HIST 207 Global Environmental History

This course is an introduction to the field of environmental history. What can our environment tell us about our past? How have natural resources shaped patterns of human life in different regions of the world? What meanings have people attached to nature and how have those attitudes shaped their cultural and political lives? We will analyze the ecological context of human existence, with the understanding that the environment is an agent and a presence in human history. Because environmental change often transcends national boundaries, this course places important subjects like disease, agriculture, forests, water, industrialization, and conservationism into a global context. This course includes a lab for field excursions.