History 106: The History of World Civilization from 1500
TR 9:30-10:45am
Dr. Keith Knapp
Office hours: M, 1-4:45pm, T, 1-2:15 & 4:00-5:30, R 1:00-2:30, or by appointment. Office #
432C. Telephone: 3-6935, e-mail: keith.knapp@citadel.edu.
Course Description: This course examines how the world was irreversibly changed by the rise of
the West. Through capitalism, imperialism, industrialism, and nationalism, European countries,
and later America, reached every corner of the Earth and completely transformed the way people
lived and thought. Agrarian empires that were once the dominant political actors would
gradually be replaced by smaller nation-states. The competition between nation-states would
lead to ever uglier and more costly wars, culminating in the two World Wars and possibility of a
third, nuclear-fueled world-ending one. By the course’s end, each student should have a good
sense of the following: the strength and structure of early modern bureaucratic empires, how
capitalism fueled European exploration and imperialism, the extent to both imperialism and
industrialization have changed how people live across the globe, the dangers of xenophobia, the
degree to which the world has become globalized.
Course Requirements: Students must do all the assigned readings. Since will be discussing its
readings often, it is essential that students bring Worlds Together Worlds Apart: A Companion
Reader to each session. The week's assigned reading should be done prior to the first class of
the week. There will be six quizzes on readings from A Companion Reader. These quizzes will
merely consist of simple questions to see if you have done and understood the reading. Students
must also write three short papers and take two tests and a final examination. Short papers must
be analytical and cannot exceed three pages in length. All papers must be typed and doublespaced and will be evaluated on the premise that content and style are inseparable. Examinations
will consist of identifications and essays and must be written in pen. The composition of your
grade will be as follows: participation 10%, quizzes 20%, three short papers 30%, two
examinations 20%, and the final examination 20%. The participation grade will be based on
your attendance, preparation, and willingness and ability to participate in discussions. Students
must write their three papers on the three required supplementary book-length primary sources. I
will give you detailed instructions on how to compose the essays. Upon turning in the papers,
each student must give the instructor a hard copy and, for assessment purposes, submit an
electronic copy to a department e-mail address that will be supplied later. Your first paper must
be on Confucius’ Analects. Papers will lose half a grade for each class they are late. Papers
turned in two weeks after the due date will automatically receive an "F" grade. If a paper
assignment is not turned in, it will be given a score of "0." Students should keep extra copies of
all materials that they hand in. If a student's paper is lost, no matter who is at fault, it is the
student's responsibility to give the instructor another copy. Papers must be the student's own
original work. Cases of plagiarism, i.e., using the ideas of others without crediting them, will be
referred to the Honor Committee as violations of the Honor Code. Even if the absences are
excused, no student can miss more than 20% of our class sessions. Students who during class
time disrupt order, argue about their grades, chew tobacco, play with their cell phones, or read
1
non-class materials will be asked to leave and marked as absent. Students who cheat on tests or
engage in plagiarism will be reported for honor code violations. Plagiarism means using the
ideas of others without crediting them. Makeup tests will not be given without a written note
from a doctor or other appropriate official. Guard duty or other military activities are not
exceptions from scheduled tests. The instructor also reserves the right to adjust the syllabus as
he sees fit.
Textbooks:
Robert Tignor et al. Worlds Together Worlds Apart: Volume II,
From 1000 CE to the Present
Kenneth Pomeranz et al. Worlds Together Worlds Apart: A Companion Reader
De Erauso, Catalina. Memoir of a Basque Lieutenant Nun: Transvestite in the New World
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart.
George Orwell, 1984
Class Schedule
Week One: Orientation and the Emergence of the Nation-state, Colonialism, and
Industrialization (1/13)
Week Two: Affluent and Vigorous Eurasia empires: the Ottoman, Mughal, and Ming
empires (1/20) & (1/22)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 11, 468-472, 520-525; A Companion Reader, “Kabir, Three
Poems,” 59-62, “Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq,” 143-147, “Policy towards the Hindus,” 158-162.
1/22 Geography Quiz
Week Three: European conquest and subjugation of the New World (1/27 & 1/29)
Readings: Lieutenant Nun, Worlds Together, chapter 12; A Companion Reader, 66-100.
Week Four: The global search for goods and labor: Early colonialism, the slave trade, and
the rise of the Russian and Qing empires (2/3 & 2/5)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 13, A Companion Reader, 108-142.
1/31 Lieutenant Nun papers due COB.
Week Five: The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment in Europe (2/10 & 2/12)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 14; A Companion Reader, “Preface to Newton’s Principia
Mathematica, 152-155, “Sixth Philosophical Letter,” 162-164, and “On Baubles and the Demise
of Feudalism,” 165-169.
2/12 First Examination
2
Week Six: Stable and Prosperous East Asia: Ming-Qing China and Tokugawa Japan (2/17
& 2/19)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 14; A Companion Reader, “Economic Change in China,”
148-149, “Tales of the Strange,” 150-151, “A secret plan for government,” 198-202
Week Seven: A World Reconstituted: Revolutions in America, France, and Latin America
and Industrialism (2/24 & 2/26)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 15; A Companion Reader, 170-198.
Week Eight: Revolts against the West and Capitalism (3/3 & 3/5
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 16; A Companion Reader, 203-220
Week Nine: Nationalism and Imperialism Reshape the World (3/10 & 3/12)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 17, A Companion Reader, 221-248, and Things Fall Apart
3/12 Second Examination
Week Ten: The Bumpy Road of Modernization in China, India, Japan, and Latin America
(3/17 & 3/19)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 18, A Companion Reader, 231-234, 243-248
3/19 Things Fall Apart paper due at COB
Week Eleven: Spring Break (3/24 & 3/26)
Week Twelve: World War I and an Unstable World (3/31 & 4/2)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 19; A Companion Reader, 285-311.
Week Thirteen: The Second World War, the Cold War, and De-colonization (4/7 & 4/9)
Readings: Worlds Together, chapter 20; A Companion Reader, 312-359, as well as 1984.
Week Fourteen: The End of Imperialism and the Cold War; the Reemergence of Asia (4/14
& 4/16)
Readings: Worlds Together, A Companion Reader chapter 21; 370-386
4/16 Paper on 1984 due by COB
Week Fifteen: A Global World (4/21 & 4/23)
Readings: Worlds Together, epilogue.
Week Sixteen: Review (4/28)
5/5 FINAL EXAMINATION 1pm
3