San Francisco State University Spring 2014 World History to 1500 HIST 114 [03] Dr. Dennis Campbell Class Meeting: Tuesday/Thursday 9:35 10:50 Room: HSS 310 Email: drcampbe@sfsu.edu Office: Science 267B Office Hours: Thursdays 2:00 4:00 pm and by appointment Department of History: Science Building, 2 nd Floor: http://history.sfsu.edu 415.338.1604 Course Description This course will explore the history of the World up to A.D. 1500. We will explore various institutions, cultural, political, and religious that occurred in the major regions of the world: the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas in order to determine how they developed in these areas. Primary sources that demonstrate the range of historical sources available to historians of the ancient and pre- modern world will be discussed. ilearn ilearn.sfsu.edu Students should refer to the ilearn page for an online version of this syllabus with live links to the primary documents and web resources, including pdfs and other readings. If you are enrolled in the class, you are automatically enrolled in the ilearn online course version. Use your SFSU email and password for access. Attendance Class attendance is seen as essential in order for you to comprehend the material. Attendance will be taken regularly. You are allowed four unexcused absences. The fifth absence, and all subsequent ones, will result in a lowering of your final grade by - 1 points per class missed. If you are going to miss class, you must inform the instructor before the class. Students are expected to attend all classes and read the assignments so as to be prepared for class discussion. Experience shows that there is a direct relation between attendance and performance in the course. Required texts Textbook:
von Sivers, Peter, Charles A. Desnoyers, George B. Stow. Patterns of World History. Volume 1: To 1600. Oxford, 2012 Primary sources: Davies, Sioned. The Mabinogion. Oxford, 2007. Fadlān, Ibn. Ibn Fadlān and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North. Penguin Books, 2012. Kahn, Paul. The Secret Histories of the Mongols: The Origin of Chingis Khan. Cheng & Tsui Company, 1988. Procopius. The Secret History. Penguin Books, 2007. Paper: There will be one paper assignment for this course. The paper is to be submitted through ilearn. Basic guidelines: 1. Papers are to be 5-7 pages long. 2. Papers are to be double space, using 11 or 12 point font, and a Unicode font (e.g. Times New Roman) 3. Papers are to be submitted as either:.doc,.docx., or.pdf files. 4. Grading rubric will be posted on ilearn this will explain how the papers will be graded 5. Proofreading is necessary! Spelling and grammar are important aspects of writing and necessary for ensuring that your work is comprehensible. I provide an allowance for some minimal spelling and grammatical errors, but points will be deducted if there are too many. Paper Topic: Since this is a broad survey covering the early history of the entire world, for this paper assignment I want you to take some aspect of one civilization and compare/contrast it to another. For example, you can look at the development of writing in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and compare it to the development of writing in the Americas or China. You can look at things such as kings, trade, religion, etc. You are to include: 1. an introductory paragraph giving a brief overview of what you are writing and a thesis statement. 2. Several paragraphs in the body of the text: describe the aspect of civilization within each of the two areas you are looking at separately; then compare and contrast them how are they similar? how are they different? what do you think makes them similar/different? 3. A conclusion 4. A bibliography you must include at least three book sources from the library; to this you can include online sources (but not Wikipedia!) Quizzes: There will a total of six (6) quizzes over the semester. These will be short, approximately 15 20 multiple choice questions. These quizzes will be given at the start of class on the following Thursdays:
Feb. 6, Feb. 20, March 20, April 10, May 1, and May 15. The lowest grade of the quizzes will be dropped. Questions from the quizzes will be directly used on the exams. You will not be able to make up the quizzes. Exams: There will be three exams: exam 1 (March 4, Week 6); exam 2 (April 22, Week 12); exam 3 (May 22; finals week). The exams will consist of multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blanks, short identifications and a short essay. The first two exams will not be cumulative. The third exam during finals period will be (information will be given closer to the time of the exam). You are to provide a blue or green book for the exam. These can be purchased at the campus bookstore. Extra credit projects will likely be made available. Course Grading 20% Paper 20% Quizzes 20% Exam 1 20% Exam 2 20% Exam 3 Assignment Weight Due Date Paper 20% March 20 Quizzes 20% (6 total; see course schedule) Exam 1 20% March 4 Exam 2 20% April 22 Exam 3 20% May 22 Class Policies/Essential Information Add/Drop It is the student s responsibility to pay close attention the university s add/drop deadlines. Late Work I understand that sometimes assignments are forgotten and I strongly encourage students to submit work even if late. The amount of points deducted from tardy assignments will be on a sliding scale. I will take points off for late work. Late papers, work, etc.: Please do not submit a hardcopy of the paper. Late papers and assignments can be submitted through ilearn. Important deadlines for Fall Semester 2013 Last day to add class with permit number: February 7
Last day to drop classes: Last day to add classes by exception: Last day to request CR/NC Grading option: February 7 February 7 March 21 Electronic devices Due to the pervasiveness of small, handheld electronics, I ask that all cell phones, pagers (does anybody still have these besides doctors?), palms, mp3 players, etc. be turned off during class. Please don t think that I can t see you texting it s actually pretty obvious. Laptops can be used in class. All students using laptops are asked to sit towards the back of the class so as not to disturb other students. Cheating and Plagiarism Cheating is the actual or attempted practice of fraudulent or deceptive acts for the purpose of improving one s grade or obtaining course credit; such acts also include assisting another student to do so. Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating which consists of the misuse of the published and/or unpublished works of others by misrepresenting the material so used as one s own work. Plagiarism includes borrowing ideas and quotations from books, articles and websites. If you are unsure if you are plagiarizing something, check with me and we will discuss the issue and how to better cite material. Ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism is not a defense against it. Penalties for plagiarism range from a 0/F for an assignment, for the course, and even expulsion from the University. For more information on SFSU s policies on cheating and plagiarism, refer to the University Catalog (Policies and Regulations). Disability statement policy Students with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact the instructor. The Disability Programs and Research Center (DPRC) is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process. The DPRC is located in the Student Service Building and can be reached by telephone (voice/tty 415-338- 2472) or by email (dprc@sfsu.edu). Extra help Students are encouraged to seek help from the professor and/or free tutoring and writing assistance at the Learning Assistance Center (http://www.sfsu.edu/~lac/) and from the Campus Academic Resource Program, or CARP (http://www.sfsu.edu/~carp1).
