HISTORY HIST 1370 W A01 WORLD HISTORY: 1500-1800 Instructor:

HISTORY HIST 1370 W A01
WORLD HISTORY: 1500-1800
Instructor: Henry Heller
Office: 344 University College
Office Phone: 474-9147
E-mail: [email protected]
Office hours: Thurs. 2:30-4:30 p.m. or by appointment
Fall 2010
Course Description
This half course History 1370 surveys global history from the beginning of European
expansion (1500) to the industrial revolution at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is the
first part of the history department's introductory global history offering. Its sequel is History
1380 which deals with the period from 1800 until the present. Using the expansion of the
Europeans into the rest of the world as a connecting thread, the course analyzes the civilizations
of Latin America, Africa, the Near East and Asia and the effects of European expansion on them.
Course Format
The course will be based on lectures and some films. Regular attendance is required.
Term Work and Final Examination
Two 2000 word essays (20 % each) due 29 October and 3 December respectively
Term Test (20%) 20 October
Final Exam (40%) Scheduled by Registrar’s Office
Late class work can only be submitted with the consent of the instructor.
Keep copies of all work.
Evaluative feedback will be provided prior to the voluntary withdrawal date, 17 November
2010.
Grade Distribution
A+
A
B+
B
(100-90)
(89-80)
(79-75)
(74-67)
C+
C
D
F
(66-60)
(59-51)
(50-40)
(39-0)
Students who wish to appeal a grade given for term work must do so within 10 working days
after the grade for the term work has been made available to them. Uncollected term work will
become the property of the Faculty of Arts and will be subject to confidential destruction.
Since this is a course that meets the University Senate's W requirement, students
must complete all essay assignments with a passing grade to pass the course.
Academic Dishonesty
Students should familiarize themselves with the University’s policy on plagiarism and academic
honesty found in the University of Manitoba Undergraduate Calendar 2010-2011, pp 27-28.
Faculty of Arts penalties for academic dishonesty include the following, which can be found at
http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/media/Arts_Academic_Integrity_2009.pdf :
Penalties for Academic Dishonesty
The common penalty in Arts for plagiarism on a written assignment is a grade of F on the
paper and a final grade of F (CW) (for Compulsory Withdrawal) for the course. For the most
serious acts of plagiarism, such as purchase of an essay and repeat violations, this penalty can
also include suspension for a period of up to five (5) years from registration in courses taught
in a particular department/program in Arts or from all courses taught in this Faculty. The
Faculty also reserves the right to submit student work that is suspected of being plagiarized to
Internet sites designed to detect plagiarism or to other experts for authentication.
The common penalty in Arts for academic dishonesty on a test or examination is F for the
paper, F (CW) for the course, and a one-year suspension from courses acceptable for credit in
the Faculty. For more serious acts of academic dishonesty on a test or examination, such as
repeat violations, this penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five years from
registration in courses taught in a particular department or program in Arts or from all courses
taught in or accepted for credit by this Faculty.
Textbooks
Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative
(Rowman & Littlefield)
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (Cambridge)
Bartholomé de las Casas, Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Penguin)
Olaudeh Equiano, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equaino (Penguin)
Confucius, The Analects (Penguin)
Writing the Two Essays:
The two essays deal with the issue of tradition versus change. Tradition is defined as the
reproduction of existing cultural practices. Has change in the sense of European initiated
modernization necessarily been a good thing for the peoples of the world? Such modernization
would include the development of the bureaucratic state, industrialization, science, and
individualism. There are some scholars who argue that, despite upheaval, on balance such
change has been positive. Other scholars, to the contrary, argue that European based
modernization has been an ecological and social disaster. These scholars have pointed out that
most of the world’s population is in worse shape in 2001 than it was in 1491. While no definitive
answer to this question can be reached through assessing the assigned texts, I would hope that
the analysis of them would enable the student to draw some fair-minded conclusions.
The first essay of 2000 words asks you to compare and contrast two very influential
works, Confucius’ Analects and Machiavelli's Prince. Confucius’ Analects is one of the
founding documents of the millennia old Chinese civilization the largest and most powerful of
the civilizations with which we will be dealing. Confucius was the basis of Chinese elite
education in the period 1500-1800. The Italian Machiavelli wrote at the beginning of the period
1500-1800. In the Prince he harks back to teaching and examples based on the Ancient World.
In fact, his work embodies a radically new view of politics based on individualism and
rationality.
The second essay, likewise, 2000 words, asks you to consider two actual accounts of
European encounters with the third world. Machiavelli's contemporary Las Casas, likewise a
sincere Catholic, was an eyewitness to the Spanish Conquest of Latin America. Profoundly
attached to the notion of harmony based on natural and divine law he was horrified at the
treatment of the indigenous populations of the New World. Equiano was a product of traditional
West African society. Taken captive as a slave his life was torn up by the roots as he attempted
to survive in the brutal world of eighteenth century colonialism and slavery.
