This course examines the history of interaction of Africans, Arabs, Persians, and South Asians in the coastal regions of East Africa, the Arabian/Persian Gulf, and India, which together enclose the western Indian Ocean. In the period under study (1500 to the present), European imperial expansion and a globalizing economy played an increasingly transformative role. We will read about the port cities connecting these shores; the movements and networks of people; the objects and patterns of trade; the intensifying slave trade; shared environmental and health hazards, and the exchange of legal and commercial practices, and religious and political ideas.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 20

Crosslisted Courses:

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken HIST 266/SAS 266.

Instructor: Kapteijns and Rao

Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies

Typical Periods Offered: Every other year

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall

Notes: This course is also offered at the 200 level as HIST 266/SAS 266. At the 300-level, student writing assignments will encompass a wider set of readings than at the 200-level of this course and include a short research paper.