HIST 3440 - Africa in World History

This course examines Africa’s global relationships from early times to around 1800. We will begin by exploring Africa's commercial and religious connections to the Trans-Saharan, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean worlds. Next, we will look at social, political, and ritual life in precolonial Africa, focusing on the diverse sources that scholars use to understand Africa's distant past, including material culture, ritual, and language. Finally, we will conclude the course by studying the origins of the Atlantic slave trade and its impact on Africa and the world.