This course provides students with a global perspective on the history of the modern world from the fifteenth century to the present. Students will study such pivotal developments as the commercial revolution, European expansionism, capitalist industrialization, imperialism and colonialism, global depression and war, and twentieth century revolutions and the struggle for social justice and democracy. Students will examine, from a comparative perspective, the changing economic, political, social, and cultural characteristics of the modern world in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.