HIST A162: World History 2

Course Outline of Record
Item	Value
Eff Term	Fall 2026
Curriculum Committee Approval Date	10/29/2025
Top Code	220500 - History
Units	3 Total Units
Hours	54 Total Hours (Lecture Hours 54)
Total Outside of Class Hours	108
Total Student Learning Hours	162
Course Credit Status	Credit: Degree Applicable (D)
Material Fee	No
Basic Skills	Not Basic Skills (N)
Repeatable	No
Open Entry/Open Exit	No
Grading Policy	Standard Letter (S), Pass/No Pass (B)
Associate Arts Local General Education (GE)	Area 3 Arts and Humanities 3B Active Participation (OC2) Area 4 Social and Behavioral Sciences 4B Social and Economic Institutions (OD2) Area 4 Social and Behavioral Sciences 4C Behavioral Science (OD3)
Associate Science Local General Education (GE)	Area 3B Humanities (OSC2) Area 4 Social and Behavioral Sciences (OSD)
California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC)	Cal-GETC 3B Humanities (3B) Cal-GETC 4 Social & Behavioral Sciences (4)
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC)	IGETC 3B Humanities (3B)
California State University General Education Breadth (CSU GE-Breadth)	CSU C2 Humanities (C2) CSU D3 Ethnic Studies (D3) CSU D6 History (D6)

Course Description

This course covers world history from 1600 to the present. There is a comparative approach to the study of specific themes including political, social, and economic change, as well as religious and cultural development. The course will emphasize global trends and developments that have shaped human history, such as the Age of Exploration, imperialism, the Atlantic and Industrial revolutions, the world wars, anti-colonial struggles, and the impact of globalization. The course examines the implications of race, gender, class, ethnicity, and religion in human societies over time. Enrollment Limitation: HIST A162H; students who complete HIST A162 may not enroll in or receive credit for HIST A162H. Transfer Credit: CSU; UC. C-ID: HIST 160.C-ID: HIST 160.

Course Level Student Learning Outcome(s)

Upon the successful completion of this course, students will display the ability to develop and persuasively argue a historical thesis in a written assignment that identifies and explains major social, economic, political and/or cultural historical themes or patterns that are relevant to the course geographic area and timeline of study.
Students will evaluate thematic change over time involving the formation, expansion and contraction of human societies throughout world history as exhibited after 1600CE.
Students will analyze the impact of peoples and their political ideologies, religions and technology from one geographic region and its peoples upon other peoples of other geographic regions over time, after 1600CE.

Course Objectives

1. Analyze primary and secondary sources to compose an argument which uses them, as appropriate, for support.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of civilization through multiple analytical categories such as race, class, gender and ethnicity.
3. Evaluate the ways in which the world's physical and natural environment has affected and been affected by developments in human history.
4. Analyze ways in which human groups have interacted with one another, including trade, migration, warfare, cultural exchange, and biological exchange, from 1500 to the present.
5. Compare distinctive forms of political, social, and economic organization in the world and explain their historical significance.
6. Identify major discoveries, inventions,and scientific achievements and explain their historical significance.
7. Explain the historical significance of cultural developments such as art, music, architecture, literature and religion.
8. Analyze broad patterns of cultural, economic, and political change on both interregional scales and within complex societies.
9. Analyze how the history of laws and institutions have affected the distribution of power, privilege, and access for various groups throughout the world from 1500 to the present.
10. Define and explain the significance of major ideas and ideologies including scientific racism, nationalism, capitalism, liberalism, feminism, socialism, and globalization.
11. Analyze significant historical phenomena using both quantitative and qualitative sources.

Lecture Content

A. THE EARLY MODERN WORLD

1. India, East Asia, and Africa During the Early-Modern Era (c. 1600-1800)

Dynasties of India, China, and Japan

West African Empires

East African Swahili City-States

2. The Economy and Society of Early-Modern Europe

Colonization and Overseas Trade

Economic Change in the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Worlds

