Distribution Requirements

Prerequisites

Effective January 2023, the prerequisite requirement for entering the History major are one course at the 200 or 300 level, and a second course recommended (but not required).

Pre-2023 Prerequisites

Prior to January 2023, the prerequisite requirement is one course from the following:

Course Semester Offered
HIS 201: A History of the World  
HIS 207: History of East Asia to 1800  
HIS 208: East Asia Since 1800 Spring 2024
HIS 210: The World of Late Antiquity Spring 2024
HIS 211: Europe from Antiquity to 1700  
HIS 212: Europe in the World: From 1776 to the Present Day Spring 2024
HIS 241: Faith and Power in the Indian Ocean Arena Spring 2024
HIS 250: The Mother and Father Continent: A Global History of Africa  
HIS 262 Capitalism: Origins, Alternatives, Futures  
HIS 267: History of Palestine/Israel Spring 2024
HIS 270: Asian American History  
EGR 277 / HIS 277: Technology and Society  
HIS 278: Digital, Spatial, Visual, and Oral Histories Spring 2024
EAS 280/HIS 279 Nomadic Empires: From the Scythian Confederation to the Mongol Conquest  
HIS 280: Approaches to American History Spring 2024
HIS 281: Approaches to European History  
HIS 282: A Documents-Based Approach to Asian History  
HIS 283: War in the Modern Western World  
HIS 290: The Scientific Worldview of Antiquity and the Middle Ages  
HIS 291: The Scientific Revolution and the European Order, 1500-1750  
HIS 292: Science in the Modern World  
HIS 295 Making America: Technology and History in the United States Spring 2024
HIS 393: Race, Drugs, and Drug Policy in America Spring 2024

Students who entered the major in the spring of 2020, took a gap year, and joined the class of 2023 should consult with the Director of Undergraduate Studies about the new requirements.

Thematic Distribution Requirements

The thematic distribution requirements are abbreviated as follows:

  • Knowledge and Belief (KB)
  • Power and Conflict (PC)
  • Pre-Modern, pre-1700 (PM)
  • Race and Difference (RD)

While many courses carry more than one designation, a single course may satisfy only one thematic requirement. Students must take at least one course in each thematic area.

