(same as HIST 3815). For millennia, Africans have interacted with people from other parts of the world. Africans from the south central and eastern parts of the continent have, for example, participated in the Indian Ocean global network for over a thousand years. Those from West Africa have participated in a vast commercial network through the Sahara. Since the sixteenth century millions of Africans were forcibly shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to toil in mines and plantations in the Americas. They carried with them knowledge, expertise and cultures fundamental to the making of this world. This course traces this history of Africa’s interactions with the wider world. It is organized around two broad themes: the impact of these interactions on African societies and the impact of Africans on the societies with which they interacted.