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| In Progress |
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This is the periodization for this couse.
| Era |
Significant Indicators |
| Emergence (50,000 to 5,500 BP) |
- Global Climate Change: This era is marked by dramatic climatic change as the Ice Ages ended and our current state of global warming began. We will examine how humans made the transition between the cold conditions of the Pleistocene 'Ice Ages' and the warmer conditions of the Holocene approximately 12,000 years ago.
- Adaptive Strategies: Humans need to compensate for a lack of long claws, sharp teeth, and thick fur by making tools and weapons and wearing clothing. Through the use of intellectual abilities, humans were able to implement a wide-variety of adaptive strategies that would allow them to exploit new environmental conditions. These abilities to adapt to new ecological settings were a pre-requisite for humans colonizing the planet as they migrated around the world.
- Global Migrations: through successfully experimentations with adaptive strategies, humans were able to migrate into a wide-variety of new ecological conditions as they migrated around the world.
- Biological Inequalities: although this period is marked by a number of significant environmental and climatic changes, we will primarily concern ourselves with the implications of the distribution of plant and animals species at the end of the Last Ice Age. As part of this investigation, we will examine the divergent paths of development that occurred between species after the separation of Pangaea, and the megafauna extinctions that occurred around 46,000 years ago in Australia and around 14,000 years ago in the Americas.
- Era of Domestication: although the transition to warmer conditions was not always smooth during the early Holocene period, humans discovered new ways to extract energy from plants and animals through the process of domestication (10,000 to 5,000 years ago).
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| Formation (3,500 to 500 BCE) |
- Secondary Agriculture: during the mid-Holocene, as climatic conditions continued to stabilize, human populations, especially in Eurasia, began to use animals for transportation and as sources of power and plants as commercial products, such as textiles, dyes, spices, and oils. This had a significant impact on the development of long-distance commercial networks.
- Cities and States: it is unclear whether or not agriculture resulted in populations expanding or if population pressure resulted in more people adopting agriculture. However, the result was that more people began to live in closer proximity. Eventually, these communities gave rise to early cities and the development of complex societies.
- Ethics and Justice: as populations expanded, it became necessary to experiment in new forms of political and social organization, such as creating laws, ideas of kingship, and the use of state religions as means of control.
- Early Urban and Commercial Networks: through a combination of local developments and cultural diffusion, new systems of interaction began to connect greater expanses of territory.
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| Expansion (500 BCE to 1000 CE) |
- Large, Regional Empires: during this era, the appearance of the first, large-scale empires began to emerge as states attempted to consolidate vast amounts of territory under a single umbrella of political and military control.
- Axial Age and Elite Culture: most likely due to the insecurity and radical changes caused by increasing numbers of people living in close proximity, it appears that many people began to question their existences and the deeper meaning of life. Based on the new social realities and an increase in the exchange of ideas, many must have concluded that the old explanations were inadequate because this period marks the foundations of most of the world's major religious traditions. Also, many of the dominant philosophical worldviews and prevailing literati traditions trace their roots back to this era.
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| Integration (1000 to 1750 CE) |
- Interregional, Hemispheric, and Global Systems: during this time, the bonds of interaction began to intensify as improvements in communication and transportation systems allowed from more people than ever before to look beyond their local and regional identities.
- Our course will end approximately during the 13th century.
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| Fusion (1750 CE to present) |
- Industrialization: even though this is beyond the scope of our course, this era was marked by the processes of industrialization as new sources of power were harnessed.