Course Distribution Requirement Semester Offered
HIS 201: A History of the World KB  
HIS 202: The Sixties: Documentary, Youth, and the City PC, RD Spring 2024
HIS 205: The Byzantine Empire KB, PM Spring 2024
EAS 206/HIS 206: Medieval Asian Worlds: Korea, Japan, China, Inner and South Asia 300 CE-1700 CE PM  
HIS 207: History of East Asia to 1800 PC, PM  
HIS 208: East Asia since 1800 PC, RD Spring 2024
EAS 218/HIS 209: The Origins of Japanese Culture and Civilization: A History of Japan until 1600 PC, PM  
HIS 210: The World of Late Antiquity KB, PM Spring 2024
HIS 211: Europe from Antiquity to 1700 KB, PM  
HIS 212: Europe in the World: From 1776 to the Present Day KB, PC Spring 2024
AAS 313/HIS 213: Modern Caribbean History RD  
HIS 214: British Empire in World History, 1700-2000 PC, RD  
CLA 220/HIS 215: Slavery in the Roman World PM  
CLA 216/HIS 216: Archaic and Classical Greece PM  
CLA 217/HIS 217: The Greek World in the Hellenistic Age PM  
CLA 218/HIS 218: The Roman Republic PM  
CLA 219/HIS 219: The Roman Empire, 31 B.C. to A.D. 337 PM  
NES 220/HIS 220: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Middle Ages KB, PM  
NES 390/HIS 221: Medieval Cairo: A Survival Guide PC, PM  
HIS 222: Hellenism: The First 3000 Years PM  
NES 201/HIS 223 Introduction to the Middle East PC  
HIS 225: The Mediterranean: From Rome to Fortress Europe PC, PM  
MED 227/HIS 227: The Worlds of the Middle Ages KB, PM  
CLA 231/HIS 231: Ancient Greek and Roman Medicine: Bodies, Physicians, and Patients PM  
JDS 232/HIS 232: Hatred or Tolerance? Jews & Christians in Medieval and Early Modern Europe KB, PM  
HIS 241: Faith and Power in the Indian Ocean Arena KB, PC Spring 2024
NES 350/HIS 245: The Islamic World from its Emergence to the Beginnings of Westernization PM  
HUM 248/NES 248/HIS 248: Near Eastern Humanities II: Medieval to Modern Thought and Culture KB, PM Spring 2024
HIS 249 / AFS 249: A Global History of Modern Ethiopia: Rastafari to Haile Selassie PC  
HIS 250: The Mother and Father Continent: A Global History of Africa KB, RD  
NES 369/HIS 251: The World of the Cairo Geniza KB, PM  
EAS 253/HIS 253: The Law in Action in Premodern Japan: A Comparative Perspective PM  
REL 255/HIS 255: Mapping American Religion KB Spring 2024
AMS 361/HIS 261: Slavery, Antislavery, and the U.S. Constitution PC  
HIS 262: Capitalism: Origins, Alternatives, Futures PC  
HIS 267: History of Palestine/Israel PC Spring 2024
HIS 270: Asian American History RD  
HIS 271: Native American History PC, RD  
EAS 279/HIS 276: The Qin Dynasty and the Beginnings of Empire in China KB Spring 2024
EGR 277/HIS 277: Technology and Society KB Spring 2024
HIS 278: Digital, Spatial, Visual, and Oral Histories KB Spring 2024
EAS 280/HIS 279: Nomadic Empires: From the Scythian Confederation to the Mongol Conquest PC, PM  
HIS 280: Approaches to American History PC Spring 2024
HIS 281: Approaches to European History KB, PC  
HIS 282: A Documents-Based Approach to Asian History PC, RD  
HIS 283: War in the Modern Western World PC  
HIS 292: Science in the Modern World KB  
HIS 293: Science in a Global Context: 15th to 20th Century KB, PC  
HIS 294: Science and Medicine in the Early Modern World KB, PM Spring 2024
HIS 295: Making America: Technology and History in the United States KB Spring 2024
AMS 395/HIS 296: Performing the City: Race and Protest in 1960s Trenton and Princeton PC, RD  
STC 297/HIS 297: Transformative Questions in Biology KB  
HIS 298: Information Revolutions KB  
HIS 301: Modern Eastern Europe: 19th to 20th Centuries PC  
HIS 303: Colonial Latin America to 1810 PC, PM  
HIS 304: Modern Latin America since 1810 PC  
HIS 306: Becoming Latino in the U.S. PC, RD  
HIS 307: The Spanish Empire PC, RD Spring 2024
AMS 306/HIS 308: Commemoration, Crisis, and Revolution in the City KB Spring 2024
EAS 409/HIS 309: The Warrior Culture of Japan PM  
REL 357/HIS 310: Religion and the American Revolution KB  
NES 316/HIS 311: Global Trade Before the Modern Period PM  
NES/317/HIS 312: Text and Technology: From Handwritten to Digital Formats KB Spring 2024
HIS 314: Precolonial Africa PM, RD  
HIS 315: Colonial and Postcolonial Africa PC, RD  
HIS 316: South African History: 1497 to the Present PC, RD  
HIS 317: Making of Modern India and Pakistan PC  
COM 376/HIS 320: On the Edge of Authoritarianism: Literature and Politics in the Modern Mediterranean PC  
EAS 321/HIS 321: Early Modern Japan KB, PC  
HIS 322: 20th-Century Japan PC, RD  
