General Course Purpose

Surveys the general history of the Western world from about 3000 BCE to 1600 CE and allows students to reach a basic understanding of the characteristic features of the Western world’s early historical development in that span of time. Students will learn about some of the important political, economic, social, intellectual, cultural and religious changes that shaped the development of the West from earliest times.

Course Prerequisite/Corequisite

None

Course Objectives

Upon completion the course, the student will be able to:

• Establish a chronology of historical events in the Western world before 1600 CE. (Addresses general education objectives C and D under information literacy.)
• Explain the changing geopolitical structures of the Western world up until 1600 CE. (Addresses general education objective A and E under culture and social understanding.)
• Define the importance of key individuals and developments in Western civilization before 1600 CE. (Addresses general education objective C and D under information literacy.)
• Identify the social, economic and political forces at work in the evolution of early and medieval Western history. (Addresses general education objectives A and E under cultural and social understanding.)
• Recognize and describe the significance of some of the cultural achievements of ancient and medieval Western civilization. (Addresses general education objective C under culture and social understanding.)  Analyze complex historical sources and materials and reach conclusions based on interpretations of those materials. (Addresses general education objectives A and B under communication and objective d under critical thinking.)

Professor’s Note

Although this course fulfills the University General Education requirement, it is my hope that this course allows you to discover the major trends in Western Civilization that have created our world through an examination of past civilizations and societies. Beginning in from the start of “civilization”, we will take a look at varied societies that shaped the Western World, not as individual civilizations, but as part of a larger community–exploring sites of contact, mutual interaction, co-dependence, and conflict. Focusing on the “West”, the course will examine the cultural, technological, political, economic, religious and social transformations which shaped the societies of these geographic regions, as they became part of an interworking global system.

Since Western Civilization, by its nature, involves going over enormous amounts of information, I do not expect you to retain a detailed knowledge of everything.  We will focus instead on developing an overall framework of what has happened in the “West” and what broad patterns and trends we can use to make sense of it and then fitting the details into that framework.  In doing so, we will pay attention both to interactions and encounters among the various societies and to what sorts of useful comparisons we can draw between them.  Finally, we will pay particular attention to sources and interpretations —  so that you can see where the generalizations in your textbooks come from, and what they are based upon.