History 101: History of World Civilizations
http://courses.cua.edu/webct/public/home.pl
Dr. Leonora Neville
Gibbons B34, x5484
nevillel@cua.edu
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 2-3 and by appointment. Please feel free to meet with me for any reason.
Teaching Assistants:
John Beetham 05beetham@cua.edu
Melodie Harris melodie.harris@verizon.net
Megan McGough 56mcgough@cua.edu
Stephanie Richmond 16richmond@cua.edu
This class meets for lectures in Hannon Hall on Mondays and Wednesdays. On Fridays you will meet in a number of small discussion sections. Rooms and sections assignments to be announced.
The World is a big place, and in the words of the sixth-century historian Gregory of Tours, "things keep on happening all the time." A course on the History of the World therefore could be many things. This course has two primary objectives both of which aim to improve your success in college and in life.
· The first objective is to give you an understanding of the history of global geography, human ecology and the evolution and interaction of human societies.
· The second objective is to teach the basic principles of historical analysis and analytical writing.
Objective one expands your knowledge of the world. Objective two teaches you how analyze information and express your analysis in writing.
Genius is not required to achieve these objectives. Steady, consistent effort is. A secondary objective of the class is to promote and teach habits of consistent study and productive time management.
In keeping with the nature of these course objectives, your grade is based on both testing and written assignments. Every week there is either a short test or a writing assignment due. The short tests emphasize geography and are based on readings and lectures. The writing assignments are explained in your sections and emphasize different skills in the process of historical analysis. Attendance is necessary at both lectures and section discussions. Your section leaders will keep records of attendance at lectures as well as section meetings.
Any one test may re-taken at the end of the term. Any one writing assignment may be re-written, provided that the original was handed in on time. With the prior knowledge of your section leader, ONE writing assignment may be handed in after the due date at a time arranged with your section leader. No other late papers will be accepted. See attached late paper policy. I highly recommend that you save your late paper and re-take to use in case you get sick or have an emergency.
This class will be conducted in an atmosphere of respect and seriousness of purpose. You will be treated as ladies and gentlemen worthy of high regard and we expect you to act as such. This will make the class more fun and enjoyable for everyone. We trust that you know how to behave properly. If you are at all uncertain about the standards of proper classroom behavior, please discuss the matter with your section leader.
Grade:
Attendance: 5%
Discussion participation: 10%
Nine Quizzes: 40%
Four Five-Page Papers: 45%
Textbooks:
T&E = Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the past by Jerry Bentley and Herbert Ziegler.
WH = Worlds of History ed. Kevin Reilly.
Readings from T&E support the lecture with which they are assigned. The chapter from the WH supports the lectures for that week and forms the basis of section discussions. Students must finish reading the week's chapter of WH before their Friday sections. All readings are necessary for successful performance on quizzes and papers.
This class has a web-site found at http://courses.cua.edu/webct/public/home.pl By September 5th usernames and passwords will be entered into the system for all enrolled students. Your username and password will be your last name and first initial all lowercase without spaces, e.g. harrism; mcgoughm. To access the Web-site you must 'create your WebCT.' To do this go to the address above, click on 'create your WebCT' and follow the instructions. The program is case-sensitive so you must be very careful in typing in your username and password.
Week One
Monday 8/26 Lecture "Planet of the Humans" -- Spread of Homo Sapiens Sapiens across the globe and the impact of their emigrations on world ecology.
Reading: T&E 1-32
8/28 Lecture "The Great Flood" – Beginning of the Neolithic Revolution.
Reading: T&E 33-60
8/30 No section this week. Happy Labor Day
Week Two
9/2 Labor Day Holiday!!
9/4 Lecture "Cain, Abel and food" -- Pastoralist and Agriculturalist economies and the development of organized states.
Reading: T&E 89-134
9/6 Sections: WH Chapter 1
Quiz #1 in Section
Week Three
9/9 Lecture "The Invention of Taxes" – Growth of early empires as consequence of the Neolithic Revolution
Reading: T&E 165-186, 213-238
9/11 Lecture " Naming Asia and Europe"
Reading: T&E 187-212, 239-268
9/13 Section: WH Chapter 3; Paper topic on chapter 3
Quiz #2 in Section
Week Four
9/16 Lecture "Classical Empires"
Reading: T&E 269-294
9/18 Lecture "Fall of Rome and the Han Dynasty"
Reading: T&E 295-321
9/20 Section: WH Chapter 4
First Paper Due Friday 9/20
Week Five
9/23 Lecture "Europe" From Later Roman Empire to Early Medieval Europe.
