World Before 1800

Students in the World Before 1800 field assemble their own lists of courses to count for credit, so there is no list of Courses That Count. This page offers a sample list of recently or regularly offered courses that might be used to count for credit, as well as a list of departments and programs where students in the World Before 1800 field may want to check the semester-by-semester course offerings.

If you have any questions, please direct them to Assistant Director of Studies Laura Quinton.

Sample suggested courses: 

  • Anthropology 1080. American History Before Columbus.
  • Anthropology 1130. Archaeology of Harvard Yard.
  • Anthropology 1190. The Invasion of America.
  • Celtic Languages and Literatures 187: Literature of the Dispossessed: Gaelic Ireland, c.1600-1900
  • Celtic Languages and Literatures 188: Songs of the Highlander
  • Celtic Languages and Literatures 109: Finn: The Great Gaelic Hero
  • Celtic Languages and Literatures 194. The World of the Celtic Bard.
  • Chinese History 113. Society and Culture of Late Imperial China.
  • Chinese Literature 114. Introduction to Premodern Chinese Literature.
  • Comparative Literature 138. Subversive Renaissance: Books that Changed the World.
  • Comparative Literature 172. Comparative Literatures of the Indian Ocean. 
  • Culture and Belief 38. Apocalypse Then! Forging the Culture of Medieval Rus.
  • English 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. Arrivals: British Literature, 700-1700.
  • English 90SD. Staging Shakespeare.
  • English 121CG. Shakespeare after Hamlet.
  • English 131P. Milton’s Paradise Lost.
  • English 141. When Novels Were New.
  • English 136ET. An Enlightenment for Today?
  • French 80. French Theater across Time.
  • French 146. Voyages and Encounters in the Renaissance.
  • History 14Q. Amsterdam: A Global History.
  • History 70J. Byzantium between the Crusades and the Islamic World, c.1100-c.1450.
  • History 1002. The American Revolutionary War.
  • History 1024. The British Empire. 
  • History 1035. Byzantine Civilization.
  • History 1039. Byzantine Imperialism.
  • History 1059. Deep History.
  • History 1155. Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789.
  • History 1240. Artifacts of the Russian Empire.
  • History 1301. Western Intellectual History II: The Prehistory of Modern Thought.
  • History 1318. History of the Book and of Reading.
  • History 1520. Colonial Latin America.
  • History 1700. The History of Sub-Saharan Africa to 1860.
  • History 1878A. Ottoman State and Society I (1300-1550).
  • History 1878B. Ottoman State and Society II (1550-1920).
  • History 1905. The Mediated Book: Texts, Writers, and Readers in Early Modern Britain and Early America.
  • History 1911. Pacific History.
  • History 1929. Slavery, Commerce, and Emancipation. 
  • History 1984. The Dutch Empire. 
  • History & Literature 90AN. God Save the Queen! Ruling Women from Rome to the Renaissance.
  • History of Art & Architecture 16D. Northern Renaissance and Baroque Painting and Sculpture. 
  • History of Art & Architecture 19Z. The Imperial Arts of the Inca and the Aztec.
  • History of Art & Architecture 56G. Spanish Golden Age Painting: Truth and Deceit.
  • History of Art & Architecture 122X. Architecture in the Early Modern Mediterranean World: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.
  • History of Science 117. Inventing Science: Stars, Bodies, Books, and Beasts, 1500-1700.
  • History of Science 119VH. Sugar, Spice, and Science: Colonialism and Commerce in the Making of a Global History of Science. 
  • Islamic Civilizations 135. Early and Medieval Islamic History, 600-1500.
  • Italian 116. Renaissance Revolutions. 
  • Japanese Literature 170. Traditional Japanese Literature: From the Dawn of Writing to the Dawn of Modernity.
  • Korean History 111. [Traditional Korea].
  • Music 192R. [Topics in Music from 1600-1800].
  • Near Eastern Civilizations 101. Historical Background to the Contemporary Middle East: Religion, Literature, and Politics.
  • Philosophy 8. Early Modern Philosophy: Self and World.
  • Portuguese 145. Transatlantic Africa and Brazil.
  • Religion 1469. The Protestant Reformations.
  • Spanish 70B. Golden Age Literature.
  • Spanish 124. Don Quixote.

 

In addition to these recently or regularly offered courses, we suggest checking for relevant course offerings in the following departments and programs each semester:

 

Anthropology

Celtic Languages and Literatures

Chinese History

Chinese Literature

Classical Studies

Comparative Literature

East Asian Studies

English

Folklore and Mythology

French

German

History

History & Literature

History of Art & Architecture

History of Science

Italian

Islamic Civilizations

Japanese Literature

Jewish Studies

Korean History

Korean Literature

Music

Near Eastern Civilizations

Philosophy

Portuguese

Religion

South Asian Studies

Spanish

Women, Gender, and Sexuality