-51 Jews Sept. 12 Israelites, continued; Indo-European Migrations Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 2, pp. 51-56

Sept. 14 Early African Societies Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 3, pp. 59-69

Sept. 16 Egypt, continued; Complex Societies Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 3, pp. 69-80 Sept. 19 Bantu Migrations and Sub-Saharan Africa Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 3, pp. 80-84 PowerWeb Article 20: Out of Africa: The Superb Artwork of Ancient Page 4

Nubia, David Roberts, Smithsonian, June 1993 Sept. 21 Harrapan Civilization Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 4, pp. 87-93 PowerWeb Article: 9. Writing Gets a Rewrite, Andrew Lawler, Science, June 29, 2001

PowerWeb Article: 13. When No One Read, Who Started to Write?, John Noble Wilford, The New York Times, April 6, 1999

PowerWeb Article: 16. Indus Valley, Inc., Shanti Menon, Discover, December 1998

Sept. 23 Early Aryan India: Society and Religion Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 4, pp. 93-104 First Writing Assignment Due Sept. 26 Early China Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 5, pp. 109-118

Sept. 28 Video: China: Dynasties of Power

Sept. 30 Discussion of the video; Society and Family in Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 5, pp. 119-130 Ancient China Exam 1 must be taken in the Testing Center between Oct. 3 – Oct. 8 Oct. 3 Early Societies in the Americas – the Olmecs and Maya Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 6, pp. 133-145

Oct. 5 Early Societies of South America and Oceania Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 6, pp. 145-154

Oct. 7 Ancient Persia Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 7, pp. 156-172 Oct. 10 Persian Culture and Religion Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 7, pp. 172-178

Oct. 12 The Unification of China; Political Thought Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 8, pp. 181-189 Group Presentation and Writing Assignment Due: PowerWebArticle: 37. Confucius, Jonathan Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism (Documents to be D. Spence, Wilson Quarterly, Autumn handed out in class) 1993

Oct. 14 Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism, continued Oct. 17 The Qin Dynasty of China Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 8, pp. 189-193

Oct. 19 The Han Dynasty of China Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 8, pp. 193-203

Oct. 21 India in the Age of Empires Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 9, pp. 207-217 Oct. 24 Indian Culture and Religion Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 9, pp. 217-228 Group Presentation and Writing Assignment Due: PowerWeb Article: 30. Ancient Jewel, T. R. Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism (Documents to be handed (Joe) Sundaram, The World & I, October out in class) 1996

Oct. 26 Indian Culture and Religion, continued

Oct. 28 Greek Civilization – The Bronze and Early Iron Ages Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 10, pp. 234 Page 5

Oct. 31 Greek Civilization –Classical Greece and the Polis Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 10, pp. 234-240

Nov. 2 Classical Greece, continued Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 10, pp. 245-255

Nov. 4 Greek Civilization – The Hellenistic Age Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 10, pp. 240-245 Nov. 7 Early Rome – From Monarchy to Republic Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 11, pp. 259-265

Nov. 9 The Roman Empire Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 11, pp. 265-271 PowerWebArticle: 26. The Year One, Lewis Lord, U.S. News & World Report, January 8, 2001

PowerWeb Article: 27. In the Year 1 Augustus Let the Good Times Roll, Lionel Casson, Smithsonian, August 1999

Nov. 11 Roman Civilization; Christianity Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 11, pp. 271-283 Second Writing Assignment Due Exam 2 must be taken in the Testing Center between November 14-November 19 Nov. 14 Roman Civilization and Christianity, continued

Nov. 16 Cross-Cultural Exchanges on the Silk Road Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 12, pp. 287-

Nov. 18 The Fall of the Roman Empire; Roman and Chinese Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 12, pp. 302-310 Parallels Nov. 21 Byzantine Civilization Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 13, pp. 314-341 PowerWeb Article: 38. The Survival of the Eastern Roman Empire, Stephen Williams and Gerard Friell, History Today, November 1998 Nov. 23 Muhammad and Islam Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 14, pp. 345-352

Nov. 25 No Class - Happy Thanksgiving Nov. 28 The Expansion of Islam; Islamic Society and Culture Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 14, pp. 352-370 PowerWeb Article: 35. The Legacy of Abraham, David Van Biema, Time, September 30, 2002

Nov. 30 The Restored Empire in China Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 15, pp. 375-383

Dec. 2 Chinese Society and Economy Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 15, pp. 383-397 PowerWeb Article: 49. 1492: The Prequel, Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times Magazine, June 6, 1999 Dec. 5 Early Japan; the Indian Ocean Basin Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 15, pp. 397-400; Third Writing Assignment Due Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 16, pp. 405-423

Dec. 7 Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 16, pp. 423-429 Southeast Asia Dec. 9 Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 17, pp. 433-455 Page 6

Europe, 800-1200 Dec. 12 Nomadic Empires of Eurasia Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 18, pp. 458-480

Dec. 14 States and Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa Bentley/Ziegler, Chapter 19, pp. 483-505 TBA FINAL EXAM