History Class XI Syllabus

Exam Structure

1. Introduction to World History

Section A: Early Societies

2. Introduction

3. From the Beginning of Time

Focus: Africa, Europe till 15000 BC

1. Views on the origin of human beings.
2. Early societies.
3. Historians’ views on present-day hunting-gathering societies.

4. Early Cities

Focus: Iraq, 3rd millennium BC

1. Growth of towns.
2. Nature of early urban societies.
3. Historians’ Debate on uses of writing.

Section B: Empires

5. Introduction

6. An Empire across Three Continents

Focus: Roman Empire, 27 B.C to A.D 600.

1. Political evolution
2. Economic expansion
3. Religion
4. Late Antiquity
5. Historians’ views on the institution of Slavery

7. Central Islamic Lands

Focus: 7th to 12th centuries

1. Polity
2. Economy
3. Culture
4. Historians’ viewpoints on the nature of the crusades

8. Nomadic Empires

Focus: the Mongol, 13th to 14th century

1. The nature of nomadism
2. Formation of empires
3. Conquests and relations with other states
4. Historians’ views on nomadic societies and state formation

Section C: Changing Traditions

9. Introduction

10. Three Orders

Focus: Western Europe, 13th-16th century

1. Feudal society and economy
2. Formation of states
3. Church and Society
4. Historians’ views on decline of feudalism

11. Changing Cultural Traditions

Focus on Europe, 14th to 17th century.

1. New ideas, and new trends in literature and arts.
2. Relationship with earlier ideas
3. The contribution of West Asia.
4. Historians’ viewpoints on the validity of the notion ‘European Renaissance’.

12. Confrontation of Cultures

Focus on America, 15th to 18th century.

1. European voyages of exploration.
2. Search for gold; enslavement, raids, extermination.
3. Indigenous people and cultures – the Arawaks, the Aztecs, the Incas.
4. The history of displacements.
5. Historians’ viewpoints on the slave trade.

Section D: Paths to Modernization

13. Introduction

14. The Industrial Revolution

Focus on England, 18th and 19th century.

1. Innovations and technological change
2. Patterns of growth.
3. Emergence of a working class.
4. Historians’ viewpoints, Debate on ‘Was there an Industrial Revolution?’

15. Displacing Indigenous People

Focus on North America and Australia, 18th-20th century.

1. European colonists in North America and Australia.
2. Formation of white settler societies.
3. Displacement and repression of local people.
4. Historians’ viewpoints on the impact of European settlement on indigenous population.

16. Paths to Modernization

Focus on East Asia, late 19th and 20th century.

1. Militarization and economic growth in Japan.
2. China and the Communist alternative.
3. Historians’ Debate on the meaning of modernization

17. Map Work on Units 1-16