Population Patterns

Life within a Society of Orders

3. The Age of Absolutism (1660-1789)

Justification of Absolutism

Eastern Europe, 1660-1720

The Emergence of a State System

Constitutional Monarchy in the Eighteenth Century

War and Diplomacy in the Eighteenth Century

4. The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment

The Scientific Revolution

Economic and Political Liberalism

Classicism and Innovation in Art, Literature, and Music

B. ATLANTIC REVOLUTIONS AND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES

1. North Atlantic Revolutions

US Independence

The French Revolution

2. South Atlantic Revolutions

The Haitian Revolt

Conflict in the Spanish and Portuguese empires

3. The Industrial Revolution Revolution

Mechanization and railways

Industrialization After 1850

Impact of the Industrial Revolution on Asia, Africa, and Latin America

4. Consequences of Industrialization: Urbanization and Class Consciousness (1800-1850)

The Life of the Urban Middle Class

The Life of the Urban Working Class

The Middle-Class World View

Early Critics of the Middle-Class World View

5. The Rise of Liberalism (1815-1870)

Democratization in the USA and Western Europe

The Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire

6. Nation-Building in Latin America

C. T HE WEST AT THE WORLD'S CENTER

1. The Progress of International Industrialization and Competition (1870-1914)

New Technologies

Changes in Scope and Scale

The New Capitalism and International Competition: Imperialism

2. The Middle Class Challenged

The Challenge of Socialism

The Challenge of Science and Philosophy

The Challenge of Literature and the Arts

3. The Search for Stability (1870-1914)

Germany: The Search for Imperial Unity

Russia: The Road to Revolution

The Search for Stability Elsewhere in the West

Reforms in the Ottoman Empire

The Road to the First World War

4. China, Japan, and Africa Under the Impact of the West (1800-1914)

Imperialism and Revolution in China

The Transformation of Japan into a Modern State

Africa During the Century of European Imperialist Expansion

5. Export-led Growth in Latin America

6. The First World War

Prelude to War

Revolution in the Midst of War

Armistice and Peace

D. THE EMERGENCE OF WORLD CIVILIZATIONS

1. The Commonwealth of Nations

The Dominion of Canada

The Commonwealth of Australia

India Under Company and Crown

Independent India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

2. The Middle East and Africa

The Middle East after Sykes-Picot

The Republic of South Africa

Anti-colonial upheaval in Africa

Independent Africa in Transition

3. Eruption in East Asia

Nationalism and Communism in China

The Beginning of a New Era In Japan

4. Progress, Poverty, and Revolution in Latin America Cultures in the Twentieth-Century

Import-Substitution-Industrialization and Populism

Crisis and Revolution

5. New Power Relationships and a Changing World Order

Four Decades of Soviet-American Rivalry

Imperial Decline and Anti-colonial Movements

6. Problems and Promise from Globalization

The Nuclear Age Political and Social Change Within the Industrialized Nations

Problems of the Developing World

The Problems of Ecology and Population

The Achievements and Limitations of Science and Technology

Method(s) of Instruction

Lecture (02)
DE Online Lecture (02X)

Instructional Techniques

This course is classified as a lecture course, but instructors will use a variety of methodologies to help students achieve instructional objectives and student learning outcomes. These may include: Lecture enhanced with Power point, overhead, white board, and/or handouts to highlight concepts Audiovisual materials to establish historical context Presentation of artwork and quantitative data to illustrate key concepts Discussion with full class and in small groups Role playing Group activities Guest speakers Field trips

Reading Assignments

Students will read 1-2 textbook chapters and related primary/secondary source material per week. (54 hours total)

Writing Assignments

Students will write essays in which they apply appropriate historical information in answering questions related to the course objectives/student learning outcomes. Students will write an essay/report in which they interpret primary and secondary sources and compose an argument which uses them, as appropriate, for support. These primary and secondary sources provide both quantitative and qualitative information including but not limited to graphs, charts, maps and artwork. (27 hours total)

Out-of-class Assignments

Students may be assigned homework to help them develop and/or assess their ability to Derive pertinent information from assigned readings Prepare for class discussion Find appropriate primary/secondary sources through library research Interpret primary/secondary sources correctly Manage the steps of a research project (27 hours total)

Study Non-Contact Hours Recommended

108

Methods of Student Evaluation

Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Short Quizzes
Written Assignments
Essay Examinations
Objective Examinations
Projects (Individual/Group)
Oral Presentations
Skills Demonstration

Demonstration of Critical Thinking

Required Writing, Problem Solving, Skills Demonstration

Resources Subscreen

Open Education Resource: Brewster, Michelle, Mathew Hacholski, Anupama Mande, Jordan Stanton, Lindsay Weiler-Leon, Joshua Weiner. Modern World History: New Perspectives (Orange Coast College Version). (2025).
Textbook: Bentley, Jerry, Herbert Ziegler. Traditions and Encounters, Volume 2 from 1500 to the Present, 8th ed. . McGraw-Hill (2025).
Textbook: Pollard, Elizabeth, Clifford Rosenberg . Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A Companion Reader, Volume 2,3rd ed. . W.W. Norton (2019).
Textbook: Jeremy Adelman . Worlds Together Worlds Apart Vol 2, 7the ed. . W.W. Norton (2024).
Textbook: Wiesner-Hanks, Marry E.. Gender in History: Global Perspectives, 2nd ed. . Wiley (2011).
Textbook: Rosenberg, Tina.. Children of Cain: Violence and the Violent in Latin America . Penguin Random House (1992).

Eligible Discipline(s)

History: Master’s degree in history OR bachelor’s degree in history AND master’s degree in political science, humanities, geography, area studies, women’s studies, social science, or ethnic studies OR the equivalent. Master's degree required.

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