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Week 1: Classroom Foundations/Historiography
Week 2: Discovering about the Past: Time/Place/Event
Week 3: Discovering about the Past: Methods/Theories/Approaches |
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Week 4: Upper Paleolithic Revolution (HGB) and Global Migrations during the Pleistocene Ice Ages [Upper Paleolithic Intellectual Developments / Global Climate Fluctuations / Mega-fauna Extinctions / Human Genome Project]
Week 5: Global Migrations during late Pleistocene/early Holocene and Evolving Ecological Landscapes [Case Studies: The Americas/ Comparing Flood Narratives]
Week 6: Agricultural Evolution (Primary Agriculture: Early Holocene/ Secondary Agriculture: Mid-Holocene) and Formation of Biological Packages |
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Week 7: Introduction to World Systems Theory / Systems Analysis Model
Week 8: Comparing Migrations: Poratble Biological Packages, Technological Innovations, and Social Adaptations [Indo-Europeans, Bantus, and/or Polynesians] / The Rise of Pastoral Nomadic Societies (Horse Cultures) in Central Eurasia
Week 9: Mid-Holocene Climate Change (Monsoons and Desiccation) and the Development of Complex Societies in Afro-Eurasia (Bronze Age Network: Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Harappa)
Week 10: Experiments in Social Organization in Bronze Age Afro-Eurasia: Ethics and Justice [Mesopotamia (Hamurabi), Egypt (Akhenaton), and Harappa]
Quarter 2:
Week 11: Mid-Holocene Climate Change (El Niño) and the Development of Complex Societies in the Americas [Andean (Norte Chico) and Mesoamerica (Olmec)]
Week 12: The growth of urban and commercial networks in the Irano-Mediterranean World/ Eastern Central Eurasia and the ‘Geographic Isolation’ of Bronze Age China (Steppe Roads and Central Asian Mummies)
Week 13: Crisis, encounters and transformations during the 2nd Millennium BCE: Chariot Warfare and Epic Heroes [Mycenaean (Iliad), Aryans (Rig Veda), and Shang China (Mandate of Heaven)] |
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Week 14: Consolidation of the Irano-Mediterranean World: Achaemenid Persia
Week 15: Reaction from a Mediterranean Society: The Greeks
Week 16: Core-Periphery Struggles: Greco-Persian Wars / Hellenistic Syncretism
Week 17: Religion and Politics in the Indo-Malay World: Mauryan Empire and Indian Religious Traditions (the formation of Hindu-Buddhist culture)
Week 18: Expansion of Hindu-Buddhist culture in the Indo-Malay World / Unification of China
Week 19: Qin-Han China and the institutionalization of Chinese Philosophical Traditions
Week 20: Consolidation of the Irano-Mediterranean World: Rome / Reactions from outside societies: Germans and the Parthians
Quarter 3:
Week 21: Comparing Hegemonies: Han China and Imperial Rome / Silk Road
Week 22: Abrahamic Tradition: Christianity
Week 23: Classical Worlds of the Americas
Week 24: Abrahamic Tradition: Islam
Week 25: Islam: The First Global Civilization
Week 26: Christian Society in Western Eurasia |
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Week 27: Ideological Conflict: The Crusades / Europe Reconnects
Week 28: States and Societies of Sub-Saharan Africa
Week 29: Expanding Commercial and Religious Networks: Trans-Saharan (Salt-Gold) Trade / Swahili Coast
Week 30: Postclassical Societies of the Americas: Interconnections between traditional centers (Mesoamerica and the Andes) and new ones (Amazon-Caribbean, American Southwest and the Eastern Woodlands)
Quarter 4:
Week 31: Trade Networks of the Americas: Turquoise Roads / Greater Amazonia
Week 32: Rise of Turko-Mongolian Culture (Chinnghis Khan)
Week 33: Decline of Turko-Mongolian Culture (Kublai Khan) / Legacies: Tsarist Russia, Shogun Japan, and Mughal India
Week 34: Silk Roads
Week 35: Silk Roads [Marco Polo]
Week 36: Indian Ocean Maritime Trade Network
Week 37: Indian Ocean Maritime Trade Network [Zheng He]
Week 38: Thirteenth Century World System [Ibn Battuta]
Week 39: Thirteenth Century World System [Plague] / [The Coming of Columbus] |
Although this course ends around the 13th century, this periodization (the Integration Phase) continues until approxiamtely 1750 witht the development of the Industrial Revolution. Also, the final unit would be the Fusion Phase from 1750 to the present. |
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