HIST 3352 - Empires in the Modern Age: Conquest, Trade, Borderlands, and Identities in an Era of Global Change

This course examines the rise of empires and imperial states since 1500; the political, economic, and cultural systems created within empires; the causes of imperial weakness and failure; and the applicability of concepts of empire for understanding the world today. Where possible, students will be introduced to data analysis involving the intensification and diminution of aspects of imperial spread (geographic, economic, and demographic). Significant time is devoted to visualization of the cultural interchange between imperial center and peripheries. The course focuses on the empires with metropoles in western and central Europe, but other empires in Eurasia will also be considered. At the end of the semester students will make oral and visual presentations based on original research. 3 credits.