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Semester 2

The Rise and Fall of the Human Empire? The History of the Anthropocene (HIST10469)

Subject

History

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 3 History courses at grade B or above, and please note that we will only consider courses with a specific focus on History (not including History of Art) towards these pre-requisites. We will only consider University/College level courses. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

We live in the epoch of the Anthropocene, a new geological age in which humans have fundamentally altered our planet and are the dominant geological force. This is an era characterised by the profound impact that humans have had on the planet's ecosystem and climate. This course explores this complex history over the past 500 years.

Course Description

Since the formation of the Earth 4.5 billion years ago, no era has witnessed so much environmental change as the past five hundred years, merely a moment in the history of our planet. Industrialisation, capitalism, and the insatiable need for more and more 'things' has unleashed uncontrollable destructive forces. This course focuses on a number of key developments to consider two related questions. First, how have humans altered the Earth's systems - climate, atmosphere, ecosystems, oceans and landscape? Second, what are the implications of these changes for human society and the relationship between humans and the other species that inhabit this planet? The coverage begins in the late fifteenth century with the Columbian Exchange of diseases, crops, ideas, animals, and people between the Old World and the New World in 1492. It then investigates a number of critical issues relating to land use and the production of food, the exploitative relationships between humans and other species and the impact of industrial capitalism, urbanisation and the use of fossil fuels as the main source of energy. The final section of the course focuses on the post-1945 world,exploring consumer capitalism, the development of the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and concludes with an assessment of the current climate crisis.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 40%, Coursework 40%, Practical Exam 20%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a History or HCA exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in two 3rd year History courses each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. This includes courses in Economic History and Scottish History. Enrolment in a third course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the January Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course