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Module Specifications..

Current Academic Year 2023 - 2024

Please note that this information is subject to change.

Module Title Empires and Globalisation
Module Code HY347
School 68
Module Co-ordinatorSemester 1: James Akpu
Semester 2: James Akpu
Autumn: James Akpu
Module TeachersSusan Hegarty
Grania Shanahan
James Akpu
NFQ level 8 Credit Rating 5
Pre-requisite None
Co-requisite None
Compatibles None
Incompatibles None
None
Description

In this module, taught over eleven weeks in the first semester, students will encounter the early exploration and trading activities of Portugal and Castile (later Spain) in Asia, the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean; the commercial rivalry and struggle for colonies by the European states of England, France, Spain and Portugal, the Dutch and the Danes; European trade overseas, mercantilism and the overseas empires; the establishment of administrative and judicial machinery outside Europe; the activities of Christian missionaries in the imperial projects in Asia and the Americas in the Golden Age of Spain; England, and the Elizabethan Age; the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the industrial revolution, and the wonders of science and technology and the colonisation of North America, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Examining these explorations and themes allows us to see the shift towards globalisation as several parts of the world were incorporated into European empires, giving rise to interconnectivity, change and continuity, transforming the world’s cultural, demographic, socio-economic and political landscape.

Learning Outcomes

1. LO1: Historicise how Portugal, Spain, Holland, England, and France expanded beyond Europe to other parts of the world in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries and explain the significant social, political, and cultural changes that resulted from these voyages of discovery, expansion, and empire.
2. LO2: Describe the nature of European empires in Africa, the Far East, Brazil, the New World, the Americas, and Asia between the fifteenth and the twentieth centuries.
3. LO3: Critically evaluate the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and how it changed the tide of world history.
4. LO4: Develop a basic understanding of the external and internal historical forces that contributed to the Industrial Revolution, Christian missionary revival in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and colonial expansion.
5. LO5: Evaluate the impact of European expansion, empire-making, new imperialism, and globalisation on other parts of the world and a fundamental historical outline of global history to 1945.



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Lecture240No Description
Total Workload: 240

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment40% Examination Weight60%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
EssayThere is one assigned paper for this module, which is worth 40% of the module grade. The writing guidelines and the topics will be given well before the due date.40%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
1 = A resit is available for all components of the module
2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module
3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • Abernethy B. David: 2000, The dynamics of global dominance: European overseas empires, 1415-1980, New Haven and London,
  • Weisner-Hanks Merry: 2006, Early Modern Europe 1450–1789, Cambridge,
  • J.C. Sharman: 2020, Empires of the weak: The real story of European expansion and the creation of the new world order, Princeton,
  • Michael C. Meyer, William L. Sherman and Susan M. Deeds,: 2003, The course of Mexican history, 7th, New York and Oxford,
  • Albert Adu Boahen, (ed.): 1990, UNESCO General History of Africa: Africa under colonial domination, 1880-1935, Vol. VII, Paris and Ibadan,
  • Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper: 2010, Empires in world history: power and the politics of difference, Princeton,
Other Resources

None
Programme or List of Programmes
BAJHBachelor of Arts (BAJH)
BAJHIBachelor of Arts (BAJHI)
BAJLBachelor of Arts (BAJL)
BAJLIBachelor of Arts (BAJLI)
BAJLNBachelor of Arts (BAJLN) - Intra Law
BAJPBachelor of Arts (BAJP)
BAJPIBachelor of Arts (BAJPI)
BAJPNBachelor of Arts (BAJPN) - Intra P
HMSAStudy Abroad (Humanities & Soc Science)
HMSAOStudy Abroad (Humanities & Soc Science)
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