HIS 324: Early Modern China PM, PC  
HIS 325: China, 1850 to the Present PC  
CLA 326/HIS 326: Topics in Ancient History PM  
CLA 326/HIS 326: Topics in Ancient History: Dining and Food in the Roman World PM, KB Spring 2024
CLA 327/HIS 327: Topics in Ancient History and Religion: Augustus: Politics, Religion, Culture PM Spring 2024
CLA 324/HIS 328: Classical Historians and Their Philosophies of History PM Spring 2024
JDS 324/HIS 329: Trauma and Oral History: Giving Voice to the Unspeakable KB, PC Spring 2024
ART 329/HIS 330: Architecture of Confinement, from the Hospice to the Era of Mass Incarceration PC  
EAS 326/HIS 331: Bamboo, Silk, Wood, and Paper: Ancient and Medieval Chinese Manuscripts KB  
HIS 332: Pre-Colonial India: Politics, Religion, and Culture in South Asia, 1000-1800 CE PC, PM, RD  
HIS 333: Modern Brazilian History PC, RD  
HUM 335/HIS 334: A Global History of Monsters KB, RD  
NES 437/HIS 337: The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1800 PC, PM Spring 2024
URB 384/HIS 340: Affordable Housing in the United States RD Spring 2024
HIS 341: Making Minorities: Modern South Asian Histories PC, RD  
HIS 342: Southeast Asia's Global History KB, PC  
HIS 343: The Formation of the Christian West PC, PM  
HIS 344: The Civilization of the High Middle Ages PC, PM Spring 2024
HIS 345: The Crusades PC, RD  
HUM 320/HIS 346: Making Medieval Worlds: Methods and Materials PM  
AAS 352/HIS 347: Race and Reproduction in U.S. History RD  
REL 356/HIS 348: Black Religions in Slavery and Freedom KB, RD  
NES 338/HIS 349: The Arab-Israeli Conflict PC  
HIS 350: History of International Order PC, RD  
HIS 352 Democracy in Europe since 1945: The Contested History KB, PC  
ECS 350/HIS 354: Books and Their Readers KB Spring 2024
HIS 358: History of the Balkans PC  
HIS 359: Modern Jewish History: 1750-Present KB, RD Spring 2024
HIS 360: The Russian Empire: State, People, Nations KB, PC  
HIS 361: The United States Since 1974 PC Spring 2024
HIS 362: The Soviet Empire KB, PC Spring 2024
HIS 363: The Napoleonic Wars PC  
HIS 364: France and Its Empire from the Renaissance to Napoleon, 1500-1815 PC, RD  
HIS 366: Germany Since 1806 KB, PC  
HIS 367: English Constitutional History PC, PM  
SPI 364/HIS 368: Making Post-Pandemic Worlds: Epidemic History and the Future KB, PC  
HIS 369: European Intellectual History in the 20th Century KB  
HIS 370: Britain from the American Revolution to World War II PC  
HIS 371: The Colonization of North America PM, RD  
HIS 372: Revolutionary America PC, RD Spring 2024
HIS 373: Slavery and Democracy in the New Nation PC, RD  
HIS 374: History of the American West PC  
HIS 375: US Intellectual History: Development of American Thought KB  
HIS 376: The American Civil War and Reconstruction PC, RD  
HIS 377: Gilded Age and Progressive-Era United States, 1877-1920 PC  
HUM 372/HIS 378/MED 372: World Travelers in the Middle Ages PM Spring 2024
HIS 379: U.S. Legal History KB, PC  
HIS 380: U.S. Foreign Relations PC, RD  
URB 392/ARC 392/HIS 381: Building African Cities, Past and Present PC Spring 2024
AAS 331/HIS 382: Beyond Tuskegee: Race and Human Subjects Research in US History RD  
HIS 383: The United States, 1920-1974 PC, RD  
HIS 384: Gender and Sexuality in Modern America PC, RD Spring 2024
HIS 385: Historical Consciousness: An Introduction KB  
AAS 366/HIS 386: African American History to 1863 RD Spring 2024
AAS 367/HIS 387: African American History Since Emancipation PC, RD  
HIS 388: Unrest and Renewal in Urban America PC, RD  
HIS 389: American Cultural History KB, RD  
HIS 390: Formations of Knowledge: Historical Approaches to Science, Technology, and Medicine PC, RD  
HIS 391: History of Contemporary Science KB  
HIS 392: History of Evolution KB  
HIS 393: Race, Drugs, and Drug Policy in America KB, RD Spring 2024
HIS 394: History of Ecology and Environmentalism KB  
HIS 395: History of Medicine and the Body KB, RD  
HIS 396: History of Biology KB Spring 2024
HIS 397: Medicine and the Mind: A History of Psychiatry from the Asylum to Zoloft KB, RD  
HIS 398: The Einstein Era KB  
AMS 399/HIS 399: In the Groove: Technology and Music in American History, From Edison to the iPod KB  
HIS 401: American Women's History PC, RD  
HIS 402: Writing Slavery: Sources, Methods, Ethics PC, RD  
HIS 403: The History of Free Speech KB, PC  
HIS 404: The Rise of the Republican Party PC  
HIS 405: Native American History PC, RD  
HIS 406: Two Empires: Russia and the US from Franklin to Trump PC  
