This page allows you to search a particular semester's course offerings in History and filter them by Major/Minor requirement. We also invite you to explore Penn History courses on the Pathways App. This fun, game-like platform allows you to see connections between History courses, so that you can better sequence them. It also encourages you to ask “how can History help us answer big questions?” Give it a try!

Title Instructors Location Time Description Cross listings Fulfills Registration notes Major Concentrations Major/Minor Requirements Fulfilled
HIST 011-001 Deciphering America Walter Licht
Kathleen M Brown 		COLL 200 MW 12:00 PM-01:00 PM This course examines American history from the first contacts of the indigenous peoples of North America with European settlers to our own times by focusing on a few telling moments in this history. The course treats twelve of these moments. Each unit begins with a specific primary document, historical figure, image, location, year, or cultural artifact to commence the delving into the American past. Some of these icons are familiar, but the ensuing deciphering will render them as more complicated; some are unfamiliar, but they will emerge as absolutely telling. The course meets each week for two 50-minute team-taught lectures and once recitation session. Course requirements include: in-class midterm and final exams; three short paper assignments; and punctual attendance and participation in recitations. History & Tradition Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US 		Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below) 		American pre-1800, US
HIST 024-401 Intro To Anc Near East Grant Frame WILL 421 MW 10:00 AM-11:00 AM See primary department (NELC) for a complete course description. ANCH025401, NELC101401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis 		Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below) 		https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST024401 World Africa/Middle East, pre-1800
HIST 026-401 Ancient Greece Jeremy James Mcinerney ARCH 208 MW 12:00 PM-01:00 PM See primary department (ANCH) for a complete course description. ANCH026401, CLST026401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis 		Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below) 		European Europe, pre-1800
HIST 040-001 Early Mod Eur 1450-1750 Thomas M. Safley TR 03:00 PM-04:30 PM This course examines those European developments which contributed to the world we understand as modern. Special emphasis will be placed on the transformation of Europe through the advent of new technologies, the creation of a global economy, the consolidation of territorial states, the rise of effective, central governments, the dissolution of religious unity, and the dialect between modern and traditional world views. History & Tradition Sector Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST040001 European Europe, pre-1800
HIST 070-401 Colonial Latin America Marcia Susan Norton MCNB 286-7 MW 11:00 AM-12:00 PM The year 1492 was pivotal in the history of the world. It precipitated huge population movements within the Americas and across the Atlantic - a majority of them involuntary as in the case of indigenous and African people who were kidnapped and enslaved. It led to cataclysmic cultural upheavals, including the formation of new cultures in spaces inhabited by people of African, European and indigenous descent. This course explores the processes of destruction and creation in the region known today as Latin America in the period 1400 - 1800. Class readings are primary sources and provide opportunities to learn methods of source analysis in contexts marked by radically asymmetrical power relationships. LALS070401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis 		Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below) 		World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800
HIST 118-401 Witchcraft & Possession Robert St.George COLL 314 MW 01:00 PM-02:00 PM This course explores world witchcraft and possession from the persecutions of the early seventeenth century through the rise of Wicca in the twentieth century. The mere mention of these terms, or of such close cousins as demonology, sorcery, exorcism, magic, and the witches Sabbath, raises clear ethnographic and historical challenges. How can the analysis of witchcraft-- including beliefs, patterns of accusation, the general social position of victims, the intensity and timing of witch hunts, and its relation to religious practice, law, language, gender, social marginalization, and property--lead us to a more humane understanding of belief and action? Films such as The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project, The Crucible, and Three Sovereigns for Sarah will focus discussion. ANTH118401, GSWS119401, RELS109401 Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Humanities & Social Science Sector
Registration also required for Recitation (see below) 		American, European Europe, pre-1800, US
HIST 143-401 Foundations of European Thought: From Rome To the Renaissance Ann Elizabeth Moyer COLL 314 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM This course offers an introduction to the world of thought and learning at the heart of European culture, from the Romans through the Renaissance. We begin with the ancient Mediterranean and the formation of Christianity and trace its transformation into European society. Along the way we will examine the rise of universities and institutions for learning, and follow the humanist movement in rediscovering and redefining the ancients in the modern world. COML143401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis 		Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST143401 European, Intellectual Europe, pre-1800
