Introduction to the history of human societies from the earliest days of our species until the fifteenth century. We will be concerned with understanding large-scale patterns, generating good questions, and thinking critically about people in the past, and how their experiences and ideas continue to shape our lives today.

Introduction to the themes or issues shaping world history from the European age of discovery through the end of the Cold War. Unavoidably selective, the course focuses upon the forces of modernization and change revolutionizing traditional world cultures and resulting in the interdependent, global system of today.

What is European? In America, Europe is often thought of as a racially and culturally uniform block: racially white, politically secular, culturally Christian or post-Christian, scientifically advanced, economically privileged and domineering. This Salzburg-based course offers a different view, afforded by the medieval and modern experiences of migration.