This course gives an overview of the main events across the globe from 1500 to the present. Rather than an overview of discrete polities and regions this course focuses on the connections and interactions between global powers and the peoples that they represent and/or conquer. The period of globalization that we will review in this course began with Portugal’s efforts to find a sea route to the East. They were soon followed first by the Spanish, and then by the Dutch, French, and English. The imperial exploits of these European powers frame the broader global perspective of the course. This will first take us to the Islamic empires from the Mediterranean to India, then South America, Asia, and Africa before returning to Europe. The final section of the course will cover the two world wars of the twentieth century.