This course surveys some of the major themes in world history before 1800, a time when peoples of varying cultural and ethnic backgrounds became increasingly interconnected as a result of migration, transoceanic trade, missionary work, imperial expansion, and colonization. These historical processes are analyzed by following ideas, commodities, and movements that fostered cross-cultural interactions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. By focusing on topics such as empire, religion, slavery, trade, food, disease, and revolution, students are exposed to earlier forms of globalization that continue to influence commerce, communications, and cultural production in our world today.