Deal with the themes of the value of tradition and change as they relate to the respective
authors’ treatment of such themes as a. family, b. money and private property, c. religion, d.war
and aggression, e. foreigners, f. law, authority and government, g. social inequality and slavery,
h. the status of women.
The text book can help you to get a certain perspective on the value of modernization
versus tradition. Further insight into Confucianism can be gleaned from a short article on the
subject in Encyclopaedia of Asian History ed. Ainslie T. Embree (New York, 1988), Dafoe
Library Reference DS 31 E53.
On Las Casas see short articles "Las Casas, Bartolomé de","Indians" in Encyclopaedia of
Latin American History and Culture ed. Barbara Tenenbaum (New York, 1996) Dafoe Library
Reference F 1406 E53 1996 and "Espanola", "Tainos", "Las Casas" in The Christopher
Columbus Encyclopedia ed. Silvio A. Bedini (New York, 1991), Dafoe Library Reference E111
C774. On Machiavelli see Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, ed. Paul F. Grendler (NY, 1999),
Vol. VI, 1-15, reference CB 361 E52 1999.
On Equaino see http://lioness.cm.utexas.edu/I-files/Igbo.dir/equiano.htm.
An invaluable resource for writing and researching history is: Research and Writing
Resources for History, www.indiana.edu/~histweb/seminars/index.html .
N.B. A history is a narrative, account or book. It is not a novel.
Examinations
A set of Review questions appears below. These will form the basis of both the term test (Oct.
17) and the final examination (scheduled by Registrar). The term test will be based on
answering two out of a choice of seven questions. The final will be based on a choice of three of
nine questions covering the whole term's work (65% of the exam mark).
The other 35% of the mark on the final examination is based on an obligatory question:
"Compare Marks' and Heller's account of the reasons behind the emergence of the
West's economic and military superiority. Which is more persuasive in your informed
opinion?"
Review Questions: History 1370
What are the characteristics of a civilization? Enumerate the civilizations flourishing in 1500.
1. Why was the fall of Constantinople in 1453 a significant event?
2. The Portuguese Empire was essentially a merchant enterprise, that of the Spaniards an affair
of soldiers and priests. Explain the difference.
3. The Spaniards destroyed the Aztec and Inca Empires with surprising ease. How was this
possible?
4. Charles V (1516-56) attempted to use the Spanish Empire to recreate the Roman Empire?
Why did he fail?
5. By the end of the sixteenth century, Europe was made up of a set of rival territorial states on
a more or less permanent war footing. Was this a good or bad thing?
6. “Luther hatched the egg laid by Erasmus.” Explain
7. The challenge of the Reformation was met by the Catholic Counter-Reformation Discuss.
8. What were the reasons behind the Dutch Revolt?
9. Briefly outline the steps toward the emergence of a strong French monarchy in the early
modern period.
10. ‘Louis XIV, like the Spanish Hapsburgs, aspired to dominate all of Europe. The spoiler in
each case was England.’ Explain.
11. Explain the context of the English revolution and civil war of the seventeenth century.
12. Mehmed I was the true founder of the Ottoman Empire. Discuss.
13. Discuss the role of Jews and Greeks within the Ottoman Empire.
14. Explain the decay of the Ottoman Empire.
15. “The survival of ancient Hindu culture was above due to the localized nature of social
organization in Indian life.”
16. Why did social dissent almost always assume a religious form in Indian history?
17. Account for the decline of the Mughal Empire.
18. How were the English able to conquer India?
19. What were the consequences of the English conquest of India?
20. “In comparison to the bureaucracies of the Russian, Ottoman, Moghul and most European
states, the Chinese bureaucracy was highly effective.” Discuss.
21. Why did the Chinese elite distrust merchant activity? Explain and illustrate.
22. Explain the collapse of the Ming dynasty and its replacement by the Ching?
23. The Ching dynasty entered a crisis at the end of the eighteenth century? Explain the source
of the difficulties.
24. “The economic expansion of Europe in the eighteenth century was based on African
slavery.” Discuss.
25. Discuss the growing economic and military superiority of the European powers over nonEuropean states evident in the eighteenth century.
26. What were the effects of the slave trade on Africa? On Europe?
27. “The French Revolution followed from the ideas of the Enlightenment that preceded it.”
28. What were the causes of the French Revolution?
29. What were the causes of the Industrial Revolution?
30. “In certain respects, the revolution in Haiti was the most profound of the three great
revolutions of the late eighteenth century.” Discuss.