HIST 148-401 Warriors,Concubines,And Converts: the Ottoman Empire in the Mid East & Euro Oscar Aguirre Mandujano COLL 314 TR 03:00 PM-04:30 PM For almost six hundred years, the Ottomans ruled most of the Balkans and the Middle East. From their bases in Anatolia, Ottoman armies advanced into the Balkans, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, constantly challenging the borders of neighboring European and Islamicate empires. By the end of the seventeenth century, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Cairo, Baghdad, Sarajevo, Budapest, and nearly Vienna came under Ottoman rule. As the empire expanded into Europe and the Middle East, the balance of imperial power shifted from warriors to converts, concubines, and intellectuals. This course examines the expansion of the Ottoman sultanate from a local principality into a sprawling empire with a sophisticated bureaucracy; it also investigates the social, cultural, and intellectual developments that accompanied the long arc of the empire's rise and fall. By the end of the course, students will be able to identify and discuss major currents of change in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. The student will have a better understanding of the roles of power, ideology, diplomacy, and gender in the construction of empire and a refined appreciation for diverse techniques of historical analysis. NELC148401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis 		Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. European, World Africa/Middle East, Europe, pre-1800
HIST 168-401 Hist of Amer Law To 1877 Sarah L. H. Gronningsater CHEM B13 TR 01:30 PM-03:00 PM The course surveys the development of law in the U.S. to 1877, including such subjects as: the evolution of the legal profession, the transformation of English law during the American Revolution, the making and implementation of the Constitution, and issues concerning business and economic development, the law of slavery, the status of women, and civil rights. AFRC168401 Cultural Diversity in the US Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. American, Intellectual pre-1800, US
HIST 176-401 Afro Amer Hist Mia E Bay COLL 314 MW 05:00 PM-06:30 PM This course will study the history of Afro-Americans from their first encounter with Europeans in the 16th century to emancipation during the Civil War. The course will concentrate on the variety of black responses to capture, enslavement, and forced acculturation in the New World. The difference in the slave experience of various New World countries, and the methods of black resistance and rebellion to varied slave systems will be investigated. The nature and role of the free black communities in antebellum America will also be studied. AFRC176401 History & Tradition Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US 		Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST176401 American pre-1800, US
HIST 187-401 Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Roquinaldo Ferreira COLL 314 TR 06:30 PM-08:00 PM This course focuses on the history of selected African societies from the sixteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. The primary goal is to study the political, economic, social, and cultural history of a number of peoples who participated in the Atlantic slave trade or were touched by it during the era of their involvement. The course is designed to serve as an introduction to the history and culture of African peoples who entered the diaspora during the era of the slave trade. Its audience is students interested in the history of Africa, the African diaspora, and the Atlantic world, as well as those who want to learn about the history of the slave trade. Case studies will include the Yoruba, Akan, and Fon, as well as Senegambian and West-central African peoples. AFRC186401 Cross Cultural Analysis Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. World Africa/Middle East, pre-1800
HIST 216-301 History of Private Life in China Si-Yen Fei VANP 526 M 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Benjamin Franklin Seminars https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST216301 Gender, World East/South Asia, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 230-302 War and Conquest in Medieval Europe Ada M Kuskowski BENN 224 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM This course will focus on wars of conquest in the medieval period. The code of chivalry demanded that knights not only display great prowess in battle, but also adhere to Christian virtue. How did these square in practice? What constitutes acceptable violence and military intervention? We will seek to understand the medieval mentality of warfare in order to think about the place of war in society, how war was justified, why war was fought, and how it was fought. War, however, cannot be separated from its goals. We will thus go beyond the battlefield to look at how conquest of territories was cemented with the establishment and enforcement of a new order. Themes will include the rise of knighthood, ideas of just war, crusade, laws of war, territorial control and colonization. The course will also include two fabulous field trips to visit Penn’s manuscript collection and the arms and armor collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. European, Intellectual Europe, pre-1800, Research, Seminar
HIST 230-401 Reflections On the Jewish Historical Experience David B. Ruderman DRLB 4C4 W 03:30 PM-06:30 PM Tour the Jewish world from the 15th century to the present with Professor Ruderman, as he teaches his final seminar at Penn after a forty-five-year scholarly career! This course will give students the opportunity to read, think, and debate some of the major themes in Jewish intellectual and cultural history, including: Jewish cultural formation in Renaissance and Baroque Italy; The history of Jewish-Christian interactions in early modern and modern Europe; the Jewish engagement in medicine, science, and the natural world in the age of “scientific revolution”; the periodization of Jewish history in the early modern period; the messianic idea in Judaism; and the dialectical relationship of memory and history in Jewish culture. The seminar will devote time to reading and discussing some of the major historical treatments of these subjects as well as a limited selection of primary sources in English translation that illuminate these larger themes. JWST230401 European, Intellectual, Jewish, World Africa/Middle East, Europe, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 231-301 Life Stories in America, 1730-1830 Robert St.George COLL 311A R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM This seminar explores the social and cultural history of early America by focusing on the lives of specific individuals, ranging from Jesuit priests in early Quebec to Philadelphia politicians to Saramaka slaves to Maine midwives. As we critically examine biography and autobiography as two of history's most powerful narrative frames, we will concentrate on the spaces and places in the social landscape that shaped individual understandings of work, sense of self, gender, beliefs, and political power, and why. Hist 231- Life Stories in Early America, 1730-1830 2.pdf92.23 KB https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST231301 American pre-1800, Seminar, US
