InfoGuides: History 125 Course Guide: Module 1: Identifying and Analyzing Primary Sources

Module 1: Sources

Assigned Reading

Ibn Battuta, Travels in Africa and Asia (pdf on blackboard)
Vasco da Gama, Round Africa to India (pdf on blackboard)
Marcy Norton, “Conquests of Chocolate,” OAH Magazine of History 18, no. 3 (2004): 14-17 (available through the library catalog)

Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
Contains primary source materials for the study of global commodities in world history. It focuses on the history of 15 major commodities, and examines the ways that they have changed the world. In addition to historical documents, collection provides users with visual resources, such as thematic galleries, data and maps, and a searchable chronology.

Helpful resources: (all available online)

Ross E. Dunn, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century (Berkley: University of California Press, 2005). (there are two online editions via the library catalog – link to the more recent one)
Roxanne L. Euben, Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006). (available online)
Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony: the World System A.D. 1250-1350 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). Print copy.