Course Description
An exploration of the world in the year 1000, focusing on the emergence of long-distance trade networks and cultural connections. Topics include the Viking trans-Atlantic voyages, Chinese traders crossing the Indian Ocean, Mayan expansion in Mesoamerica, flows of gold from West Africa, and Islam on the Silk Road.
Athena Title
The Medieval Globe
Pre or Corequisite
One course in HIST or SOCI or POLS or INTL or RELI or FYOS or GEOG or CHNS or INDO or AFST
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to: - Expand their understanding of the medieval world beyond Western Europe, to include East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, the Islamic world, Africa, and the Americas; - Understand the larger commercial and religious connections among medieval civilizations in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas; - Describe how trade in luxury goods and flows of precious metals connected societies and produced similar patterns of conspicuous consumption amongst their elites; - Identify the main religious currents in the medieval world: Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity; and - Explain how the origins of globalization reached far back into the medieval past.
Topical Outline
1. Viking Trans-Atlantic Voyages: From Scandinavia to North America 2. Pan-American Highways: The Mayan and Cahokia Trade Networks 3. Viking Slave Traders: The Rus and the Christianization of Eastern Europe 4. Trans-Saharan Gold Routes: Mansa Musa’s Haj from Ghana to Mecca 5. Silk Route Empires: Islamic Dynasties and Nomadic Conquerors 6. Indian Ocean Trade Circuits: Chinese, Arab, and Indian Merchants 7. The World’s Most Globalized Place: Song-dynasty China