HIST 233-402 Indigenous History of Mexico From the Aztecs To Present Marcia Susan Norton MCES 105 W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM This course will explore the history of indigenous peoples of Mexico from roughly 1400 to the present. Mesoamerica – the cultural region that encompassed what is today Mexico and much of Central America – in the fifteenth century saw the ascendance of the Aztec Empire in central Mexico (and beyond) and the continued independence of numerous Mayan communities. We will begin by looking at a diverse range of sources produced by the linguistically diverse people in these areas, particularly focusing on the “codices,” as the painted deer hide books that recorded history and ritual knowledge are known. Reading sources (in translation) by both European and indigenous languages (primarily Spanish, Nahuatl, and Maya), we will look at the divergent ways that Native communities and individuals responded to Spanish wars of conquest and how they responded to colonialism. The final part of the will look at the impact of Mexican independence and Revolution in the nineteenth century through the present, as well as the ongoing indigenous Mesoamerican diaspora to locales throughout the United States. In addition to written primary and secondary sources, we will consider a diverse array of visual sources – taking advantage of the spectacular holdings of the Penn museum – and contemporary cinema. LALS233402 Cultural Diversity in the US World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 233-403 Piracy and the Law in the Atlantic World, 1560-1850 Casey Schmitt MEYH B5 T 03:00 PM-06:00 PM From Jack Sparrow to Captain Morgan, pirates are a celebrated part of American popular culture. But, before Hollywood romanticized peg legs, eye patches, and rum, early modern mariners lived short and often brutal lives struggling against the changing crosswinds of prevailing European power structures. Despite popular conceptions of pirates, defining who constituted a pirate and what acts could be considered piratical was complicated and shifted over time. This course uses piracy as a lens onto the construction of power, the law, and the early modern state from 1450 through 1800. We will explore the concept of piracy as both a complex social function and as a political statement among Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans. Our readings will address topics such as the creation of legal and illegal maritime activity, piracy and the development of international law, the challenges posed by piracy to gender norms, the use of race as a method of inclusion and exclusion among pirate crews, and how public memory of piracy shapes current debates about global economics. LALS233403 Diplomatic, World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800, Research, Seminar
HIST 248-401 Haitian Revolution Yvonne E Fabella DRLB 2C6 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM In August 1791, enslaved Africans on the northern plain of Saint Domingue (colonial Haiti) rose up in a coordinated attack against their French colonial masters, launching the initial revolt in what would come to be known as the Haitian Revolution. In the years that followed, their actions forced the abolition of racial discrimination and slavery throughout the French Empire. When Napoleon Bonaparte threatened to return slavery to Saint Domingue, they waged a war for independence, declaring Haiti the world's first "Black Republic" in 1804. This seminar will examine some of the major themes and debates surrounding Haiti's colonial and revolutionary history. We will begin by considering the colonial paradox: France's leading role in the intellectual movement called the "Enlightenment" coincided with its ascent as a slaveholding colonial power. The seminar will also explore parallels and points of connection between the revolutionary movements in France and Saint Domingue: how did increasingly radical ideas in France shape events in the Caribbean? Likewise, how did west African traditions and political ideologies influence insurgents and their leaders? And how, in turn, did revolution in the Caribbean impact the revolution in France? Finally, we will ask how the Haitian Revolution influenced ideas about liberty, sovereignty and freedom throughout the Atlantic World. We will read a combination of primary and secondary materials each week. A final research paper will be required of all students. AFRC248401, LALS248401 https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST248401 Diplomatic, World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 303-401 The Vikings Ada M Kuskowski WILL 202 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM The Vikings were the terror of Europe from the late eight to the eleventh century. Norwegians, Danes and Swedes left their homeland to trade, raid and pillage; leaving survivors praying "Oh Lord, deliver us from the fury of the Norsemen!" While commonly associated with violent barbarism, the Norse were also farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. As their dragon ships sailed the waterways of Europe and beyond, they also transformed from raiders to explorers, discoverers and settlers of found and conquered lands. This course will introduce students to various facets of the culture and society of the Viking world ranging from honor culture, gender roles, political culture, mythology, and burial practices. We will also explore the range of Viking activity abroad from Kiev and Constantinople to Greenland and Vineland, the Viking settlement in North America. We will use material and archeological sources as well as literary and historical ones in order to think about how we know history and what questions we can ask from different sorts of sources. Notably, we will be reading Icelandic sagas that relate oral histories of heroes, outlaws, raiders and sailors that will lead us to question the lines between fact and fiction, and myth and history. GRMN145401 Cross Cultural Analysis European Europe, pre-1800
HIST 360-401 The Enlightenment Joan Elizabeth Dejean VANP 605 W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Topics vary. For current course description, please see the department's webpage: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/french/pc Prerequisite: Two 200-level French courses taken at Penn or equivalent. FREN360401 Cross Cultural Analysis Benjamin Franklin Seminars European, Intellectual Europe, pre-1800