Hocbigg - World History
Path to a free self-taught education in World History!
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Introduction
World History investigates human societies through a macro-historical, trans-regional lens. Rather than treating national or regional histories in isolation, the discipline analyzes how trade networks, migratory movements, ecological shifts, and imperial encounters connected diverse civilizations across global space and time. Studying world history equips learners with the critical tools to trace long-term causal processes — from the agricultural transition and the emergence of trans-Eurasian trade to global industrialization and modern geopolitical divergence — without adopting an insular or Eurocentric perspective.
This curriculum is designed for absolute beginners. It assumes no formal background in history, historiography, or historical research methods. Whether you are reading history for intellectual enrichment, seeking context for contemporary international affairs, or building a foundation for multidisciplinary study, this roadmap provides the core knowledge typically covered in a two-semester undergraduate global history sequence.
How to Move Through the Curriculum
The curriculum follows a deliberate three-stage progression:
- Begin with historical inquiry: Start with the foundational methods module before tackling chronological surveys. Engaging with historical evidence requires specific habits of mind — sourcing, contextualization, and corroboration — that will directly inform how you interpret documents and historical claims in later stages.
- Progress chronologically: Move sequentially through the two global surveys: antiquity to 1500 CE, followed by 1400 CE to the contemporary era. The chronological overlap between 1400 and 1500 is intentional; it allows you to observe how regional Afro-Eurasian exchange networks transformed into the first truly global maritime systems.
- Select your learning path: You do not need to consume every resource listed under a subject. For each chronological survey, use the OpenStax textbook as your primary reading spine and pair it with a lecture series that matches your preferred learning style — either comprehensive recorded university lectures (Columbia) or a modular, interactive sequence with integrated self-assessments (Khan Academy or Coursera).
Scope and Next Steps
This page is strictly limited to the foundational core that every student of world history should master before branching into specialized fields. It focuses on overarching global trajectories rather than granular regional histories or academic research methodologies.
Once you have completed this foundational core, you can extend your studies through the other resources in this series:
- Explore specialized geographic areas, oceanic frameworks, and thematic subdisciplines on the Advanced Topics page.
- Apply historical methods through tangible deliverables — such as historical GIS mapping, digital archival curation, or oral history projects — using the walkthroughs in Projects.
- Engage with landmark monographs and field-defining historiographical essays in Readings.
- Deepen your regional and thematic knowledge through specialized lecture series and MOOCs in Courses.
Communities
- Forums:
- Subreddits:
- Discord servers:
- You can also interact through GitHub issues. If there is a problem with a course, or a change needs to be made to the curriculum, this is the place to start the conversation. Read more here.
Curriculum
Foundations of Historical Thinking
This subject introduces the core methods of historical inquiry, teaching learners how to interrogate primary evidence, trace historiographical debates, and construct evidence-based arguments.
Thinking About History (Sarah Maza) - Provides the core conceptual foundation for historical study, examining how historians formulate research questions, evaluate evidence, and analyze the past through social, cultural, and global frameworks.
Reading Like a Historian (Digital Inquiry Group) - A practical lab companion to Maza's text; use alongside it for hands-on exercises in sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating primary evidence.
World History to 1500
This subject covers human history from Paleolithic origins and the Neolithic agricultural revolution through classical empires, post-classical trans-regional networks, and medieval Afro-Eurasian and American societies.
World History, Volume 1: to 1500 (OpenStax) - The foundational reading spine for the first half of the global survey, offering a peer-reviewed, open-access narrative from early human origins through 1500 CE.
History of the World to 1500 CE (Columbia University / Richard Bulliet) - The primary audiovisual lecture companion to OpenStax; delivers 26 recorded university lectures covering early agriculture, classical empires, world religions, and Eurasian trade networks.
World History Project (Khan Academy) - An interactive alternative to the OpenStax and Bulliet track; ideal for learners who prefer bite-sized video lessons, guided primary-source readings, and formative self-check quizzes.
World History from 1400 to the Present
This subject covers the emergence of the modern interconnected world, including transoceanic contact, the Columbian Exchange, gunpowder empires, political and industrial revolutions, imperialism, global conflict, and 20th-century decolonization.
World History, Volume 2: from 1400 (OpenStax) - The foundational survey textbook for the modern era, tracing global interactions, gunpowder empires, industrialization, global conflicts, and modern geopolitical shifts.
The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Environmental Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century (Robert B. Marks) - A short conceptual reader that complements OpenStax by analyzing the biological old regime, the Great Divergence, and the environmental factors that shaped modern global capitalism.
History of the World Since 1500 CE (Columbia University / Richard Bulliet) - Recorded university lecture series following Bulliet's first course; pairs with OpenStax Volume 2 with particular emphasis on early modern Asian empires, maritime networks, and the Atlantic world.
The Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910 (Coursera / University of Virginia) - An alternative modular lecture course to Bulliet's series; focuses intensively on the revolutionary transformations, industrialization, and global imperialism of the long nineteenth century.
The Modern World, Part Two: Global History since 1910 (Coursera / University of Virginia) - Direct sequential continuation of Part One above; analyzes the world wars, ideological confrontations of the Cold War, decolonization, and contemporary globalization.