Plagues, Calamities, and Empires: World History 1300-1700 Course/Class August 18, 2011

Taking a global view, this course begins with the Little Ice Age and the Black Death, which speeded the collapse of the semi-global Mongol Empire. This shattered old social structures throughout Eurasia and led to the rise and fall of several major world civilisations long before the rise of the West. The most notable being China under the Ming dynasty, the Mughal Empire in India and the Ottoman Empire around the Middle East. Beside such cultural powerhouses, Renaissance Europe was just a minor player, but the conquest of the Americas reshaped the global system, seeing social and intellectual changes and the beginnings of capitalism. By the 1700s this began the process some call, globalisation. Details of this event may be subject to change. Please visit http://www.cce.usyd.edu.au/course/PCEH for more information or to register.

Official Website: http://www.cce.usyd.edu.au/course/pceh