ATS2106 Environment, economy and society in world history

Human history is in large part a story of how societies dealt with the restrictions and advantages imposed upon them by their physical surroundings. Settlement patterns, diets, labor relations and transportation, for instance, all hinge upon what people had at their disposal and how they were able to manipulate those resources to meet new and changing needs. Facing nature also meant reflecting morally and intellectually upon why the world is the way it is, who or what made it that way, and what if at all is the role of (non)human animals, plants and other elements in it. Through case studies spanning the pre-modern and modern era, you will explore the ways that human social, religious and economic activities have interacted with the natural world, both shaping and responding to environmental change. Topics may include: agricultural and transportation technologies; urbanization and its footprint; scientific and industrial revolutions; the rise of capitalism; imperialism and indigenous economies; anthropogenic climate change.