This course examines the history of the interconnected region that scholars today call the Indian Ocean World. One of the oldest and most significant maritime highways in the world, it joined the east coast of Africa with the Chinese empires. The course focuses on the adventures of people who traversed long distances and shaped this world - merchants, soldiers, religious pilgrims, sailors, pirates, coolie laborers and sex workers. It considers the varieties of sources that can aid in constructing the history of the region, how forces of globalization and colonization affected its development, and how this region influenced the patterns of world history. Open only to first-year students and sophomores.