HIS 407: History Behind the Headlines: Native America in the News RD Spring 2024
HIS 409: Women and Law in in U.S. History RD, PC  
HIS 410: Culture and Revolution in the Modern Middle East PC  
HIS 411: World After Empire PC, RD Spring 2024
HIS 412: Marx and the Marxist Method of Analysis: A Primer for All Disciplines KB, PC  
HIS 413: Transgression: A History of Magic KB Spring 2024
HIS 414: Life Writings in Britain and America, 1650-1918 KB  
HIS 415: Healing in the Black Atlantic KB, RD  
HIS 417: Gandhi: The Making of the Mahatma PC  
HIS 418: Imagined Cities KB, PC  
HIS 420: Desi Girl/Mother India: Gender, Sexuality, and History in Hindi Cinema PC, RD  
HIS 421: Venice and the Mediterranean World PC, PM  
AMS 342/HIS 422: Hindu, Muslim, Untouchable: Society and Politics in Pre-Modern South Asia, c. 1100-1800 RD, PM  
HIS 423: The History of Christianity in Africa: From St. Mark to Desmond Tutu KB, PM  
HIS 424: The Historian as Cultural Broker: The Making and Remaking of History in the First Millennium KB, PM  
HIS 425: History of Political Propaganda from the French Revolution KB, PC Spring 2024
AAS 426/HIS 426: Memory, History and the Archive KB, RD  
HIS 427: Being Human: A Political History KB Spring 2024
HIS 428: Empire and Catastrophe KB, PC  
HIS 429: Fascism and Antifascism in Global History KB, PC  
HIS 431: Ukraine on Fire, 1900 to the Present PC  
HIS 432: Environment and War KB, PC  
NES 433/HIS 433: Imperialism and Reform in the Middle East and the Balkans PC  
HIS 434: Revolutionary Russia KB, PC Spring 2024
HIS 437: Law After Rome KB, PM Spring 2024
HIS 438: History of Palestine/Israel PC  
HIS 439: China's Frontiers PC, RD  
HIS 440: History of the National Security State PC  
HIS 441: Reconstructing the Union: Law, Democracy, and Race after the American Civil War PC, RD  
AMS 342/HIS 442: Race, Racism and Politics in Twentieth-Century America PC, RD  
HIS 443: Black Worldmaking: Freedom Movements Then and Now PC, RD  
EAS 415/HIS 444: Intellectual History of China to the Fifth Century PM, RD  
HIS 445: Winston Churchill, Anglo-America and the 'Special Relationship' in the Twentieth Century PC Spring 2024
HIS 446: Political Prisons: Crime, Persecution and Incarceration in 19th Century Europe PC  
HIS 447: Ethnicity and History RD  
HIS 448: History: An Introduction to the Discipline KB  
HIS 449: The French Enlightenment KB  
HIS 450: Abolition and Fall of American Slavery: The History of Antislavery Movements and Struggles in the United States PC Spring 2024
HIS 452: Magic, Matter, Medicine: Science in the Medieval World KB, PM  
HIS 454: Afghanistan in World History: Between and Beyond Empires KB  
HIS 456: New Orleans at 300: Invention & Reinvention in an American City RD  
HIS 459: The History of Incarceration in the U.S. PC, RD  
HIS 462: Difference and Deviance in the Early Middle Ages PM, RD  
HIS 465: Latino Urban History RD  
HIS 466: California History RD  
SPI 466/HIS 467: Financial History KB, PC  
HIS 468: The History of the United States during World War II PC, RD Spring 2024
AMS 442/HIS 470: History & Memory on the Lower East Side RD  
HIS 471: The Political History of Civil Rights RD  
HIS 472: Medicine and Society in China: Past and Present KB, RD  
HIS 474: Cultural History of the Modern Nile Valley KB Spring 2024
HUM 412/HIS 475: Digging for the Past: Archaeology from Ancient Greece to Modern America KB, PM  
ART 478/HIS 476 The Vikings: History and Archaeology PM  
AAS 477/HIS 477: The Civil Rights Movement PC, RD  
HIS 478: The Vietnam Wars PC  
HIS 479: Society, Politics, and Ideas in 1980s America PC, RD  
HIS 480: Property: How, Why, and What We Own PC, KB  
HIS 481: Science and Film KB  
FRE 480/HIS 482: The Writer, The Prince, and the Public: Political Writing in the Eighteenth-Century PC  
HIS 484: Borderlands, Border Lives PC, RD  
HIS 485: History of African American Families RD  
HIS 487: The Age of Democratic Revolutions PC  
HIS 488: The Soviet Atomic, Space, and Information Ages KB, PC  
HIS 489: The Scientific Self KB  
HIS 491: Fertile Bodies: A Cultural History of Reproduction from Antiquity to the Enlightenment PM  
HIS 492: The Therapeutic Persuasion: Psychotherapy and American Life KB  
HIS 493: '1, 2, 3, Testing'... in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine KB  
HIS 494: Broken Brains, Shattered Minds KB, RD Spring 2024
HIS 495: Alchemy: Art and Science KB, PM  
HIS 496: History of Neuroscience KB, RD  
HIS 498: History of Pseudoscience KB