The first (1st) semester of yearlong course will give provide students with opportunities to study the rise and fall of empires, the diffusion of religions and languages, and significant movements of people, ideas, and products. During these periods, the regions of the world became more and more interconnected. Although societies were quite distinct from each other, there were more exchanges of people, products, and ideas in each century. The course will study a catalog of names, places, and events that impacted individual societies, while the larger patterns that affected the world.