| CODE | HST1126 | ||||||||
| TITLE | The Mediterranean in Modern Times | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 2 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | History | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The Mediterranean in Modern Times is a historical survey aiming to show the changing importance of the Mediterranean in international politics from the sixteenth century to the twentieth. It reviews the changes that led to the Mediterranean region being superseded politically and economically by northern Europe in early modern times until it returned to international importance by being itself subjected to largely non-Mediterranean powers. Themes discussed include the impact of the great discoveries on the Mediterreanean as a global trade hub; the peaking and ebbing of the Christian-Muslim East-West contest; the Christian-Christian North-South divide in the context of the rising capitalist world economy and the wars of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation; the decline of the Spanish and Ottoman Empires; the competing interests of Britain, Russia and France for advantage and access in the nineteenth century; the Eastern Question and Balkanization; European imperialism in the Mediterranean; and the consequences for the Mediterranean of the fall of the Austrian and Ottoman Empires during World War One. Study-Unit Aims: • To introduce students to the complex history of the Mediterranean and provide a base for later in-depth study of the themes and developments covered; • To look at historical movements and events that are usually treated from a European perspective from the vantage point of the Mediterranean Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • acquire a solid base from which to approach higher-level study-units later on in their course; • appreciate the historical inseparability of the Euro-Mediterranean area. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Approach the study of history with a more critical outlook than they have been accustomed to at pre-university level; • Detect broad historical trends. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: • All readings are available in the University libraries. • Lecturers will guide the students on the use of the literature at the beginning of the lecture series. • Dominic Fenech, 'East-West to North-South in the Mediterranean', Geojournal, 32.1, 1993. • The New Cambridge Modern History, the following chapters: John Mathiex, 'The Mediterranean', in Volume VI; C. W. Crawley, 'The Mediterranean' in Volume X. • P. Thronton, 'Rivalries in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Egypt', in Volume XI. • Immanuel Wallerstein, The Capitalist World Economy, Cambridge 1979, Chapters 1 and 2. • David Abulafia (ed), The Mediterranean in History, London 2003--Chapters 7 and 8 (Molly Green, 'Resurgent Islam', and Jeremy Black, 'The Mediterranean as a Battleground of the European Powers'). • Robert Holland, Blue-Water Empire: the British in the Mediterranean since 1800, London 2012. • John J. Norwich, The Middle Sea: a History of the Mediterranean, London 2007. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Dominic Fenech |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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