Class Schedule Week 1: (January 28, 30) Tuesday: Introduction; Syllabus Thursday: Human Prehistory Hominin development Read: Patterns: Chapter 1 Week 2 (February 4, 6) Tuesday: Neolithic and the development of agriculture and cities in the Middle East (Mesopotamia) Read: Patterns pp. 35-47 Thursday: Development of writing; ancient Egypt; Late Bronze Age Empires Read: Patterns pp. 47-57 Procopius Introduction; 1-60 (stop at [15]) Quiz 1 Week 3 (February 11, 13) Tuesday: the end of the Bronze Age; the Assyrian Empire Read: Patterns pp. 57-67 Thursday: Ancient Persia and Ancient Greece Read: Patterns pp. 199-207 Procopius Introduction; pp. 61-124 Week 4 (February 18, 20) Tuesday: Ancient India Read: Patterns Chapter 3 Thursday: Ancient China (Mandate of Heaven) Read: Patterns Chapter 4 Quiz 2 Week 5 (February 25, 27) Tuesday: early prehistory of the Americas Read: Patterns Chapter 5 Thursday: Oceania and Australia Read: Patterns pp. 150-157 Ibn Fadlan Introduction; pp. 3-58 Week 6 (March 4, 6)
Tuesday: Exam 1 Thursday: No Class! Week 7 (March 11, 13) Tuesday: Chiefdoms and early States in Africa Read: Patterns pp. 160-176 Thursday: Central and South America the Maya, Moche, and Nazca Read: Patterns pp. 177-193 Ibn Fadlan Introduction; pp. 61-92; 99-110; 192-199 Week 8 (March 18, 20) Tuesday: Alexander the Great and the birth of Monotheism Read: Patterns 205-207, 218-228 Thursday: Rise of Rome Read: Patterns 207-211 Mabinogion Introduction; pp. 3-64 Quiz 3 Paper due! March 25, 27 Spring Break! Week 9 (April 1, 3) Tuesday: The Roman Empire Thursday: Empires in India Read: Patterns Chapter 8 Mabinogion Introduction; pp. 65-110; 116-138 Week 10 (April 8, 10) Tuesday: China Qin and Han Dynasties Read: Patterns Chapter 9 Thursday: Byzantium and the birth of Islam Read: Patterns Chapter 10 Quiz 4 Week 11 (April 15, 17) Tuesday: Islamic Empires- Umayyad and Abbasid Empires
Read: Patterns Chapter 10 Thursday: Christianity and early Medieval Europe Read: Patterns Chapter 11 Secret History of the Mongols Introduction; pp. 3-68 (End before paragraph beginning During that same Dog Year ) Week 12 (April 22, 24) Tuesday: Exam 2 Thursday: India and Islam Read: Patterns pp. 380-390 Week 13 (April 29, May 1) Tuesday: China to 1450 Read: Patterns pp. 391-414 Secret History of the Mongols Introduction; pp. 68-113 Thursday: Korea, Japan, Vietnam Read: Patterns Chapter 13 Secret History of the Mongols Introduction; pp. 114-190 Quiz 5 Week 14 (May 6, 8) Tuesday: State Formation in Africa Read: Patterns Chapter 14 Thursday: Mexico Late Mayans, Aztec Read: Patterns Chapter 15, Chapter 18 Week 15 (May 13, 15) Tuesday: Peru the Inca Read: Patterns Chapter 15, Chapter 18 Thursday: The Ottomans Read Patterns Chapter 16 Quiz 6 Final May 22 8 10:30 AM