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This course examines geographical factors that have impacted the course of history in different physical settings ranging from the arid zone of the nomads to the wet river basins of the settled agricultural communities. It will compare interactions on land and across the world’s major bodies of water and integration around sea and ocean basins.

This course seeks both to increase student knowledge of the historical and geographical topics and improve student skills in reading, interpreting, and writing. More specifically, in this course students will: 1. Demonstrate in discussion, exams, and written assignments knowledge of the general course of and most important aspects of world geography and selected examples of the interactions of history and geography. 2. Improve their ability to interpret evidence (both written and visual primary materials). This means that at the conclusion of this course students will be able to: a. Identify geographic materials and b. Construct a geographic argument or narrative from sources. 3. Improve their ability to critically read geographic and related historical materials. This means that at the conclusion of this course students will be able to: a. Identify the argument of a secondary source & the evidence supporting it as well as the methodology used to interpret it; b. Identify unproven assumptions important to the argument of a secondary source & c. Summarize a secondary source, notably its argument, evidence, methodology, and assumptions. 4. Improve their ability to write about history and geography. This means that at the conclusion of this course students will be able to write a well-organized and clearly written historical essay with an easily identifiable central argument clearly stated at the beginning of the paper.

*The learning goals displayed here are those for one section of this course as offered in a recent semester, and are provided for the purpose of information only. The exact learning goals for each course section in a specific semester will be stated on the syllabus distributed at the start of the semester, and may differ in wording and emphasis from those shown here.