THE NORTH AMERICAN WEST TO 1850

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: None Course Designation: Core GenEd - Civics & Perspectives Ethnic St - Ethnic Studies Breadth - Humanities Level - Elementary L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Identify the various peoples who occupied the North American West before the 16th century, how they lived in their respective environments and vis-à-vis one another, and how scholars and Native communities themselves have made sense of that occupation Audience: Undergraduate 2. Identify and analyze the relationships among the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that brought Europeans and enslaved Africans to places that came to be called the West from the 16th through the 18th centuries Audience: Undergraduate 3. Identify and analyze the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that gave rise to two new occupying nations in places that came to be called the West in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as increasingly powerful Indigenous peoples Audience: Undergraduate 4. Identify and analyze the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that paved the way for U.S. conquest of various parts of the North American West by the middle of the 19th century Audience: Undergraduate 5. Identify and analyze the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that brought increasing numbers of Americans, Europeans, and Asians to the West by the middle of the 19th century Audience: Undergraduate 6. Explain the how the history of places that came to be called the West demonstrates the workings of imperialism and colonialism Audience: Undergraduate 7. Identify and analyze the ways in which westerners of various genders navigated their lives; the forces that created hierarchies among and within human communities; and the means by which various westerners either maintained or challenged those hierarchies Audience: Undergraduate 8. Explain the significance of the West for the development of the U.S. nation-state and for the fate of those who lived in the West before the U.S. claimed it Audience: Undergraduate 9. Explain how and why the West began to gain such a hold on popular imagination in the 19th century, through such media as fiction, art, music, drama, and film Audience: Undergraduate 10. Differentiate between primary and secondary sources Audience: Undergraduate 11. Pose a historical question Audience: Undergraduate 12. Make a historical argument Audience: Undergraduate 13. Demonstrate knowledge of the concept of historiography in both of its meanings: as the study of the study of history, and as the literature of history Audience: Undergraduate 14. Analyze primary sources by placing them in their historical contexts Audience: Undergraduate 15. Evaluate historical arguments posed in secondary sources Audience: Undergraduate 16. Demonstrate knowledge of the conventions of historical writing, from writing about the past in the past tense to citing sources used in making historical arguments Audience: Undergraduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Identify the various peoples who occupied the North American West before the 16th century, how they lived in their respective environments and vis-à-vis one another, and how scholars and Native communities themselves have made sense of that occupation Audience: Undergraduate 2. Identify and analyze the relationships among the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that brought Europeans and enslaved Africans to places that came to be called the West from the 16th through the 18th centuries Audience: Undergraduate 3. Identify and analyze the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that gave rise to two new occupying nations in places that came to be called the West in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as increasingly powerful Indigenous peoples Audience: Undergraduate 4. Identify and analyze the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that paved the way for U.S. conquest of various parts of the North American West by the middle of the 19th century Audience: Undergraduate 5. Identify and analyze the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that brought increasing numbers of Americans, Europeans, and Asians to the West by the middle of the 19th century Audience: Undergraduate 6. Explain the how the history of places that came to be called the West demonstrates the workings of imperialism and colonialism Audience: Undergraduate 7. Identify and analyze the ways in which westerners of various genders navigated their lives; the forces that created hierarchies among and within human communities; and the means by which various westerners either maintained or challenged those hierarchies Audience: Undergraduate 8. Explain the significance of the West for the development of the U.S. nation-state and for the fate of those who lived in the West before the U.S. claimed it Audience: Undergraduate 9. Explain how and why the West began to gain such a hold on popular imagination in the 19th century, through such media as fiction, art, music, drama, and film Audience: Undergraduate 10. Differentiate between primary and secondary sources Audience: Undergraduate 11. Pose a historical question Audience: Undergraduate 12. Make a historical argument Audience: Undergraduate 13. Demonstrate knowledge of the concept of historiography in both of its meanings: as the study of the study of history, and as the literature of history Audience: Undergraduate 14. Analyze primary sources by placing them in their historical contexts Audience: Undergraduate 15. Evaluate historical arguments posed in secondary sources Audience: Undergraduate 16. Demonstrate knowledge of the conventions of historical writing, from writing about the past in the past tense to citing sources used in making historical arguments Audience: Undergraduate