HIST 125: Introduction to Global History

HIST 125-K04: Introduction to World History
(Fall 2022)

05:00 PM to 06:15 PM MW

Mason Korea (119 Songdomunhwa-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, Korea) G105

Section Information for Fall 2022

This introductory course surveys major historical events and processes since the late 14th century to the late 18th century from the perspective of the spread of commodities, disease, and war. We will observe a global history of civilization through social, economic, and political exchanges across the world. We will examine the rise and expansion of the Mongolian Empire, the Bubonic Plague, the Renaissance and the Reformation in Europe, the history of the silver trade, and the Great East Asian War between Japan and the Korean-Chinese alliance. We will also examine a major shift in the balance of power in the global maritime trading network as the English and the Dutch East Indian Companies came to prominence during the 17th and 18th centuries. Finally, we will consider two of the most definitive Human Rights revolutions of the 18th century which, in part, arose out of indignation against unjust and corrupt taxation—the American and French Revolutions and explore how rationalism, liberty, and individualism influenced political and social upheavals which respectively produced a new and an independent nation in North America and a non-monarchical republican government in Western Europe. In short, we will try to contextualize these events in a chronological and logical fashion by organizing them around the theme of "exchange"; we will observe the flow of world history through the flow of commodities, trade, disease, ideas which ultimately served as causes and consequences of the formation of a world market economy.

  This course will attempt to approximate the definition of "global" by engaging in comparative analyses of political, economic, and social developments across the world from the 14th century to the 18th century—five centuries which can collectively be called an Era of Turbulent Exchanges. It was an era of immense turbulence, marked by the rise of a global epidemic which claimed almost 2/3 of a continent's population. It was also an era which saw active monetary exchanges and trade in Europe and East Asia, thanks to the rise of a Silver Triangle and the introduction of the first concept of a global world economy. Simultaneously, the era also saw a terrible outburst of violence and uncertainty through the outbreak of religious wars in Europe and a seven-year war between Korea and Japan that would not only disrupt the flow of the global silver trade but also decide East Asia's balance of power for two centuries until the rise of a global fever for industrialization and imperialism across the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet, the era was also one filled with hope and promise for the realization and preservation of human dignity and rationality. It was a promise explored through art and through vigorous demands for a reform in the relationship between the individual, the church, and God throughout the 15th and 16th century. The promise would live on to the 18th century through an exchange of ideas across the Atlantic about human dignity and inalienable rights, which saw the birth of a nation and a new government rising from the ashes of a corrupt and decadent monarchical order.

   Overall, in addition to learning about the different forms of global exchange that shaped the rise of a global market economy and its consequences from the 14th to the 18th century, students will learn how to analyze and critique historical arguments and account for contextual and chronological continuity as a matter of logic. This course will emphasize the importance of these skills to thoroughly and consistently display analytical rigor and clarity in writing and logic, which, in turn, will maximize the quality of delivery and persuasion in historical argumentation.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

By focusing on historical experiences that reflect the diversity of Mason’s student body, students will be able to see how their families and communities fit within, and contribute to, global history from the pre-modern period to our present day. This course offers a long-term historical perspective on structural issues challenging our world today, including demographic and environmental changes, national and global inequalities, and the underrepresentation of marginalized groups. Students will gain an understanding of how interconnections and inter-dependencies have been forged through the global movement of people, pathogens, goods, and ideas. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Global History
Schedule Type: Lecture, Recitation
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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