Early Modern Environmental History

Catalog description

The purpose of this course is to explore the place of the natural environment in the late medieval and early modern world. It does so by revisiting classic episodes in world history, from the Mongol conquests in the thirteenth century until the volcanic eruptions of Laki (1783) and Tambora (1815), and reinterpreting them through the lens of environmental history. Topics considered include climate change, plague epidemics, wetland drainage, urbanization, malaria, forestry, colonization, and the commodification of nature. Horses, mosquitoes, and rats will come under the spotlight as active participants in the great transformations of world history. Central to our inquiry throughout the semester is the perennial problem of historical agency; how humanity's freedom to think and act interacts with the limits that nature imposes. Along the way, students will be given an overview of the concepts, methods, and sources of environmental history.