500 years ago, most people had little contact with, awareness of, or impact beyond a tiny, nearby group of people. Today, germs, technology, and news make us all connected. If globalization is a historical process, How did it happen? Was it inevitable? Is it reversible?
Our six sessions will look at the connection and movement of people, things, ideas, and conceptions of the world and explore them in chronological development from the earliest days of humanity to the 21st Century.
Week 1: Introduction
a. What will we talk about in this course?
b. How can we define globalization?
c. What are its components?: Trade, migration, travel, movement of goods and ideas
d. How did people think of the world?
Week 2: Pre-modern (before ~1500) Interconnections
a. How did humans globalize?
b. How did groups of people connect?
c. How did people think of the world?
Week 3: Exploration and Early European Empires (~1400-1800)
a. Who went where and why
b. Guns, germs, gold, and god
Week 4: Industrializing Western Empires (~1800-1914)
a. Machine Age
b. Capitalism and Global Markets
Week 5: Reversal and Restart (~1914-2001)
a. Three World Wars
b. End of Empire
c. Pax Americana
d. Asian Renaissance
Week 6: A Globalized World (~2001-2021 and beyond)
a. Trade and Travel
b. Ideas and Institutions
c. Communications and Culture
d. The End of the Beginning
