SDSU § HIST. 100: THE WORLD BEFORE 1650 § ED BEASLEY § SPRING
2002
SECT. 2, 18620, MWF 9:00, SS-1401
G.A.: MR. WALTER GUSTAFSON
PART ONE: THE EMERGENCE OF EMPIRES AND RELIGIONS.
WEEK I {23-25 Jan.}: HUMANITY SETTLES DOWN FOR HISTORY.
Readings: Oliver, The African Experience (1-21top, 25mid-76top); Genesis 1-4:15, 6-9.
WEEK II {28 Jan. – 1 Feb.}: CHINA: BEGINNINGS TO 220 C.E.
Readings: Hucker, China to 1850 (1-77); Bentley, Old World Encounters (29-42).
WEEK III {4-8 FEB.}: THE NEAR EAST, PART I:
CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE PASTORAL, THE CIVIC, AND THE IMPERIAL, 1500-500 B.C.E.
Reading: Genesis 37-45; Exodus 20-23; Joshua 6; Judges 4:4-10; 1 Samuel 8; 2 Kings 25:1-11;
Ps. 137; Isaiah 40; Ezra 1:1-7.
WEEK IV {11-15 Feb.}: EURASIAN RELIGIONS AND REVIVALS, 500 B.C.E.-100 C.E.
Readings: Selections from The Bhagavad-Gita; Bentley, Old World Encounters (42-53).
WEEK V {18-22 Feb.}: THE NEAR EAST, PART II:
GREEK SELF-ANALYSIS AND THE GREEK EMPIRE, 500 B.C.E.-100 B.C.E.
Reading: Selections from the works of Herodotus (27-35 and 63-81)
and Thucydides (217-232 and 265-290)
in The Portable Greek Historians.
PART TWO: THE EURASIAN-AFRICAN CORE, 100 B.C.E. TO 1492:
THE ANCIENT EMPIRES FALL; NOMADS RAID; COSMOPOLITAN ISLAM RISES.
WEEK VI {25 Feb. – 1 Mar.}: ROME, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE INVASIONS.
Readings: The Portable Greek Historians: Polybius (442-447, 483-501);
Mark 1-8, 13; John 1; Acts 9:1-35, 25-28.
WEEK VII {4-8 Mar.}: ISLAM.
Readings: Oliver, The African Experience (86-101); Elias, Islam (13-81, 105-109).
WEEK VIII {11-15 Mar.}: INDIA’S EMPIRES, CULTURES, AND OVERLORDS.
Reading: Bentley, Old World Encounters (67-84); selections from Jawaharlal Nehru (xeroxed).
PART THREE: THE EURASIAN PERIPHERIES, 200 C.E.-1492:
STRUGGLES WITH THE CORE; GOLDEN AGES.
WEEK IX {18-22 Mar.}: EAST OF ISLAM: CHINA TO AND FROM THE SOUTHERN SUNG.
Reading: Hucker, China to 1850 (77-84top, 86-147).
WEEK X {25-29 Mar.}: NORTH OF ISLAM: THE MONGOL INVASIONS AND THEIR AFTERMATH.
READING: Bentley, Old World Encounters (135-164).
SPRING BREAK
WEEK XI {8-12 April}: WEST OF ISLAM: NORTHERN EUROPE BEFORE AND AFTER 1348.
Readings: selections from Boccaccio, The Decameron (xeroxed).
WEEK XII {15-19 April}: THE RENAISSANCE: EUROPE UNIFED FROM SOUTH TO NORTH.
Reading: Selections from Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (xeroxed).
PART FOUR: 1492.
WEEK XIII {22-26 April}: AMERICA AND EUROPE: MUTUAL DISCOVERIES AND TIES.
Reading: John Elliott, The Old World and the New.
WEEK XIV {29 April – 3 May}: THE SIGNIFIGANCE OF 1492:
WORLDWIDE PLANTATIONS, AMERICAN METALS, AFRICAN SLAVES, CHINESE FARMS.
Readings: Oliver, The African Experience (132-181);
Bentley, Old World Encounters (23-28, 165-184).
WEEK XV {6-8 May}: THE SIGNIFIGANCE OF 1492:
STRUGGLE, DISSENT, AND THE MIDDLE CLASSES IN EUROPE.
Reading: Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal” (just the essay, not the whole book).
BOOKS:
Jerry H. Bentley, Old World Encounters.
The Bible.
Jaml Elias, Islam.
John Elliott, The Old World and the New.
M.I. Finley, ed., The Portable Greek Historians.
Charles Hucker, China to 1850: A Short History.
Barbara Stoler Miller, trans., Bhagavad-Gita.
Roland Oliver, The African Experience.
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
ASSIGNMENTS:
Pop quizzes on the lectures and readings will count for 25% of your course grade (although
your lowest pop quiz grade will be dropped).
A midterm exam at the end of Week V will count for 20%.
A midterm exam at the end of Week X will count for 25%.
The final exam will make up the other 30%. The exam will be in the regularly scheduled
exam period: Friday, 17 May, 8:00-10:00.
You will be allowed to write a 5-page paper in lieu of taking the Week X midterm. Paper
topics MUST be cleared with me by the end of Week VIII. (I will have discussed possible
topics in lecture by then.) The paper MUST be handed in by the beginning of Week X.
Otherwise you MUST take the exam.
Exams will be discussed in class from time to time. Each exam will be in the essay format.
Some pop quizzes may be given at the beginning of the period, so don’t be late. Exams
cannot be made up except in the case of a documented emergency; pop quizzes, by their
nature, cannot be made up at all.
Ed’s Office: at AH-4121
Hours: M 1:30-3:00, MWF 11:15-11:45, & by appt.
OFFICE: AH-4121 TEL.: 594-0761
EDWARD.BEASLEY@SDSU.EDU