Reading: T&E 441-465
9/25 Lecture "Asian Christianity and the Rise of Islam"
Reading: T&E 327-335, 339-344, 355-382
9/27 Section: WH Chapter 5
Quiz #3 in Section
Week Six
9/30 Lecture "Good Times in Tang China" Political recovery, population boom, technological and economic growth.
Reading: T&E 383-412
10/2 Lecture "Asia United" – Camels are Cool.
10/4 Section: WH Chapter 7; Paper topic on Chapter 7
Quiz #4 in Section
Week Seven
10/7 Lecture "Course of the Neolithic Revolution by 1000" -- what's up outside Eurasia.
Reading: T&E 61-88, 135-159
10/9 Lecture "Medieval Civilizations and their Classical Heritage"
10/11 Section: WH chapter 8
Paper #2 Due Friday 10/11
Week Eight
10/14 Columbus Day Holiday!!
10/16 Lecture "Medieval Technology" -- Preservation and Innovation east and west c.a. 1000.
Reading: T&E 517-546
10/18 Section: WH Chapter 11; Paper Topic on chapter 11.
Quiz #5
Week Nine
10/21 Lecture "Indian Ocean"
Reading: T&E 413-440
10/23 Lecture "Crusades" --Expansion of Europeans into Western Asia, effects of cultural and military contact.
10/25 Section: WH Chapter 9
Quiz # 6
Week Ten
10/28 Lecture "Center, periphery and religious expansion"
Reading: T&E 345-352
10/30 Lecture "Mongols and the Empire of Genghis Kahn"
Reading: T&E 471-492
11/1 Section: WH Chapter 10
Paper #3 Due 11/1
Week Eleven
11/4 Lecture "World Economy in 1400"
Reading: T&E 493-516
11/6 Lecture "Renaissance, Technology and Government"
11/8 Section: WH Chapter 12; Paper topic on Chapter 12
Quiz #7
Week Twelve
11/11 Lecture "The Ottoman Triumph"
11/13 Lecture "Brave New World" –European Exploration
Reading: T&E 547-572
11/15 Section: WH Chapter 13
Quiz #8
Week Thirteen
11/18 Lecture "New Weeds & New Germs" –Ecological changes in the New World on the cusp of the European Conquest
Reading: T&E 573-600
11/20 "Religious Reformation and the Foundation of Modernity in Europe"
11/22 Section: WH Chapter 14
Paper #4 Due 11/22
Week Fourteen
11/25 Lecture "European Conquests in New and Old Worlds"
11/27 Thanksgiving Vacation!!
11/29 Thanksgiving Vacation!!
Week Fifteen
12/2 Lecture "Global Trade and World Economy" – new products and methods in 17th century trade and their effects on human demographics
12/4 Quiz 9
12/6 Quiz re-take Meet in Hannon 108
Especially for You!
Cheating is Evil!
When you lie or cheat for any reason you turn yourself into a liar and a cheater. Cheaters are bad and dishonorable people. They are placed in the tenth ditch of the eighth circle of hell in Dante's Inferno. There they are afflicted with loathsome and disgusting diseases. If you hand in someone else's work or copy someone else's work you are cheating and turning yourself into a lousy person. No grade in any class is worth becoming a bad person.
Those who are not dissuaded by moral exhortation but are caught cheating in any way will fail this class.
Dr. Neville’s Patent-Pending Draconian Late Paper Policy
Writing assignments are due at the beginning of Friday's class. You may hand in any one writing assignment late, at a time agreed upon with your instructor. No other extensions will be given. Taking extra time with your papers is unfair. As with all tasks in life, do the best job you can with the time you have. Do not hand in your assignments late. Do not even think about handing in your assignments late.
As the flesh is weak, the following procedures are in place in order to deal with the unlikely event of a late paper. No assignment handed in after the beginning of Friday's lecture will receive a grade higher than C. The following scale applies:
1 Day late: A becomes C, A- = C-, B+ = D+, B = D, B- = D-, C = F
2 Days Late: A becomes C-, A- = D+, B+ = D, B = D-, B- = F
3 Days Late: A becomes D+, A- = D, B+ = D-, B = F
4 Days Late: A becomes D, A- = D-, B+ = F
5 Days Late: A becomes D-, A- = F
No papers more than five days late will be read.
