2024-2025 Course List

The history of Europe from the Treaty of Westphalia to the eve of the French Revolution (1648-1789). Course emphasizes absolutism and constitutionalism, the construction of European empires, the scientific revolution and Enlightenment, and social and economic changes.

A history of women from Classical Greece and Rome to the modern era. An analysis of the changing concepts of gender relations within a study of women as individuals and as members of socio-economic, ethnic, kin, and religious groups.

A history of the witchcraft phenomenon in Europe from the Middle Ages to 1800. The course examines the rise and decline of the European witch hunts through the history of religion, politics, law, gender, sexuality, and social life.

England from ancient times to the death of Elizabeth I.

Political, social, and economic development of England and Great Britain since the death of Elizabeth I.

Review of French history from the Revolution of 1789 to the present, including such topics as origins and course of the Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII to Third Republic, World War I, World War II and France since 1945.

Political, economic, social, cultural, and emigration-immigration history of the Scandinavian countries, including major themes in the mass migration and history of Scandinavians in America. Emphasis on the period, 1500-present.

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This seminar course will deal with a specific aspect of European history as announced by the department.

This seminar course will deal with a specific aspect of World History as announced by the department.

A comparative history of the Chinese and Japanese nations from the 19th century to 1945.

A comparative history of the rise of the Chinese and Japanese nations from 1945 to the present.

History of relations of major East-Asian countries with the United States from the late 18th century to the present.

Investigation of historical developments across the African continent from pre-history through the eighteenth century. Topics will include ancient empires of West Africa, the Swahili coast, the spread of Islam, the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the formation of South Africa's multi-racial society.

Investigation of historical developments in Sub-Saharan Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics will include trade with Europe and America, European colonization and African resistance, life in colonial Africa, independence movements, South Africa's apartheid state and the Rwanda genocide.

This course traces the rise and fall of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires in America. Specific focus is given to the interactions between the European, African, and indigenous populations as they formulated societies in the Americas.

This course traces the history of Latin America from the late colonial period through the present as the various countries in the region attempted to transcend their colonial past and confront the pressures of modernization and globalization.

This course focuses on the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. Beginning with the foundations of Mesoamerican and Andean Culture and culminating with the conquest and subsequent colonization efforts by the Spanish, we will analyze the historical development of the great societies that emerged in the Americas. In addition, we will reexamine the arrival of the Spanish from Indigenous perspectives in order to understand the ways in which the native populations both influenced and adapted to the colonial societies that developed in Latin America.

This course examines the history of the rise and decline of piracy in the Atlantic World. We will trace the evolution of various political, economic, social and cultural aspects of piracy that emerged through an analysis of the broad historical movements occurring in the early modern era. Rather than a study of the biographies of famous pirates, this course will examine how and why Atlantic piracy became so prominent and seeks to explain its significance in changing the course of world history.

How do we define the Middle East? In our popular culture and media sources that we are exposed to daily, the Middle East is one of the more discussed and yet, one of the most misunderstood topics. Our goal is to both to unlearn misconceptions and to create an accurate representation of the region. Our class will start with an introduction to the region and its history and the misconceptions that are attached to it. It will then proceed from the late 18th century to the revolutionary events of recent years dubbed the Arab Spring and their aftermaths.

This course will examine Minnesota's social, political, and economic development from the earliest human habitation to the present.

This course will examine America's political, social, economic, and cultural development from the earliest settlement of the continent by indigenous peoples to 1763, when provincial Americans began to demand more than token equality in the British Empire.

This course will examine the social, economic, ideological, political, diplomatic, and military experiences of the United States between 1763 and 1820, in order to understand the creation of the American political nation and the culture which developed within it.

This course will discuss the social, economic, and political issues from the rise of Jackson through the beginning of the Civil War. Major issues to be covered include: Jacksonian Democracy, Industrialization, Reform, Westward Expansion, Slavery, and the 1850s.

Examines issues of slavery and conflict between the North and the South leading up to, during, and after the Civil War, and the rise of a socially and culturally diverse manufacturing society by the 1880s.