World History
Western Civilization Core Course. This site is available as both a timeline and index. It includes a survey of history, culture, and ideas with readings, period introductions, and articles. It was created by the History Department at Whitworth College.
Even if you are not taking this class, this is a useful site. There are a lot of full-text readings available from public domain sources as well as biographies of significant individuals.
From the site:
This course is an interdisciplinary study of those aspects of our Western civilization which are related to the development of rationalism. It emphasizes the important and continuing impact the rationalist tradition has had in the shaping of our Western civilization and of our contemporary world. The foundations of this tradition were laid by the brilliant thinkers and artists of ancient Greece; it was modified, or at least interpreted for the rising Western world, by the Romans; some of it was absorbed, some of it was rejected in the growing ascendancy of the Christian Church; and a renewed knowledge of it achieved by thinkers like Thomas Aquinas, encouraged by a "Twelfth-Century Renaissance" in the Christian West.
The rationalist tradition was fully revived in Western Europe during the Renaissance, which sought at first to balance its claims with those of the medieval Christian Church. But by the Eighteenth Century--often called the Age of Reason--the tradition had been elevated to a position of dominance. During this period other intellectual movements developed which tended to accept the great artistic accomplishments of the ancient Greeks and Romans as normative: humanism--which drew its meaning from the study of classical writing and art, and from these sources developed renewed appreciation of human beings and their accomplishments and capabilities; and empiricism--which emphasized experience and observable data, and prepared for the later burgeoning of modern science.
- Year 1000: A Legacy Of Science & Technology
Year 1000: A Legacy of Science & Technology. This is an online exhibit that explores the events in Europe and influences from China, India, and the Islamic world that began an intellectual revolution. I found this site informative, easy to navigate,...
- European Association Of Mayanists (wayeb)
European Association of Mayanists (Wayeb) - Interdisciplinary organization of European scholars, students, and amateurs developing and promoting research on the ancient civilization of the Maya. Site includes conference and event announcements; links,...
- Ancient Manuscripts From The Desert Libraries Of Timbuktu
Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu - An online exhibition from the Library of Congress presents manuscripts from Timbuktu. The collection covers the 16th to the 18th centuries. From the site: Timbuktu, Mali, is the legendary...
- Rome At Its Height
Rome at its Height - Part of the Lectures in Medieval History Series, by Lynn Harry Nelson at University of Kansas. Includes a map as well as an analysis of the Roman Empire at its peak. From the site: In many ways, the Roman empire remains the...
- The Amazing Ancient World Of Western Civilization
THE AMAZING ANCIENT WORLD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION Historian attempts to weave various ancient civilizations together in one narrative. Includes access to web rings and bibliographies. From the site: What is the Ancient World? Greece, Rome, Egypt,...
World History
Western Civilization Core Course
Western Civilization Core Course. This site is available as both a timeline and index. It includes a survey of history, culture, and ideas with readings, period introductions, and articles. It was created by the History Department at Whitworth College.
Even if you are not taking this class, this is a useful site. There are a lot of full-text readings available from public domain sources as well as biographies of significant individuals.
From the site:
This course is an interdisciplinary study of those aspects of our Western civilization which are related to the development of rationalism. It emphasizes the important and continuing impact the rationalist tradition has had in the shaping of our Western civilization and of our contemporary world. The foundations of this tradition were laid by the brilliant thinkers and artists of ancient Greece; it was modified, or at least interpreted for the rising Western world, by the Romans; some of it was absorbed, some of it was rejected in the growing ascendancy of the Christian Church; and a renewed knowledge of it achieved by thinkers like Thomas Aquinas, encouraged by a "Twelfth-Century Renaissance" in the Christian West.
The rationalist tradition was fully revived in Western Europe during the Renaissance, which sought at first to balance its claims with those of the medieval Christian Church. But by the Eighteenth Century--often called the Age of Reason--the tradition had been elevated to a position of dominance. During this period other intellectual movements developed which tended to accept the great artistic accomplishments of the ancient Greeks and Romans as normative: humanism--which drew its meaning from the study of classical writing and art, and from these sources developed renewed appreciation of human beings and their accomplishments and capabilities; and empiricism--which emphasized experience and observable data, and prepared for the later burgeoning of modern science.
- Year 1000: A Legacy Of Science & Technology
Year 1000: A Legacy of Science & Technology. This is an online exhibit that explores the events in Europe and influences from China, India, and the Islamic world that began an intellectual revolution. I found this site informative, easy to navigate,...
- European Association Of Mayanists (wayeb)
European Association of Mayanists (Wayeb) - Interdisciplinary organization of European scholars, students, and amateurs developing and promoting research on the ancient civilization of the Maya. Site includes conference and event announcements; links,...
- Ancient Manuscripts From The Desert Libraries Of Timbuktu
Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu - An online exhibition from the Library of Congress presents manuscripts from Timbuktu. The collection covers the 16th to the 18th centuries. From the site: Timbuktu, Mali, is the legendary...
- Rome At Its Height
Rome at its Height - Part of the Lectures in Medieval History Series, by Lynn Harry Nelson at University of Kansas. Includes a map as well as an analysis of the Roman Empire at its peak. From the site: In many ways, the Roman empire remains the...
- The Amazing Ancient World Of Western Civilization
THE AMAZING ANCIENT WORLD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION Historian attempts to weave various ancient civilizations together in one narrative. Includes access to web rings and bibliographies. From the site: What is the Ancient World? Greece, Rome, Egypt,...